Lowlander Silverback (Gray Back Bears #5)(25)

“He had a real bad day, and the pain killers weren’t doing it. This afternoon he was having such a hard time breathing. I left you voicemails.”

“No, Sherri,” Layla said, wrapping her arm around her middle and doubling over. “I just saw him this morning.”

“Baby, I’m sorry.” Sherri was crying now. Layla could hear it in Sherri’s voice, in the hitched way she was breathing.

“I’ll be…” Layla squeezed her eyes closed against the pain in her middle. “I’ll be there in a few minutes, okay? Just keep him awake.”

“He’s gone, honey.”

“Keep him awake,” Layla demanded as the room spun round and round. “I’ll be there soon. It’ll be okay. You’ll see.”

“Layla, I don’t think you should drive—”

She hung up the phone in a rush and stared at the faded brown plastic of the landline. She was still shaking her head, so she stopped. Jake was staring. Barney, too.

“Are you okay?” Jake asked low, gripping her elbows.

Spinning room, spinning Jake. She wanted off this ride.

“Yeah,” she said in a hollow tone she didn’t recognize. Was she speaking, or had she only imagined her words? “I’m fine.” Head bobbing. Harder. Nod, and he’ll believe you. “I have to go. I’ll be back soon.”

“Okay,” he said, eyes wide. His gaze drifted to the phone and back to Layla, but she was already backing away.

She turned and bolted for the hallway. Someone had tidied up the office where her purse was sitting in the bottom drawer of the desk. Kong? Georgia? She snatched the purse and sprinted through the bar as the first wave of tears burned her eyes.

Mac wasn’t dead.

He couldn’t be.

This was all just a misunderstanding.





Chapter Nine


Kong followed Layla’s exit with his gaze until she was gone out the front door. A feeling of wrongness filled his instincts, and he leveled Kirk with a suspicious glare. “Where’s Rhett?”

“He didn’t want to celebrate tonight, Kong. He never wanted to be here, remember?” Kirks words tumbled over each other, one word slurring to the next. “He had orders. Fiona told you. She told you.”

Kong ripped him out of his seat, clenching his shirt as he brought him face to face. “On pain of f*cking death, you better tell me where the f*ck Rhett is. Now.”

“I told you. Carrying out orders.”

Kong threw him back into the chair and scrubbed his hand over his two day scruff, pacing tightly as he stared at Kirk.

Kirk looked sick when he glanced back up at him. “You know, I didn’t choose to be your guard. I wanted to head a family group. I have the genetics for it, but Fiona decided on my fate, like she decided yours. She’s going to kill me for refusing her. Rhett doesn’t mind killing, though. He’s made for it.”

“Who,” Kong asked low. He already knew the answer, but he wanted Kirk to say the vile thing Fiona had ordered. “Who?” he roared.

Kirk’s eyes went vacant as he stared at the door from which Layla had disappeared. “Mac.”

The room faded around him, and his vision settled to a pinpoint on Kirk’s broken eyes. Someone was grabbing his arm.

Kong.

“Kong!” Aviana said, clutching his wrist. “Go to her!” Tears were rimming her eyes as she searched his face. Tiny, dark-haired Aviana. Brave little raven for getting this close to him right now.

His animal roared inside of him, rattling his head and throwing the worried faces around him into uneven vibrations. Kong stumbled forward, lurching toward the door.

Layla. She would be alone now.

He bolted for the parking lot and revved the engine of his Camaro, then slammed his foot on the gas and spun out of there, spraying gravel behind him. Saratoga’s dark streets passed beside him in a blur and, in minutes, he was slamming on the brakes in the Tender Care parking lot. Layla’s car was planted at an angle on the curb, her door still open and the engine still running. Kong reached inside and turned it off, then shut her door gently.

The second he stepped through the entrance, he could hear Layla weeping, and asking, “Why?” She chanted over and over she hadn’t gotten a chance to say goodbye. He couldn’t do this. He couldn’t walk in that room and see her destroyed like this. But if he didn’t, who would? Who would be strong for her when Mac wasn’t around?

Kong’s face crumpled the second he walked past the nurses who were crying outside the door. Layla was sitting on the bed, legs curled under her as she cradled Mac’s head in her lap. He just looked asleep. Layla’s shoulders shook with her weeping, and every word that came murmured from her lips sounded like heartbreak. Kong leaned heavily against the door frame and closed his eyes. Her pain was his fault. He’d known the risk, and he’d pursued her anyway. Sherri stood beside him, gripping his shoulder and wiping her eyes. “It was fast. He just stopped breathing after he took out the tube.”

Bullshit. He stopped breathing with a pillow over his face. Rhett had probably smiled as he suffocated him.

Because of him.

Because his f*cked up world had collided with the peace Layla had managed to find. After everything she’d been through, she’d been happy with Mac. She’d had as normal a life as she could, and now it had been ripped away from her because Kong had tainted her. He’d put her directly in the crosshairs of Fiona and Rhett, all because he couldn’t just let her be.