Feeling as if I was having a weird out-of-body experience, I listened to Mom telling me that Daddy was in the hospital and that his surgery was being moved up. That as soon as they got him and Uncle Shane prepped, they would be doing the transplant.
While I heard it all, I felt the tears start to flow because I wasn’t there to tell Daddy I loved him before he went into surgery. I opened the envelope with fingers that trembled and pulled out a wedding invitation.
“Braxton and his cousin Lyla picked out that invitation with my mother and his last week. I think Mother even said his cousin’s pregnant fiancée was with them and agreed this was the perfect invitation for our wedding.” She smiled coldly, making me want to scratch up her pretty face. “You can keep that, sweetie. Brax and I would just love it if you could make it.” She turned to walk back to her car but paused at the end of the walkway. “And no worries about you being with him. I don’t mind sharing him. All guys have a mistress these days, right?”
Lifting her hand, she gave me a small wave and, still laughing, walked to her car.
“Nevaeh, sweetheart.” Mom’s voice penetrated my mind as Darcy pulled out of the driveway. Her voice was so full of emotion, I doubted she’d heard or even realized I’d had company. “Aunt Emmie has sent a car for you, and it will be there soon. Don’t worry about packing anything. Mia will bring your things when she comes. Just grab your ID. You’re on the first flight home, and it leaves in less than an hour. Someone from security will meet you at the entrance to the airport and escort you to the gate so you don’t have to worry about missing your plane.”
Closing my eyes, I sucked in a deep breath and tried to pull myself together mentally. There would be plenty of time later to digest what Darcy had just told me. For now, I had to get to the airport and home. I didn’t remember half of what Mom said, so I didn’t know why Daddy was having emergency surgery, but I did know my family needed me a hell of a lot more than Braxton did.
“Baby, please say something. You’re starting to scare me,” Mom cried.
“Tell Daddy I love him,” I choked out, each word feeling like it was being torn from my throat. “Give him a kiss for me. Tell him…”
What? Not to die?
Tears poured from my eyes at that horrible thought, and I choked back a sob. “Tell Uncle Shane I love him too.”
“I will, honey. And you know they both love you. Just be strong, my baby. Everything will be okay.”
“Don’t make promises you can’t keep, Mom,” I told her and hung up before I completely broke down. She didn’t need to hear me sobbing like a shattered little girl when she already had so many other things to worry about.
Crumpling the wedding invitation in my fist, I reached back into the house for my backpack. It had my wallet in it, and apparently, that was all I needed. As I shut and locked the front door again, a black sedan pulled up at the end of the driveway. A man in a suit stepped out, sympathy on his face when he saw my tears.
“Miss Nevaeh Stevenson?” I nodded numbly as I quickly walked toward him, and he opened the back door for me. “I’ll get you to the airport, Miss Stevenson. Don’t you worry about a thing.”
Nodding mutely, I climbed into the back seat and shoved the wedding invitation into the backpack with my books. Scrubbing a hand over my damp cheeks, I texted Mom that I was on my way to the airport and I would see her as soon as I could.
Chapter 18
Braxton
A s soon as the plane touched down and they let everyone disembark, I was running. It hurt like fucking hell because I didn’t have my running blade on, but I didn’t care about the physical pain.
All I could think about was that my kitten had had to make the flight to California all on her own while worrying about her dad. She must have been scared out of her mind, and I wasn’t there to hold her, to tell her it was all going to be okay. She was so upset about everything going on that she hadn’t even texted or called me.
I’d gotten out of my final earlier and turned on my phone, to find Mia had blown up my messages, telling me what was going on.
Drake Stevenson had woken up in agony and vomiting uncontrollably. Lana rushed him to the hospital, where the doctors said they needed to do the surgery immediately, not to wait for the date they had originally planned. Nevaeh’s Uncle Shane was told to go straight to the hospital so they could prep him. Thankfully, it was so early he hadn’t had breakfast or even coffee yet. Otherwise, they would have had to wait. The surgery would take anywhere from four to eight hours, depending on complications, and by the time I’d gotten Mia’s messages, both men had already been in the operating room for over an hour.
Once I knew what was going on and that Nevaeh was already on her way, nothing could have stopped me from getting to California. Luckily for me, Mia’s mom was some kind of miracle worker who predicted everything, and she already had a car service waiting for me just off campus to take me to the airport. A ticket had been sent to my phone, and I was escorted straight to my gate when I got there. I had an hour wait, but at least there were no connections for my flight, so I got there as quickly as possible with no delays.
Running out of the airport, I saw a driver holding up a sign with my name on it, and I sprinted toward him. The man had the back door of the town car already open by the time I got to him, and I jumped in, telling him to move his ass.
As I wiped sweat off my brow, I pulled out my phone and tried to call Nevaeh again. Her phone had been off earlier, so I’d left a message telling her I loved her and would be there as soon as I could.
Now, her phone rang and rang, but she didn’t answer. Figuring she was with her mom and the rest of her family and not paying attention to her phone, I sat back and closed my eyes. My leg was already throbbing, but I blocked out that pain, hoping both Drake and Shane made it through this.
Traffic was total hell, and it felt like it took hours to get to the hospital. I texted Emmie when the driver said we were only ten minutes away, and there was someone waiting for me when he pulled up at the back entrance. There had been flashing cameras and news vans in the front parking lot when the driver passed it. It was one of Seller’s men and Harris Cutter, who greeted me with a handshake when I stepped out of the car.
“How are they?” I asked as we hurried inside before any stray vulturous paps pounced on us.
“We got news when they took part of Shane’s liver that he came through it easily. He’s still in recovery right now, though, and they will only let Harper back to see him, but everything seems to be good on his end. We haven’t had any news about Drake yet, though.” He pushed the elevator button, and it opened immediately.
“And Nevaeh? How is she holding up?”
He pressed his lips together for a moment before he blew out a heavy sigh. “I’ll have to let you determine that for yourself, man. She seems…off.”
Off? I didn’t know what the fuck that meant, but I kept my mouth shut as we rode up. When the elevator opened a few moments later, there were four more of Seller’s men standing at attention. One moved forward, asking for my ID.
Knowing the drill, I produced it and got a chin lift in acknowledgment when he realized who I was. One day, I was going to be this guy’s boss, but that day wasn’t this one.
Harris led me down a short corridor to a waiting room where two more security men were standing. Inside, the room was almost full to capacity yet eerily quiet, almost as if everyone was afraid to speak.
I scanned the room until I found Nevaeh. She was sitting with all three of her sisters, her little brother sitting on her lap. The two youngest sisters each had their heads on Nevaeh’s shoulders, while Arella clutched at one of her hands. None of them were crying, although there was proof they had done plenty of that from their swollen, red eyes and tear tracks down their cheeks.
I moved toward them. As I approached, the younger four all lifted their heads, giving me grim smiles, but Nevaeh didn’t move so much as an eyelash. Her gaze was trained straight ahead, her face completely devoid of…everything. There was no emotion, no signs of life in her eyes. If she hadn’t been breathing, I would have thought she was a beautiful mannequin.
“Braxton,” Lana stopped me before I could reach my kitten, with a chilled hand to my arm.
Seeing the tears that still filled her eyes and the lack of color in her face, I hugged her.
“I’m so glad you’re here,” she whispered when I pulled back. “Something is wrong with Nevaeh. All she’s done since she got here is sit there. Like she is now. She hasn’t moved. She hasn’t spoken, not one word. I don’t know if it’s shock or what, but this isn’t good for her. I can’t get her to drink anything or to eat.”
I glanced over Lana’s head. Nevaeh’s sisters were all whispering something to her, but she didn’t seem to hear them.
“Take her for a walk. She needs to cry or scream or hit something.” Lana grimaced. “She just needs to come back to us because I can’t breathe right now, thinking I might lose her on top of everything else…”
Hearing the hitch in her voice cracked my heart open, and I gave her another hug, promising I would take care of her daughter.