Children of Vice (Children of Vice #1)(36)



“No.” It wasn’t about her. “Not you. Us.”





IVY


“Do you feel any pressure here?” the doctor asked as she pressed her fingers on my neck. But I just watched as Ethan stood, like a statue, at the front of my bed. Only partially listening and mostly waiting to hear if his grandmother was out of surgery. We’d been here for a little over two hours already.

Apparently I’d inhaled a lot of smoke and they checked up on me, every thirty minutes, even though it was supposed to be once an hour until I was given the okay.

“Mrs. Callahan?” she called and what startled me the most was how I responded to it. “Do you feel any pressure?”

“I’m fine.”

Ethan clicked his teeth and just took a deep breath, something I was starting to realize he did whenever he wanted to snap but calmed himself.

“Okay, you are in the clear. We’ll give something for the pain—”

“No meds,” I cut in, causing Ethan to finally look me in the face.

“Give her the meds—”

“I don’t like them. I don’t trust them. I don’t want them!” I snapped at him.

“TAKE THE DAMN MEDS!”

“NO!”

We both glared at each other.

“You aren’t too badly hurt. You’re very lucky. Over the counter will be fine,” she said, quickly interjecting, but neither Ethan nor I looked away until the door opened.

“Sir?”

He rushed out, and I got up as well, leaving the private room he’d unnecessarily gotten for me and following behind until we reached a private lobby where Donatella, Helen, Nari, along with Sedric and Darcy stood looking at the doctor.

“Mr. Callahan.” The older man nodded at Ethan.

“How is she?” he asked directly.

“She’s stable.” The moment he said it, everyone else relaxed. Even Ethan looked half a decimal point better. “However, the burns on her left arm and leg are severe for a woman of her age. She’ll need a lot of rest and care, while undergoing skin grafts. You all are free to see her, but her whole body is still in pain, there is only so much morphine we can give her.”

Donatella was the first to dart toward her room, followed by Darcy.

“Sir…” The big guy, Greyson, got his attention again, and before he could finish saying anything the elevator doors slid open. The tall man with familiar light brown eyes stepped out dressed in jeans and a leather jacket. Ripping his arm from one of the guards, he walked right up in front of Ethan, and they stood eye to eye.

“Where is she?”

“And you are?” Ethan shot back.

“CUT THE BULLSHIT, ETHAN!” he hollered into Ethan’s face, but Ethan didn’t budge. “Where is Nana?”

“You said you did not want to be a part of this family, Wyatt.” Wyatt! It was their brother. His brother. Now that he’d said it, the photo of him Nari had shown me came to mind. However, both of them looked far more handsome in person… For f*ck’s sake, that isn’t important, Ivy!

“Ethan.” Wyatt dropped his head. “You’re going to make me f*cking beg to see my own grandmother?”

“The doctors said family only. Again—”

“Please,” he cut in and it must have taken everything in him to say it. He clenched his fist and jaw and said it again. “Please let me see her. If not for me, for her.”

“You can wait here until she asks for you,” Ethan said, turning to go in the room.

“Are you f*cking kidding me?” Wyatt snapped, trying to move anyway, but the guard pulled him back. Ethan, ignoring him, paused, waiting for me to follow.

“I’m not family yet either,” I reminded him. His jaw cracked in the side in annoyance. “I’ll go when she calls for me too.”

He seemed ready to bite my head off but held it back, nodding. “Fine.”

Watching him disappear into the room, I sat down on one of the couches.

“I’ll wait! So get your hands off me.” Wyatt ripped his arms away. He looked ready to fight…anyone at that point before finally sitting down in the chairs across from me, running his hands through his brown hair. It was lighter, but not by much, than Ethan’s. Glancing up at me, he frowned.

“You’re the insane woman joining this family?” he asked.

“You’re the insane man who left?”

“I’m not insane.” He shook his head and pointed around the hospital. “Do you know how many times we’ve come to this hospital? This whole suite was designed not for high profile people, but us. Why? Because over and over again this family gets itself into shit so deep there is no avoiding this place…or the morgue. Normal people don’t live this way.”

“Yea.” I nodded, thinking about how I too wanted to be normal so many years ago.

“You don’t seem like the usual devoted worshiper,” he muttered, his eyes narrowing in on me.

“What?”

“Those fools.” He pointed to both Greyson and…Toby, I think. Both of whom didn’t even bother looking at him. “The idiots who would die for people in this family just because—”

“That idiot.” I pointed to Greyson. “He’s the one who found your grandmother and brought her out before…before it could have been much worse. I’m not a devoted worshiper like you said, but at the very least don’t call him an idiot. He’s a hero.”

J.J. McAvoy's Books