Brian’s POV

“You can sleep, I’ll wake you if there’s any news.” Avery looked like she could pass out at any second.

“I’m not tired.”

“Bullshit. Come here.” I pulled her closer so she was leaning against me. “I can make a pretty good pillow. Just sleep, it’ll make the time pass faster.” I barely made it through the sentence before she was out. As much as I wanted to question her about everything that happened, I knew she needed rest after everything she’d been through and everything that was to come.

I had no idea what I was going to walk into when Jimmy texted me to send the police to his house. I was just glad he had managed to get that text out, it could have been the difference between life and death for them. Speaking of texts, I needed to let the other guys know what was going on.

Something happened, come to the hospital. I’ll explain everything when you get here I sent identical texts to three different phones then sat back to wait.

I didn’t have to wait for long. Thirteen minutes later the three of them appeared at the same time. “What’s going on?” “Where’s Jimmy?” “What the fuck happened?” I held a finger over my lips then motioned to Avery who was still sleeping soundly.

“I guess I have to start at the beginning. Jimmy and Avery came to me earlier today, they told me that Avery and Trevor used to be together. He became abusive to the point that she ran away from him, that’s how she ended up here. The whole reason he came to visit was so he could get to her. He went to Jimmy’s house for her. I don’t know all of the details yet but Jimmy was shot and Trevor was arrested.”

“Fuck,” Matt mumbled and sat back in his chair.

“When will there be news?” Zack asked.

“I don’t know. They told us to wait here and they’d let us know something.”

“So we’re just supposed to sit here and wait?” Johnny asked.

“That’s all we can do.”

An hour and a half passed before we saw a doctor. Avery was still asleep so I shook her gently. She looked confused for a moment before her attention snapped to the doctor.

“Are any of you family?”

“We’re his brothers,” Matt said quickly. The doctor raised an eyebrow but didn’t question it any further.

“We had to do an emergency procedure to remove the bullet. He was very lucky, the bullet missed his heart by two inches. He’s been in recovery for the last hour and he’s just starting to wake up. He should make a full recovery from this.”

“When can we see him? Avery asked.

“We’ll work on getting him into a room next and then I’ll come back and let you now. He will be very sore and tired from the anesthesia and pain meds so you’ll have to be gentle and not too loud.”

“We understand, thank you doctor.” With a nod and a friendly smile, the doctor disappeared again.

I heard Avery sniffle quietly and when I looked over she was crying again. “You’re gonna have to stop that. Everything is okay now.”

“I know, but it’s all finally sinking in. He could have died. Holy shit.” She leaned forward and buried her face in her hands. Zack came over and knelt down in front of her.

“You can’t think of what could have happened, that will just fuck with your head. He’s gonna be okay, that’s what you need to focus on.” She nodded and wiped at her eyes.

“Thanks Zack.”

“Since we know he’s good now. Would you mind telling us what happened in there?” I asked softly, not wanting to upset her anymore.

She took in a deep breath then nodded. “I opened the door thinking it was the pizza delivery guy but it was Trevor. He pushed his way inside and shoved me to the floor. I tried to convince him to leave but he just slapped me across the face and he told me he was going to kill Jimmy and make me watch. I jumped on him but I wasn’t strong enough to fight him that’s when Jimmy came downstairs with a baseball bat. Trevor pulled out the gun and pressed it to my head. The cops stormed in at that moment and Trevor moved quickly enough to fire the shot at Jimmy before one of the officers shot him.” I could see the tears pooled in her eyes but they didn’t fall this time.

“He better hope I never have to see him again or I’ll kill him,” Matt threatened darkly.

“I’m pretty sure we’d all help,” Johnny muttered.

“I’m sorry, I know I caused all of this. It’s my fault Trevor came looking for me.”

“That’s bullshit and you know it. Trevor is at fault here, not you.” I said more harshly than intended.

“James is all set up in a room now if you guys want to go see him.”

We all jumped up and followed him out of the waiting room and into an elevator. He led us up three floors and down a hallway, stopping in front of a closed door with J. Sullivan printed on a sign stuck to it. Matt moved to open the door but I grabbed his arm to stop him.

“I think we should let Avery have a few moments alone with him.” Matt nodded and opened the door for her.

Avery’s POV

“Hey Jimmy.” I crossed the room to his bed and gently sat on the very edge. His previously closed eyes opened and blinked against the harsh fluorescent light. His skin was almost as white as the sheet he was lying on. With slow motions he reached over and put his hand over mine.

“The knife master needs to work on his bullet dodging skills,” he murmured.

“What?” He laughed a bit but then grimaced from the pain it caused.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. How are you feeling?”

“Extremely sore, especially when I move or breath, but I’ll be good soon.”

“I was so fucking scared, Jimmy. You’re the best thing I’ve had in my life in a long time and I thought I was going to lose you forever.” I was crying again, fuck!

“Don’t cry, pretty girl. It’s all over now.” I leaned forward and pressed a soft kiss to his lips.

“You shouldn’t be the one comforting me, you’re the one lying in a hospital bed.”

“I’d do it all over again for you.”

“You’re too good to me.”

“Never.” After one more kiss I headed for the door.

“I better let the guys in now, I know they’re dying to see you.” When I opened the door, the four of them tumbled inside, nearly falling over themselves. They were clearly trying to listen through the door. “It’s rude to eavesdrop,” I said, but they already had their full attention on Jimmy.

Notes

I scrapped this entire chapter and restarted more times than I can count so it took longer than planned but here it is. Thanks for all your comments on the last chapter, now foREVer_Mandy can stop wishing death on me!! :)