His eyes widened and he stooped by my side as well. “We should get her inside.”
I nodded and stood, hoping Journey could stand on her own power. But then Jacob did something that had me sucking in air in surprise.
He leaned forward, and without a word, placed his arms underneath my sister, lifting her from the step. “Open the door.”
I took his direction easily, the same way as when we were in the operating room. Finally managing to find the key in my clutch, I used it to open the door.
“Put her on the couch,” I instructed, pointing in the direction of the long, grey couch that could be seen around the wall separating the living room from the entrance area.
I closed the door behind us, locking it, and went over, kneeling by my sister’s side. She had immediately coiled up into the fetal position facing me, but her eyes were blank and staring out into nothing.
“Journey.” My voice was low as I pushed the long braids she wore behind her ear to get a better view of her face. “Are you hurt?”
She squeezed her eyes tightly and started crying … sobbing.
I lowered my head because this was starting to feel too familiar. Hearing a noise behind me, I remembered that Jacob was there watching all of this.
Standing, I turned. “I’m sorry—”
He shook his head, cutting off my apology. “Don’t apologize. What do you need?”
It wasn’t a question I was expecting but one I appreciated greatly.
“The linen closet is down the hall on the left. Could you bring me a blanket out of there?”
His face darkened but he nodded and turned to retrieve the blanket.
I knelt down next to Journey again who continued to cry and hiccup. I began stroking her arm, feeling desperate to do anything to help her through this.
A shadow fell over me when Jacob returned a minute later, holding out the blanket to me. I took it, barely looking over my shoulder, and unfolded it, covering Journey’s body. Her crying decreased to whimpering but the tears kept streaming down her face.
“I have to go.”
I heard the words that sounded like they were from halfway across the room. And before I could turn around fully, I heard my front door opening and slamming shut. My heart sank. Obviously, Jacob didn’t want any part of this mess. Sighing, I turned back to my sister.
“Journey …” I called, but that only served to increase her crying spell, it seemed. I started doing the only thing I could think of. I began singing. The first song that came to mind was Sam Smith’s “Pray”.
Journey’s body ceased shivering from how hard she was, crying with each line of the song. The sounds coming from her throat became less anguished. And while the tears continued to flow, she calmed down.
Just as my mom had done when I was a child and she was too sick to get out of bed, begging for me to sing to her until she felt better. I would sing to her for hours by her bedside.
I continued to sing. One song moved into the next because that was the only thing I could do right then for my sister.
Chapter Nine
Jacob
“Don’t fucking touch me!” I yelled at Buddy, who’d put his arm over my shoulder as I entered the ring.
His greying eyebrows rose in surprise but there wasn’t any fear in his brown eyes. “Oh, we’re having one of those nights, huh? Okay.” Nodding, he moved farther away from me, toward the guy I was fighting as soon as he got his ass out of the way.
Buddy was the organizer, coach, trainer, and whatever else was needed for these fights. While Connor and Joshua financed the operation, it was on Buddy’s word whether or not a fighter got into the ring of the Underground. I met Buddy about ten years ago after I joined a local boxing gym he owned, during residency. Eventually, he told me about this underground fighting ring he ran and asked if I was interested. I’d been coming ever since.
“Let’s go!” I growled, anxious to hit something as the memory of Grace laying the blanket over her sister flashed before me. That memory began to melt with other memories I’d worked long and hard to bury.
“Keep ya’ shirt on, we’re coming!” Buddy snickered at his stupid ass joke since I wasn’t wearing a shirt.
“All right, gentlemen, you know the rules. No hitting in the face, and I hope you’re both wearing your cups. Everything else is a go!” With that, Buddy lowered his hand and stepped out of the way, allowing my opponent and myself to circle one another.
