It’s been hours of easy conversations and broken tension when my phone vibrates in my pants pocket. I’m surprised I don’t rip it trying to quickly fish my phone out and see what update I just got.
Byrne Bros
Rowan: How’s Nix?
Flynn: I called but no answer.
Mac: They’re probably figuring out what they’re going to do.
Sully: She and the baby have to be okay.
Kieran: They have her BP under control for now. They said they want us to wait two more weeks to be in the clear for delivery. I don’t think she’ll make it another two days, and Ryan just started hurling.
Declan: I’ll be at the hospital in ten.
I’m pushing up to my feet before Kie can even respond. He’s going to say it’s fine, but they don’t need to be alone and unprotected right now. They need their family. Without a word I walk around to Jake, wrap my hand around his throat, and tilt his head back until he’s looking up at me. He’s smiling until he registers the look on my face. I press my lips to his and slowly pull back.
“I have to go, it’s my brother. I love you. I can come back and get you later to drive you home.”
A look of confusion followed by what looks to be hurt passes his expression, but no, that can’t be right, can it? He’s with his friends and his brother, there’s no way he wants to go with me.
“Oh, okay. Let me know if you need me, I guess. Don’t worry about coming back. Miles can give me a lift home.”
He knows what the fuck he’s doing. I hate Miles. I mean, I have no real reason besides I thought they were fucking once, but still. He’s pressing his luck just to get a rise out of me, but I’m too worried to even play into his game. This shit can easily kill Nix and the baby, and I don’t have time for games.
“Do whatever you want to, Chaos. I’ll be at Corey Heights Memorial if you need me.” Shaking my head, I turn and leave without another word. I have to get to Kieran now.
* * *
I walk down the hall of the labor and delivery ward straight to my little brother, who’s pacing like a madman. He’s panicking in front of the door that I know leads to his wife. As soon as I know he can hear me at a normal volume, I call out for him. His eyes lock on mine as his face crumbles. Kie’s a few inches taller than me, but he’s still younger than me by a few years, and he still struggles with letting us in the most. As soon as I’m close enough, I wrap him up in my arms. My body prickles with awareness and the urge to jerk away is strong, but when he falls apart as I grasp the back of his shirt and hold him up, I make myself fight it back. He needs this more than I need him to stop touching me.
“Ryan just came down with the, fucking stomach flu, Nix looks terrible, I’m fucking terrified, and now we’re unprotected.”
“Is that why you’re out here?” I question him.
“I’m not leaving her and the baby unprotected. Over mydead body.”
“Okay, okay. I’ll stay out here. You go be with your wife.” He looks at me like he isn’t sure. “Kieran I swear on my life and Jakob’s that I will not move from this spot no matter what.”
“What about if you have to pee?” He questions with complete seriousness.
I nod over to the fake potted plant about ten feet from me, “They got plants that need watering. I’ll stay right here, little brother. I swear.”
He finally concedes and goes back to his wife, making sure to shut the door behind him. I make myself as comfortable as possible as I stand guard outside of their room. About an hour later, Rowan posts up on the other side. We don’t say a word, and we don’t need to. We aren’t here to chat. We’re here to be his parents while he takes care of his wife and unborn child.
Nurses have been in and out of the hospital room all night. We’ve been here for hours, but even though my eyes feel like sandpaper while my head is slightly swimming, I stand here strong and unyielding. Rowan confirmed hours ago that his family is guarded at the estate and sleeping peacefully. Cormac called me about twenty minutes ago to tell me that Jake and Dieter left Knipe.
I know he’s pissed. I left him high and dry without telling him much at all. My phone has remained in my pocket unless a call comes through, so he could have been texting me, but I’m not sure. He definitely hasn’t called, though. The sound of an alarm blares through the speakers in the ceiling. A code is called. Red? Blue? Fuck, it could have been rainbow and I wouldn’t have caught it. All I know is that in the next moment what looks like every single nurse and doctor on this floor rushes past us and into Phoenix’s room.
A sickening feeling brews deep in my chest, and it solidifies when, just a minute later, the nurses and doctors are rushing Nix out of the room with Kieran hot on their heels. Kie doesn’t even look at us as he passes by. His eyes solely fixated on his wife. Without a word Rowan and I follow them past multiple sets of ‘Stop here’ signs and doors that need a badge to get in. When we reach the OR that they’re wheeling Nix into, we take up our spots on either side of the door.
No one questions us, not that I expected them to. They aren’t dumb enough to ask why the two most powerful men on the East Coast are standing outside of a random operating room. I silently watch Rowan pull his phone out and send a text. In the next fifteen seconds my phone is blowing up, which tells me that he put something in the group chat. I don’t touch it. Instead, I scan my surroundings. I’m reading badges and taking note of every single person who sets foot on this hall. We have no idea what’s going on in the room at our back, but when the unmistakable and soul shattering sound of Kieran breaking in two comes from behind us, it’s completely apparent. Our lives are about to change forever.
Before we can burst into the room, a team of people wheeling a tiny incubator comes rushing out with Kie robotically standing in the door, half inside and half out, just like his heart right now. Rowan and I look at each other before a silent understanding passes between us. I immediately grab my little brother by the back of his neck and guide him to follow the nurses and doctors with me. He doesn’t even resist as we follow two steps behind the entire way to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.
We stand in the back corner until they have the baby stable and settled into the room. One of the nurses turns aroundand directs us to the opposite corner of the room, where we’re told to put on thin hospital gowns, gloves, and face masks after thoroughly washing our hands.
“She told me if I didn’t follow him that she’d never forgive me.” Kieran whispers beside me as I slip the gown on.
