King's Reign (Sydney Storm MC #6)(13)

I swallowed hard, the unrelenting pain slicing through me at the thought of Brynn lying unconscious on her hospital bed. It knocked the wind out of me, and I had to sit on the bed to stop myself collapsing to the floor. “I don’t know,” I whispered through more tears. “She’s still on the ventilator. The doctors don’t know when she’ll wake up.”

“I’m so sorry.” Her voice held tears now, too. “I’m going to come and see you today. Will you be at the hospital?”

“Oh no, don’t do that. You’re still on crutches and in pain. I’ll be okay. And besides, they won’t let you into the intensive care unit. It’s just family.”

“I’m fine. Don’t you worry about me. I’m still doing all the exercises you gave me, and getting better every day. And I don’t care if I can’t come in. I just wanna be there for you in case you need someone to talk to or cry with. I’ll sit outside. What time will you be at the hospital? I’ll ask King to drop me off for a few hours.”

She’d mentioned King twice now. I’d ignored the first mention, but my body wouldn’t allow me to do that twice. Because although my head stayed firmly committed to not starting up with him again, my body had completely different ideas. Kind of like my heart did.

Skylar King had the same level of determination as her brother, so I knew there was no point arguing with her. “I’ll be there in the next couple of hours until around school pick-up time.”

“Okay, I’ll see you later. Do you need me to bring anything for you?”

“No, you’re already doing so much.”

After the call ended, I took a deep breath. Today would get tricky if she managed to convince King to do those things for her. Hopefully he’d be far too busy to say yes.





6





King





I stretched my neck before shoving two Advil down my throat. I avoided washing them down with whisky. There was a hell of a lot of shit to get through today; whisky wouldn’t help with any of it.

It had been a long night sitting outside Lily’s place. I’d headed home for a few hours of sleep after Mace covered me early this morning, but it had been broken. Sleep was the last fucking thing on my mind, though. I could run on sheer fucking determination if I had to.

“Where’d you get to last night?” Axe asked, joining me in the office.

I settled my ass against the office desk. “Had shit to do.”

He gave me the look that told me he would wait for further information.

Scrubbing my hand over my face, I muttered, “I gave Mace the night off.”

His eyes narrowed at me. “He was watching the physiotherapist, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Since when do you take on that kind of job?”

“Fuck, brother, do we really need to play twenty-fucking-questions? I’d rather go over the shit we’ve gotta take care of today.”

“Jesus, King, how long since you’ve had some good sleep? You’re being extra fucking whiny today.”

I glared at him. “Tell me you’ve heard from Johnny.”

“I have. He thinks he has the location. He’s confirming it now and said he’ll be back in touch within the next hour with any luck.”

I wouldn’t ease off this guy until I had that address in my hands. “Keep on him.”

“Will do.”

A knock sounded at the door and Skylar called out, “King, you in there?”

I pushed off the desk and opened the door. “What’s up?”

She made her way in, using her crutches like a pro. Lily had worked her magic on Skye’s recovery. She went from strength to strength daily. “Can you drop me off at the hospital this morning?”

I frowned. “You don’t have an appointment today, do you?” It wouldn’t surprise me if she did and I’d forgotten. My head felt like it could explode with all the shit in there.

“No. I want to go and see Lily. I feel so useless and unable to help her, but I figure I can sit and just be there in case she needs someone to talk to or be with her, you know?”

My gut tightened at the mention of Lily. I knew exactly what Skylar meant. I felt useless, too. And fuck, what I wouldn’t give to make shit right in her world again.

I checked the time. We’d be cutting it fine because I had a meet scheduled with Eric Bones in just over an hour, but I’d make this happen. Nodding, I said, “We’ll leave in ten.”

She smiled. “Thank you.”

As she exited the room, Hyde came in. “You good to leave in about twenty for this meet?”

Bones had called yesterday after word had travelled about the visits I’d been making around Sydney. Visits letting everyone know Storm wouldn’t take shit lying down. I’d had Eric on my list, but he’d called me first.

“Change of plans,” I said to Hyde. “I have to swing by the hospital on my way, so I’ll meet you there. If I’m running late, start without me. We’ve got too much to get through today to slow shit down.”

“Agreed. See you there,” he said and left us.

Axe met my gaze. “I’ll call you as soon as I hear from Johnny. You gonna have time to get this done this afternoon if he comes through with an address?”