Beyond Promise (10 page)

I couldn’t find one.

There wasn’t one.

There had to be one.

I cradled Ayden’s head in my lap, refusing
to look at what the others were doing to Viktor. It wasn’t
enough.

“Why isn’t he moving?” Brandy sobbed,
running to us.

I shook my head, unable to speak. I just
kept stroking his cheek over and over again.

“Ambulance is on the way,” Gabby said, her
voice hoarse.

“We need two of them,” Jason said, his voice
calm.

I shook my head. “Let Viktor die.” I felt
the burn of hate building inside of me, my eyes falling to Ayden’s
battered and bloodied face.

Brandy’s whimpers echoed into the air, and I
listened for the nonexistent sirens.

“Come on, baby,” I whispered, bending down
to his ear. “”You’ve got this.”

“There’s a pulse,” Jason said, his fingers
pressed to Ayden’s wrist. “It’s faint, but it’s there.”

I nodded, stroking my hands along his
cheeks.

“Let him go,” Jason hollered over to Mason
and the others. “He’s not going to come back for more.”

“Kill him,” I whispered. “Kill him.”

Brandy rested her hands on her brother’s
abdomen, praying quietly as I stayed focused on the man in front of
me.

The fury running through me kept me going
and was as vital as the blood that fed my body. I didn’t understand
what happened. Why this would happen? I heard the footsteps behind
me surround Ayden and me. Mason knelt down next to us. His eyes
filled with tears and a look I’d never seen before. It was what
happened when hate was no longer enough. I knew I wore the same
expression.

“I never should’ve let him fight,” Mason
murmured.

The sirens blared in the distance and I
shook my head.

“None of us could’ve predicted this,” I
said, but the words never left my lips.

I felt Viktor’s poison reach every single
one of us as we watched a man we all loved fading away from us. We
weren’t helpless. We were useless.

A car engine started somewhere in the
parking lot.

“Looks like we didn’t do a good enough job,”
Aaron muttered to Jason. “Viktor’s buddies got him in the car.”

I closed my eyes and prayed hard—so hard it
hurt—until the sound of sirens arriving in the parking lot
interrupted me. Ayden’s skin had turned cold and clammy. Did that
mean something?

A commotion erupted behind us as Jason and
Aaron led the medics to where I was holding Ayden. They explained a
man attacked him. That was enough explanation. The crunch of the
gurney wheels along the pavement came closer, but I was afraid to
let go. Afraid I’d never get to hold him again.

Three medics surrounded us while a fourth
secured his head and neck in a brace before removing me from him.
Brandy stayed, sitting on the cold pavement, staring at her
lifeless brother. I kept shaking my head in protest as if I’d shake
enough and wake up from this never-ending nightmare. One medic was
taking vitals, while another found a vein and shot something into
his body. I watched the same medic open a bag and take out tubes
and a mask.

“What are you doing?” Brandy cried.

“Preparing to intubate,” a medic responded.
“We ask that you please step away.”

Aaron came over to Brandy and wound up
almost dragging her away before he was able to scoop her up in his
arms.

The medics opened Ayden’s mouth and snaked a
tube down his throat and my knees went weak, but I refused to be
weak. Ayden needed strength.

They quickly lowered the gurney and hoisted
him onto the long stretcher. There was no recognition. He didn’t
twitch. He didn’t move. He was far away. The medics pushed the
gurney as they continued to squeeze the pump that breathed for him.
They quickly relayed where they were taking him to Aaron and Jason
who were on their heels. I tried to follow, but I was frozen. It
wasn’t until Brandy hung her arms around my shoulders and lowered
her head that I knew I needed to press on.

“He’s going to be okay.” She sniffed in.
“We’ll get him all patched up by the wedding.”

I hadn’t even thought about the wedding. I
just wanted Ayden back. No matter his condition. We could face
whatever was handed to us together.

The ambulance doors slammed shut, and the
sirens immediately switched on. I heard Jason and Aaron talking as
Mason came over and hugged me.

Before I even knew what had happened I was
in a car on the way to the hospital. The sequence of events was a
blur even while I stood in the emergency room waiting to hear news.
I didn’t know how I got there. I didn’t know where Ayden went. I
knew the others were with me, but I didn’t remember seeing them or
having them come with me. I just wanted news about Ayden.

Any news.

Time stood still and so did I.

I watched countless people come in with
coughs, scratches, and back pain. Brandy was in a daze and Mason
stared directly in front of him. There was nothing we could do
except wait.

Every time the door opened, our heads would
turn, praying we’d hear some news. Time and again, we were
disappointed.

“You need to have something to eat and
drink,” Tori whispered. Mason had called her once we arrived at the
hospital, and she’d arrived shortly after we did.

I shook my head, and Mason snapped out of
his fog.

“You need nutrients,” he said, standing up
and walking over to me. He took a seat in the empty chair next to
me that Tori had vacated. “Ayden’s gonna want a strong baby when
all is said and done.”

I gave a slight nod as Tori unscrewed the
lid and handed me orange juice. It tasted like nothing as I gulped
it down. She took the empty container from me and handed me a
granola bar. I shook my head, but Mason took it from Tori and
ripped the top off before pushing it into my hand.

“I’m serious,” he whispered.

I took a bite and forced the scratchy
cardboard bits down my throat. What was taking the doctors so long?
Why hadn’t we heard anything?

The door swung open, and a woman I didn’t
recognize stood at attention, scanning the waiting room.

“Rhodes family,” she called. All eight of us
stood up and the woman promptly shook her head. “Only immediate
family, please.”

It felt like a million stabs to my heart.
Mason kissed Tori and nodded, clutching my hand, leading me and
Brandy toward the woman.

“And you are?” she asked Mason.

“I’m his brother and this is my sister and
Ayden’s fiancée.”

The woman shook her head.

“She’s pregnant with his child. They’re
going to get married in a couple weeks in Bermuda.” Mason’s jaw
clenched at the bureaucracy of it all.

The woman sighed and pressed her lips to
form a slit, giving us a slight nod as we walked through the
door.

“I’m the nurse that will be looking after
him. We’re still waiting on results from the initial tests, but
we’ve moved him to intensive care.”

“Intensive care?” Brandy’s voice gave
out.

The woman nodded and led us to a bank of
elevators. She pushed the button, and the carriage in front of us
immediately opened.

“Is he going to be okay?” I asked.

The nurse chose the floor, and the doors
shut with a thud.

“We’re doing everything we can,” she
replied, offering nothing more.

I glanced at Mason, who looked completely
defeated as the elevator delivered us to the fifth floor. The doors
opened spilling us out onto another sterile floor.

The white linoleum flooring with grey flecks
ran as far as the eye could see. A set of white metal doors with
only a sliver of rectangular glass on each was visible to our
right. There was a bright red sign asking visitors to stop in at
the nurses’ station.

We followed the nurse as she pushed through
the doors. A tall counter directly in front of us housed one male
and one female. I didn’t know if they were nurses or administrative
staff. The space was designed as a square. Down each wall, a row of
windows looked into each of the patients’ rooms. The center of the
floor was taken up with nurses’ stations, a visiting room, and
restrooms.

We followed the nurse down the corridor to
our right. She walked us to the last room before the hall continued
to the left.

My eyes fell to Ayden. They’d cleaned up his
wounds, removing the dried blood that had covered his face and
neck. He had a few sets of stitches, but most appeared in his
hairline or behind his ear. His cheeks were glossy pink from the
swelling. I trailed Mason and Brandy as they slowly walked into his
room. The nurse shoved the curtain to the side with a startling
rattle. She opened up a closet door, removing a metal chair from
inside and plunked it next to the other two.

“The doctor will be in as soon as we know
more,” the nurse said, leaving the room almost as quickly as she’d
entered.

I slowly walked over to Ayden. He looked so
peaceful, too peaceful. It worried me. His arms were underneath the
lightweight blanket they had pulled up to his chin. I saw the
definition of his arms under the fabric. I wanted to hold his hand,
but I wasn’t sure it was okay. I didn’t have an instruction manual
for this.

I glanced across the bed where Mason and
Brandy stood quietly, watching their brother. Brandy wiped a tear
from her cheek and looked up at me.

“Sleeping Beauty was determined to get his
rest before the wedding one way or another,” she said softly.

I mustered a smile and looked at Mason whose
expression made me want to break down. I could tell he was
internalizing everything that happened to Ayden from the moment he
stepped in the ring. I wanted to tell him it wasn’t his fault, but
he wouldn’t believe me anyway. The Rhodes men were stubborn.

“We’re waiting for you to wake up,” I said,
touching my finger to Ayden’s cheek. “And I’m getting hungry. I
still haven’t had dinner.”

Mason chuckled and clamped his sister’s
hand.

“It’s true, man,” Mason seconded. “This
whole thing kind of waylaid our celebration dinner. And I have no
idea how to deal with a hungry Lily.” His voice cracked on my name,
and his gaze fell to Ayden’s blanket.

“You were amazing this afternoon,” I tried
again. “Well, you’re amazing all the time.”

I searched Ayden’s face for some hint of
recognition, some sign of life. I lifted the thin blanket and ran
my hand along his arm, dodging the IV cords until I found his
hand.

“I still haven’t heard back from mom or
dad,” Brandy whispered. “They need to be here.”

“They need to be here to watch him wake up,
more importantly,” Mason corrected.

“They were going to dinner and a movie.
You’d think they’d check their phone.”

“They probably turned it off for the movie
and forgot to turn it back on,” I said.

Brandy nodded. “Probably.”

“I’m sure Jason or Aaron can go meet them at
the house,” Mason said.

“I think that would almost be worse. They’d
have no time to absorb what was going on. They’d see those two and
know something was wrong.”

“I’m sure they’ll call any minute,” I
assured them both.

“What should we tell our parents?” Mason
asked Brandy.

Brandy shook her head and released her hand
from her brother’s.

“The truth, Mason. We need to tell them the
truth.”

The act of moving. We take it for granted
until it’s gone. We expect it will always be there to carry us
through life. It’s moments like these when the fragility of life
becomes painfully evident.

The small flick of an eyelid or the wiggle
of a brow.

A grin so wide, the eyes smile.

A lick of lips.

Breathing.

Swallowing.

Brandy finally reached her parents, and they
were on their way over. We were told a doctor would be in to speak
with us in about ten minutes. That was twenty minutes ago.

I sat in the metal chair next to Ayden’s bed
and listened to the machines click and hiss in a rhythmic pattern.
Rubbing my temples, I let out a deep sigh. This entire event didn’t
seem real. Even with Ayden lying in a hospital bed next to me, it
didn’t seem real. None of this made any sort of sense. If anything
were to happen to him, logic said it would be in the ring.

Not after the fight. Not on the way to a
celebration dinner. I let out another sigh and hung my head in my
hands. Brandy and Mason were out in the hall trying to track down
the doctor.

So far since we’d gotten here, we’d heard
enough to frighten us and not another word since. I stood up and
ran my fingers along his jawline.

“You’re an amazing man, Ayden Rhodes, and I
can’t wait to be your wife.” I swallowed the lump in the back of my
throat. “You’ll make an amazing father. I know it.”

A light tap on the door got my attention.
The doctor was standing in the doorway with Mason and Brandy. He
motioned for me to come out into the hallway. I leaned over and
kissed Ayden’s cheek before heading into the hall.