Total pages in book: 89
Estimated words: 83755 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 419(@200wpm)___ 335(@250wpm)___ 279(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 83755 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 419(@200wpm)___ 335(@250wpm)___ 279(@300wpm)
He showed complete disregard to rank.
He and some of his fellow troopers had turned the barracks into a gambling house.
As for the icing on the cake? He had picked a fight with his squad leader.
That would be all she wrote. Not only had he lost the only job that guaranteed he’d never starve, but he had tried to convince me that it wasn’t his fault. I had been sick and tired of hearing the same words come out of his mouth.
“Can I borrow some money?”
“I swear; this is the last time!”
“I’ve got something big in the works. Pretty soon, you won’t have to worry about me.”
Yeah, yeah…
We lost touch. I wasn’t proud of it, but there was nothing I could have done about it, either. My own blood had been too selfish to realize that I didn’t owe him a living. I wouldn’t always be there to save him from himself. He had to become his own man. Not depend on his little sister all the time…
More than an hour later, I was crossing the gate of Presbyterian Hospital, drowning in anger and fear. The few, unfamiliar faces around the reception desk didn’t appease me. I spotted the red emergency sign on a chart on the wall and rushed down the stairs. The wait for the elevator would feel like an eternity. In my haste, I didn’t even see a doctor coming the other way. My elbow bumping into his dossier, I knocked it out of his grasp, papers flying past the steps as that dossier tumbled to the floor.
Cool air from the air-conditioning hitting my skin, I looked around me. The “Emergency” sign was overhead, at the beginning of a somewhat narrow hall. Well down that hall, Kayla was heading in my direction. I might have not seen her in quite some time, but that girl hadn’t changed much. Her red hair and those freckles under her eyes, helped her stand out.
“Kayla,” I said, unable to keep the concern from my voice anymore.
“Hey,” she greeted me with a wave, my quick footsteps resounding across the basement. “Boy, you got here fast.”
“Tell me,” I said and paused to catch my breath. “Tell me more about Felix.”
“Well, as I was saying to his buddies back there, he’s lost quite a lot of blood,” she revealed, using her thumb to point behind her. I craned my neck and looked over her, my pulse rising more and more. Indeed, three, big figures were straight ahead, talking to one another. Hands in their pockets, they were putting distance between me and them. “He’s still in surgery. He needed a double transfusion. I’m not sure if he needs another one, but I wouldn’t rule it out. It’s a little too soon to tell.”
“Transfusion? Double?” I repeated her words, fear making my heart race harder.
“Yeah, he, um…” She faltered, dipping her gaze to the floor before looking back up at me. “He had a piece of aluminum lodged in his gut. I don’t know any specifics, girl. You’ll have to ask his pals about those.”
“I see. Thank you, Kayla,” I spoke, offering her a glance of appreciation. I passed her by, wondering just how that piece of aluminum had ended up in my brother’s stomach.
I wasn’t going to wait for that surgery to be over. And I wasn’t going to wait for Felix’s so-called “friends” to walk up to me and disclose whatever had transpired that night.
No way.
I kept my attention on them, willing to find out every single detail of my brother’s injury. But a few paces afterwards, a certain view fed my anger.
A leather jacket. Or, rather, the back of a leather jacket.
A patch of a panther, looking back with its menacing, yellow eyes.
I had seen it before.
In a hospital.
Just not the Presbyterian.
It was on the night of Leo’s injury. I had seen it on his friend’s back.
Standing between Leo and Matteo, Cesare was oblivious to my presence, just like the other two misfits.
“You!” I said, my eyes darkening with anger as I got within five feet from them.
Cesare flipped around at my voice, the other two following suit in a second.
“Piper?” He squinted down at me. “What are you doing here? I thought you worked at the Metropolitan.”
“I do, you idiots.” My gaze settled on his. “Am I in scrubs? No. The guy you brought in? He’s my brother.”
“Whoa!” Leo exclaimed, Cesare and Matteo staring at each other, their faces loosening in disbelief. “Seriously? Felix’s your brother?”
“Shit,” Matteo muttered.
“That’s right,” I confirmed with a stiff nod. “Now, I want you to tell me exactly how my brother ended up fighting for his life. And don’t leave anything out.”
My little speech could have well been a bomb. It had the exact same effect as one. Those three somehow swallowed their tongues, preferring to either glance at each other or focus on the floor. As if my brother’s life hadn’t been hanging in the balance, they had decided to keep me in the dark, too. What a bunch of losers. None of them had the decency to let me know what had gone down that night. They had chosen silence over coming clean. I guessed the truth was too much for them to bear.