Page 71 of After the Chase

Deliberate,Ivan had said.The driver fled.

Was this to do with Ivan’s work? The Kozlovs? Payback? I have so many damn questions, but I need to get to my brother. My stomach lurches and I put my hand over my mouth, trying to keep the sick feeling at bay.

“Breathe, baby. We’re nearly there,” Noah says, his hand gripped in my hair while he steers with the other.

St. Luke's finally comes into view, and as soon as Noah stops the car I run through the emergency entrance. The fluorescent lights are too bright, the antiseptic smell overwhelming.

"Tyler Blackford," I gasp at the reception desk. "He was just brought in, a hit and run. Where is he?" The nurse types something into her computer. "He's in surgery. ICU waiting room, fourth floor." I'm already running.

The ICU waiting room is small, sterile, filled with uncomfortable chairs and the quiet hum of a television no one is watching. Ivan is there, pacing like a caged animal. His usually immaculate appearance is disheveled, his shirt untucked, his hair messed up, blood on his hands. Tyler's blood.

"Ivan, how is he?"

He turns, and I see something in his eyes I've never seen before. Fear. Raw, unfiltered fear.

"They took him straight into surgery," Ivan says, his voice tight. "Multiple fractures and internal bleeding. They don't know…" He stops, his jaw clenching. "They don't know if he's going to make it, Chase."

My legs give out as I sink into one of the chairs, my hands gripping the armrests so hard my knuckles turn white.

"Tell me what happened?"

"Tyler wanted me to join him on his evening walk, he does it just to get out of the house. Helps him connect with nature, apparently," Ivan sits beside me, his hands clasped between his knees. "We had walked about a block on the back roads behind the house and a car came out of nowhere. Black sedan, no plates. It veered toward him from behind before I could do anything, then it reversed and drove off."

"You saw it?"

"I saw everything." His voice is cold now, controlled. The fear is being buried under something darker. "The driver worea halloween mask, but I saw the tattoo on his forearm when he reversed. Blackrose Saints’ rival gang, The Serpents."

My breath catches. "Wait, a rival gang of the club? But why would they come after Tyler?"

“Revenge,” he says, as he stares intensely at me. Then it hits me. Noah.

“Oh my god, is this to do with the guy Noah hurt at the clubhouse? The one who was dealing on Kozlov turf?”

"The man Noah killed, yes. The guy failed to mention that he was a member of The Serpents, protecting them no doubt." Ivan looks at me, and I see his darkness beneath the fear. "This is retaliation because they couldn't get to Noah or the Kozlovs directly, so they went after someone connected who was an easy target."

Tyler.

"Where's Noah?" Ivan asks.

"Parking the car."

Ivan's expression shifts. "That’s taking a long time, I don’t think he’s coming."

"What?"

"Noah. He’s gone to find who is responsible, thinking it is to protect you. Shit." Ivan stands, pulling out his phone. "I need to find him before he does something that starts a war we aren’t prepared for."

"Ivan, wait…"

But he's already dialing, stepping away from me to speak in rapid Russian. I sit alone in the waiting room, staring at the doors that lead to the surgical wing. Behind those doors, my brother is fighting for his life, because of a world we have both fallen into.

Hours pass as Ivan makes call after call, his voice getting colder and more impatient with each conversation. I don't movebecause I physically can’t. I just sit and stare at those doors, waiting.

Later in the night, Noah appears. He's wearing all black, his expression unreadable, but I see the tension in his shoulders, the way his hands are clenched at his sides.

Our eyes meet across the waiting room and with that connection with him, something inside me breaks. I'm on my feet, crossing the distance between us, and then I'm against his chest, my hands fisting in his shirt. I don't cry because I can't cry, but my whole body is shaking.

Noah's arms come around me, solid and steadying me. He doesn't say anything and just holds me.