Mason walked over to the door and swung it open. “Let’s get going, or my girl will think we abandoned her.”
I hid my smile. Mason had fallen completely head-over-heels for Tori, and it was fun to see. Jason, Gabby, Brandy and Aaron all filed through the door. We followed behind and Derek and Mason turned off the lights and shut the door behind us while we all trundled down the stairs.
The place had really cleared out. I heard the clangs and bangs of the ring being dismantled in the other room. A few more minutes and no one would even know a fight had taken place here.
We walked into the crisp air, and the metal door closed with a thud behind us as we made our way through the almost empty parking lot to our cars.
“Let’s get our undefeated fighter some grub,” Gabby said, giving me a quick hug. “We’ll see you in a few.”
Brandy gave me a hug as well and then climbed into her car. Ayden rested his hand on my back and rubbed it softly as we watched our friends climb into their cars and start the ignitions. I took a deep breath in, finally feeling free of stress, and I turned to face Ayden.
He flashed me a devilish grin and brought his lips close to mine.
“I love you, Lily,” he whispered.
He took a step back and from out of nowhere I watched in horror as Viktor landed a punch to the side of Ayden’s head. I saw the pain flash through Ayden’s gaze before he fell unconscious, his body crashing to the pavement. My heart stopped as I tumbled to the ground with him, screaming for help, and begging for Viktor to stop, but he didn’t.
Viktor’s expression was primal and animalistic as his fist continued to pummel Ayden’s cheek. He attempted to drag him away, and I instinctively threw my body across Ayden’s as my sobs and screams grew piercing. Mason and Jason pulled me off Ayden, while Derek and Aaron attacked Viktor, but I refused to release my grip from Ayden’s hand. I would not let go no matter how far my arm was stretched.
Brandy’s cries surrounded us, and I slowly crawled closer to Ayden the moment Mason went to help Derek and Aaron take care of Viktor. The world went into slow motion as Gabby called 9-1-1. Jason tried to hold me back, but I squirmed away and made it next to Ayden. The tears stung my lids, but I refused to shed any. Ayden was going to be okay. He’d been knocked around before.
I slid my shaking finger along his neck, feeling for a pulse.
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.
The doctor shut the door behind me and motioned for us to take a seat near the nurses’ station.
“Ayden is a very lucky man,” the doctor began.
“I doubt he’d agree at the moment,” Mason replied.
The doctor nodded and continued. “If the punch that rendered him unconscious had been a centimeter to the left, it would’ve been immediate death.”
My breath caught, but I stayed focused as the doctor kept talking.
“As it stands now, he has only a slight skull fracture, and there is no evidence of bleeding on the brain. The TBI—”
“What’s a TBI?” Mason interrupted.
“Traumatic brain injury,” Brandy responded. It was sometimes
easy to forget that Brandy experienced much of this with her accident.
“It’s a concussion. However, we’re not out of the woods yet. I feel it is my obligation to be honest about his recovery. We’ve not induced a coma. There is no need since we saw no indication of swelling of the brain, but he does remain comatose. The MRI shows no sign of severe brain injury. But we need to be extra vigilant over the next forty-eight hours to monitor for bleeding between the dura mater and the skull. That type of bleeding is often slow to appear. We will keep a close watch on him through the night. Until he wakes up, we won’t know what all we’re dealing with.” He stopped. “How extensive his injuries are.”
I felt the numbness start in my toes and slowly work its way up my body until I was completely emotionless. I no longer had the luxury to let my emotions get the better of me so it was better to deaden them all. I glanced at Brandy, whose expression lacked the hopeful glint I’d seen when the doctor first started talking to us.
“Like what in particular?” Mason asked.
“Fatigue, blurry vision, nausea, impaired motor and verbal skills, amnesia.”
“You’re saying he could have amnesia when he awakes?” Mason questioned, standing up.
“That was a risk for me, and I woke up just fine,” Brandy said, attempting to calm her brother down.
Mason shrugged Brandy’s touch away and sank back down into the chair, holding his head in his hands.
“Do you have statistics?” I asked. “Percentages of head injuries like his that have resulted in any of the problems you listed?”
The doctor shook his head. “Unfortunately, head injuries are far too unpredictable to be able to gauge accurately. What might impair one individual doesn’t scathe another.”
Beyond Promise Page 7