Keela bawled, “I’m tryin’ to find that out, but I’m not related to him so the brothers need to be here.”
“Why?” I asked, terrified to hear her reply.
“Because they won’t tell me if he is dead or alive!”
When we pulled up to the entrance of the A&E department of the hospital, both of the brothers jumped out and sprinted through the automatic doors that led to where Keela was... and to where Kane was.
I froze to my seat. I couldn’t move at all. Keela said on the phone that she didn’t know if Kane was dead or alive. I knew that didn’t mean he was dead, but it meant he could be and the possibility of his death was enough to frighten the life out of me. I couldn’t be there to hear if he was dead. I think I’d cease to function if he was gone, and I couldn’t even fully explain why I felt like that because Kane... well, he pissed me off all the time.
It was a good thing I lingered behind after the brothers bailed because Ryder didn’t even pull the handbrake up on his Jeep or take the keys out of the ignition. He never even bothered to shut the driver’s side door. He and Alec just ran. Rightfully so, it was their brother who was lying in a bed somewhere in the hospital after all.
I looked at the hospital and quickly snapped my head back forward. I hated that hospital. I hated all hospitals, though. My mother died in a hospital, and even though I was young when it happened, I’d always thought of hospitals as being horrible places that take people away from their families. I knew now it wasn’t the case, but the initial fear of hospitals had stuck with me. I just hoped when I entered the building that I wouldn’t be leaving with the people around me making funeral arrangements.
That would kill me.
When I gathered my bearings, I slid into the driver’s seat of Ryder’s Jeep and reached for the handle of the door. I gripped it tightly, pulled it shut, and then I put the car in gear. I heard a couple of beeps behind me, but I didn’t look in the rearview mirror. I didn’t pay them much attention at all, to be honest. I felt numb and oblivious to everything... except for the hand that banged on the window next to me.
I screeched and gripped tightly onto the steering wheel.
“You have to move!” A male hospital traffic warden frowned at me through the glass. “This is a drop-off zone only. Move it, lady.”
Fuck you.
I nodded my head to the man, pulled out of the no-parking zone, and slowly followed the signs to the multi-story public car park to find the first three floors of the car park were full.
Apparently, everyone and their auntie in the Tallaght area were fucking sick today.
I was pissed off when I got to the fourth floor of the car park, but I found a spot next to the elevator and stairs so that relaxed me a little bit. When we first got here, I was more than happy to let the brothers take the lead and run into the hospital, but it had been ten or so minutes since I had any sort of information and now... now I was antsy. I wanted to know if Kane was okay.
He needed to be okay... he just needed to be.
After I had parked the car, I locked it up, got a parking card from the machine and left the multi-story car park to head straight for the A&E. I glanced up at the Accident & Emergency sign as I walked into the hospital and swallowed down my nerves.
I looked around for the brothers and Keela but didn’t see them. “Crap,” I murmured out loud.
What in the hell was I going to do now?
“Can I help you, miss?” a security guard asked me from my left.
I nodded my head and walked over to the man. “Yes, please. Me friend was taken through A&E not so long ago; he arrived in an ambulance. His name is Kane Slater, me friend, Keela Daley—she’s a little redhead—came in with him. He collapsed. Two of his brothers came in here about ten minutes ago lookin’ for him, you couldn’t miss them. They’re both tall, over six foot, one has a buzz cut on both sides of his head with longer brown hair on top, has a dragon tattoo down his right arm, really good lookin’ like his brother—”
“Ah, yeah. American blokes, right?” the security guard cut off my rambling. “Pretty sure the lad you just described threatened to break me nose if I didn’t let him and his brother through the doors to see their little brother.”
I winced. “Alec is usually really nice, I swear.”
The security guard snorted. “I’m sure, but unfortunately I can’t help you. You have to be family or a patient to get through the doors behind me.”
Crap.
“Well, it’s funny that you mention family because—”
“Aideen!”
I jumped when a voice shouted my name. I spun around and almost burst with excitement when I spotted Nico running through the automatic doors of the A&E closely followed by a worried looking Bronagh, Branna, and Alannah.
“He is family!” I said to the security guard. “He is Kane’s-I mean the patient’s younger brother.”
The security guard looked at Nico when he came to my side and put his hand on my shoulder.