Craving Resurrection
Page 103

I pulled her tight against me and dropped my face to her shoulder, the lump in my throat threatening to choke me. She felt so small there, like she was shrinking into herself, and I tortured myself with the thought that she’d been where Nix was, but with no hospital and no support past my mum and Doc. It made me want to go back and slice Malcolm to pieces all over again.
“He’ll be alright,” I assured her, rubbing her back gently. “Best trauma hospital in de state—dey know what dey’re doin.’ ”
“His face, Patrick.” She sobbed, “It was so swollen.”
“Boy was too pretty to begin wit’, yeah? It’ll give his mug some character.”
“I can’t believe this is happening,” she whispered, pulling away from me. “Thank you for coming.”
“Wouldn’t be anywhere else.”
I glanced up to find the lads standing around uncomfortably, and Dragon watching the interaction closely with absolutely no expression.
“Boys,” I said, lightly grasping Amy’s arm to turn her toward them. “Dis is Amy, Phoenix’s mum. Amy, dis is Casper, Dragon and Grease.”
“Nice names,” she commented with a snort, making me grin.
“Call me Asa, ma’am.” Grease said, reaching out to grasp her hand.
“Cody,” Casper followed.
“Dragon.”
“Gonna stick with Dragon, huh?” Amy asked as she grasped his hand.
“Only name I answer to,” he replied with a twitch of his lips.
“You guys know my son?” she asked, stepping back to my side.
She didn’t touch me, but my breath still sped up at her movement. If she knew what she’d done, she’d immediately step away again, and I wanted her there next to me. The fact that she’d instinctively moved to my side after staying as far away as she could for so long was… she may as well have kissed me.
“Yeah,” Grease answered her, “Known Nix for years.”
“He never said anything about a gorgeous mother, though,” Casper chimed in with a crooked smile.
“Watch it,” I warned, making the boys laugh.
“You can call me gorgeous all damn day,” Amy argued, before glancing over her shoulder. “You guys met Mat yet?”
We walked toward the man hunched over in his chair, and I couldn’t help but feel incredibly sorry for him. His eyes were bloodshot, his clothes were wrinkled as hell, and the mop of blonde hair on his head was literally standing on end.
“Hey, Mat,” I said, reaching out to shake his hand. “Good to see ye.”
“Hey, Trick.”
“The boyfriend?” Grease mouthed to Dragon.
My boys were standing silently, their chests puffed out like a bunch of roosters and theirs arms crossed over their chests.
Jesus Christ.
“Where were you?” Grease said quietly, and I honestly thought Mat was going to shit himself right there in the middle of the hospital waiting room.
“Enough, Grease—”
“I was home asleep,” Mat replied, his eyes filling with tears. “I was just tired—I just didn’t want to go out and watch football at a fucking bar. I wanted to sit on my motherfucking couch and watch the game in my goddamn underwear.”
His words got stronger as he got angrier, and it was a relief when the broken man stood up and started pacing. The lads all watched closely as Mat ran his hand over his hair—showing us exactly how it had gotten so messy—and one by one, their bodies relaxed. Casper was new—and younger—but Grease and Dragon had been protective of Nix since the first time he’d shown up at the garage on a rusted old Honda. The fact that Nix had never brought Mat by the garage made them suspicious.
“Are you the family of Phoenix Gallagher?”
I spun around to catch sight of a man in light blue scrubs walking toward us.
“I’m his mother,” Amy stated, taking a couple steps forward.
“Hello. I’m Dr. Albright. We’ve just finished with Phoenix, and the surgery went beautifully—”
I didn’t hear the rest of the words as my legs began to tingle, and I wondered for a moment if I was going to hit the floor in a heap from the relief that made me dizzy.
“Steady, brother,” Dragon mumbled, gripping my shoulder until I caught my balance again.
By that time, the doctor was already walking back through the double doors he’d come out of and I’d missed almost everything he’d said.
“Thank God,” Amy murmured, a wide smile on her face. “Thank God. Thank God.” The last word was a sob, and she dropped her face into her hands, covering her entire face beneath her fingers.
My legs were instantly steady and in working order.
“Shhh,” I soothed, stepping forward to pull her against my chest as she moaned into her hands. “Come on now, love, ye’ve gotta calm a bit or ye’ll make yerself sick.”
Her fingers dug into my chest as she gripped my t-shirt, but she couldn’t seem to stop the sobs that wracked her body.
“Did dey say when we could see him?” I asked Casper, who was standing the closest to us.
“He’s in recovery now—an hour or so and they’ll let one or two people back.”
“Only an hour, sweetheart,” I murmured into Amy’s hair as her sobs calmed to hiccupping breaths. “Ye want some coffee, or a soda maybe?”
She shook her head but didn’t raise it as she continued clutching my shirt tightly, almost like she was afraid I was going to let her go. Christ, hadn’t she figured it out yet? I’d continue to hold her as long as she’d allow it.