Brody (34 page)

“He’s okay?” I asked. “Aiden?”

Her tears touched my hand. She pushed them away with a nod and I was grateful for yet another painful breath.

“Thanks to you,” she said, pushing her thumb over my cheek. “He’s here because of you.”

I smiled, shaking my head. “That boy is here because of himself. I just helped him out.” It hurt to joke, talk, really everything, but her laugher made it worthwhile.

Bending, she kissed me again. She pushed a little hard and I cringed a bit. Her hands had the nerve to go delicate, but I grabbed them. She moved them to my ribs then.

“You broke two,” came from her lips, her hands moving down them. She placed one on my heart. “And it stopped. You stopped.”

I had a feeling. I couldn’t really explain it, but I did. I put a hand on her cheek and she moved it into my palm, clasping it.

“What about
him
?” I asked. I didn’t really want to say his name. She knew who I meant.

Her face went hard, cold, and when she told me he didn’t make it, the world just seemed to come to full circle. I didn’t wish death on anyone and never would no matter how bad they were, but the world now being minus one asshole like that? It wasn’t a bad thing. Alex went into more detail after that, how her sister turned him in before coming to Texas, and how he’d followed her here after seeing the police. Both the girls figured he was coming after Elena and though that might have been true, some of that intent,
that rage
, definitely had been reserved for me. Not long after she finished, I looked around.

“Is my family here?” I wanted to see them, all of them, no matter how the visit would end. I was done running. Done.

My hand slid down her arm when she stood and she gripped it right after. “They’ve been here in and out since I have. Two days.”

Two days. I’d been out for two days. The ribbon cutting… The store opening…

What had I put them through?

The reality coursed through my body and seared like an angry burn. Everything I’d tried to prevent, their worry, caught up to me anyway and not only that, I made it far worse.

Alex kissed my lips again, breathing me in, and I held her there for strength. I needed hers and mine. She backed away, holding my hand. “I’ll tell them you’re awake. They’re all here but the one in Miami.”

“Griffin?”

She nodded. “There was bad weather, flights delayed.”

Shit
. Not only was I stuck in here, but he and Roxie were stuck down there. Everyone must be a mess.

Alex’s lips touched my hand before she left the room. I had maybe seconds to come up with something to say. Maybe I should start with sorry. I was sorry I kept my condition from them. I was sorry for being weak.

The first that came in was Gram, followed by my Aunt Robin, a large hat on her head, and my greatest fear came to fruition. Their stress, their trauma.

My aunt had a tissue to her face and my Gram’s face all tight, scared, and everyone else that came in matched. My brothers looked a wreck; Colton’s face red and even Hayden had a flush. His wife, Karen, didn’t bother hiding her tears. They flowed freely down her face as she held their oldest, my niece, Sarah, and Hayden their youngest, Crissy. The scene matched that of my pop, everyone in distress, everyone shattered, and then there was Pop. He’d been the one in the hospital bed back then, helping us all keep it together as he’d been the one ill, but here, now? Even he couldn’t escape the emotion in the room. His lips were tight, hard in a line, and Ann, kind Ann, held his hand. He squeezed hers so hard his own was pale white.

I opened my mouth to say something. I opened my mouth to apologize, but the words never came. They didn’t because I was surrounded, a hug, a hand. They didn’t stop and when one person left another just took their place and they all said the same thing. They told me they loved me and they thanked God I was okay.

*

I had so much to own up to. I’d done so many things wrong, but for some reason, I got these peoples’ forgiveness. I got their compassion and love and I also got their understanding no matter how undeserved. I guess that’s why they call it family. They love you. They stick by you no matter what and all the hell you put them through. And I definitely had put them through that.

“You put yourself through more,” my gram told me later that evening. Alex had left to take Aiden and her sister back to my place. They both visited with me for a long while and that made me happy to see that Aiden actually had been all right. He really was strong, that little kid. They stayed with me all day like Alex said they had the last couple.

I let Gram’s words sit with me. She’d said a lot in our time alone together, but never once had she guilted me. Her words were cherished, comforting as much as I needed to hear them. I took value in them, every one, and when Pop finally came to me, I did the same. I had been sleeping a little, resting off those pain meds when he came in, but even still, I straightened up a little in his presence.

In all honesty, I thought he might lay into me, at least a small amount. It would be deserved. But he didn’t. He just sat with me. He pulled up a chair, turned on the TV, and we watched a game together. Basketball, of course. We couldn’t get enough of that stuff.

“I’m sorry,” I told him, turning. I’d found out they had to push back the ribbon cutting because of this, yes, but I was sorry for so much more and I told my pop that. I told him everything; my fears and not wanting to disappoint him and how that fear kept me from the business. My pop, he didn’t sugar coat his feelings, telling me he wished I’d been more open, but again, he never guilted me. I think because he understood. He’d been in this bed himself not too long ago, and well, like he’d said—I was like him.

“I’d still like to help,” I told him later after it was all said and done. We’d been between game quarters. “With the business? That is, if you’ll still have me.”

His eyes drifted a little, his hand on the remote. He sat back, his arms folded across his chest, and I wondered if he would say anything. Maybe he just didn’t know what to say to that. The thought crossed my mind that I had separated myself from the business for so long that maybe he didn’t
want
me to be a part of it anymore. But then, he asked me what I had in mind and wanted to do and he did it with a smile while watching the TV.

“Um, Brody?”

Alex’s voice led her in, but she looked hesitant, lingering by the door.

I rose up a bit. “You know Pop, Alex.” They’d met in and out today and of course, I was sure while I was out of it.

That same smile lined Pop’s face when he tipped his chin to her and her sunshine radiated into the room just the same. She didn’t need to linger by the door, though. I waved her in, but she didn’t move.

She grabbed the door. “I just wanted to make sure you were still awake,” she said, then widened the door and in came a face, I didn’t expect to see tonight. They’d said his flight was delayed.

Griffin came in and had a look I’d seen far too much today. Eyes red and cheeks flushed to match. He had his wife’s hand in his, and Alex left, closing the door behind them both.

Fuck, he looked a mess, his hair messy and all over the place. His clothes wrinkled, he seemed all out of sorts and Roxie had a similar look. She wore her hair up messy-like and had these big glasses on. They both had the air about them that screamed lack of sleep and I wondered how much they got. Alex had said they’d been having issues with flights and the thought they might have had to stay in the airport came to mind.

And then there was all this with me.

Roxie approached me first, because Griffin? Well, he stood there. He only came because she did, his hand still in hers. She put an arm out and I went in when she went to hug me.

“You’re okay?” she asked, pulling back.

I smiled, settling back into the bed. “Yeah, I’m good. Everything turned out all right.”

“Thank God,” she said, but her husband, he still didn’t move. Not only that, but his nostrils flared, his eyes narrowed like he was heated. Like he was angry. I hadn’t been yelled at today by anyone. Even Pop had let things go, but I knew that wasn’t deserved. I had screwed up, royally, and maybe now, I’d be answering to that. But then my brother came forward. He did and I didn’t think we’d ever shared a tighter hug.

“You big, stupid motherfucker,” he said in my ear, and I laughed a little. I laughed even though it hurt like hell.

I gripped his back. “Hey, Griff. You good, too?”

He pulled away, his hand on my shoulder. “Yeah,” he said. “Yeah, long day. Long few days.”

It had been that for all of us, but I had a feeling we’d all pull through. We always did. The pair of them talked with me for a little while and I did find out that they’d spent the last twelve or so hours in an airport. Their layover in Chicago got delayed due to engine trouble and then all their issues with even getting a flight due to the weather where they lived. Griff chatted with Pop after a bit and that’s when Roxie let me in on something.

“He’s been real upset,” she said. “Real worried about you and then all the flight fiasco. He took it hard.”

I had a feeling. I gazed over at my brother, glad he was good now, as he was watching the game with Pop in two chairs.

“Thanks for handling him,” I told Roxie, grateful for her. She’d been Griff’s rock when Pop went through his heart attack last year. She was my brother’s heart and we all knew that.

She grinned a little. “I had help. If Alex, Alexa?” she paused, eyeing me for confirmation of the name. I nodded. “Yeah, if Alexa hadn’t spoken to him first, I don’t know how together he’d have it. She knew everything and gave us details over the phone. It really calmed him down.”

I had to admit: I loved that girl more than a little.

Chapter Thirty-Three

Alexa

“The wheelchair really ain’t necessary, guys.” Brody eyed his hospital transportation like it had an infectious disease, his hands braced on the mattress while he sat on the side of his hospital bed. He shook his head. “I can walk just fine.”

He went to stand, but cringed the moment he pressed his hands to the mattress to stand. He placed a hand to his ribs and his Aunt Robin scoffed. She’d been standing over his bag, packing it up so he could go home from the hospital today.

She placed her hands on his hips. “Like hell, boy,” she said pushing a finger in the direction of the wheelchair his Grandma Rose had brought in. “Now, you get your butt in that chair and quit fooling around. You’re just as stubborn and hard headed as your poppa.”

She’d said that so much and each time Brody’s dad had laughed a little whenever he had been around to hear it. Brody had because it wasn’t him this time getting it from his aunt.

His little grandma came around the chair, tilting her head of snowy-white hair at him. “Darlin’, can you just be cooperative with us? We don’t want you getting hurt no further.”

Sighing, Brody sat back down to the bed with a huff, but didn’t look any closer to getting in that chair. He still had a hand on his ribs and I placed my hand on top, frowning at him.

“Will you just use it please?” I asked him, sighing myself. “They’re right. You don’t want to exert yourself unnecessarily.”

He had been so hard headed like his aunt said, but I guess I understood why he was so stir crazy. He’d been in the hospital for nearly a week and Lord knows, Brody Chandler didn’t take being fussed over very well. He had me, his aunt, and his Grandma Rose fretting over him, and then there was the rest of his family floating in and out over the past few days.

Blowing out a breath, Brody’s large hand moved to grip mine, his lengthy blond lashes flickering up at me. Lifting our hands, he touched my cheek with the tip of his thumb. “I understand y’alls concern. But really, Alex, I’m fine.”

Yeah, he was fine on paper, his doctor giving him the a-okay to go home today, but how would he get to be one hundred percent if he kept fighting us all the whole way toward recovery? My nephew, who had overhead the whole exchange, uncrossed his legs. He got up from the chair he sat in near my sister, the two playing at the makeshift activity table that had been Aiden’s idea for himself and the small kids. My nephew only left the hospital when he had to this week, wanting to “keep any eye on things,” he’d said. He wanted to be here for Brody.

He got up, coming over to my stubborn big man. Brody’s gram squeezed his shoulder with a smile when he got near the bed.

“Can you use it, Brody?” he asked, chewing his lip. “Please?”

That little face could get him whatever he wanted when it came to me and it only had the same affects on Brody.

A small smile pushed into the corner of Brody’s mouth. “Okay, bud. Okay,” he said, and with that, the matter was settled. I helped push Brody out of the hospital and on the way; Brody’s Aunt Robin drew an arm around Aiden’s shoulders, tucking him into her cushy side.

“I’m recruiting you, youngin’,” she said, grinning. “We could use some of that to wrangle these stubborn-headed boys around here.”

And the Chandler men were definitely something. Massive blonds ranging in six-foot-plus inch frames traipsing around the hospital like gods among men. They definitely could intimidate, especially, Brody’s dad. The man was a colossus, but I knew him to be nothing but a sweetheart. He’d been so nice to me, a stranger amongst all this kin and extended family and that had to be where Brody got it from. His goodness came from that man, the backbone of the entire family. He held them all together and led by example. These last few days had been tough, but Brody’s dad made sure everyone kept their head on and the way these men all treated their women
had
to be from him. There had been so much care between him and the woman always by his side, Ann. He constantly had a hand on her, tending to her, and I saw the same with Brody’s older brother Hayden and his small family.

The basketball player, Griffin, had been the same way. He and his wife were inseparable and once Griffin knew Brody was okay, Roxie had his attention. The youngest, Colton, I didn’t see around much as he kept mostly to himself, but even he had a sweet air about him. His big body folded up, he sat with the kids in the waiting room when we’d all first arrived, playing alongside them with Legos and other things there. Aiden had joined in on that and Colton had kept them all laughing.