A Redo (Sterling Shore 6)

I nod, understanding—well, sort of.

As soon as we reach her floor, numerous pairs of eyes meet us, and Bella glares at someone. “If I see you anywhere near her room, I swear I’ll choke you to death myself. Understand?” she asks, and the woman’s eyes bug out as she backs up.

Her name tag says Jillian, but I’ve never heard her mentioned before. More pairs of eyes sweep over me, probably remembering the tantrum I threw just yesterday when I found out they’d verbally assaulted Allie and provoked her to the point she lashed out physically.

Hushed whispers erupt every time we pass someone else, and Bella leads me to another corridor just as Allie is wheeled out of a different elevator on a rolling bed. Her eyes are closed as though she’s sleeping peacefully.

My knees fucking buckle, and I almost fall. I swear I’ve never been hit so forcefully by relief. I didn’t know how badly I needed to see her until now. Swallowing down the emotional knot in my throat, I force my legs to start moving again.

Bella stays in front of me, keeping her distance, but her hands are clenched so tightly that her nails are cutting into her palms. They pause at the door, and Bella holds out a hand to stop me from going in as two nurses follow Allie’s rolling bed.

“They’re just going to transfer her to a stable bed. I told them that painkillers knock her on her ass, and since she can’t leave until she wakes up, they’re putting her in a room instead of leaving her downstairs. Pretty sure that has something to do with you showing up with Corbin Freaking Sterling. I’m fairly positive every nurse here will be apologizing to her by the time she wakes up.”

I don’t have it in me to smile, even though I know that’s what she’s trying to do. I want to hit something, break something… do something. I’ve never felt so helpless.

“Oh shit,” Bella says under her breath, looking over my shoulder at something.

I turn to see Billy walking toward me with Keith—the fucker—behind him, and Tag is right behind Keith.

“What the fuck?” I ask Billy as my mind turns, trying to think of places I can hide my cousin’s body.

“I thought you might need to punch something, and no offense, but I’m sick of it being me,” Billy says, moving aside with a smirk.

My eyes dart over to Keith, and his eyes grow wide like he just heard what Billy said.

“You said you were bringing me here to make peace! I swear I didn’t know that shit was going to blow up and go full-blown crazy like that!”

I take a step forward, and he returns his gaze to me. He turns to try and escape, but plows over Tag who shoves him back toward me with very little effort. Before he can speak, my fist is airborne, slamming into his face, and it almost hurts my hand because of how hard I hit him.

“How much blood is there?” I ask, my eyes closed. Now would not be a good time to vomit. The only time I’ve been able to handle blood is the first day I beat the hell out of Billy. That’s because I was so furious that it never really registered what was going on until it was over.

“A lot,” Tag says, a smile in his voice as Keith wails from the ground—or it sounds like he’s on the ground.

“You broke his nose,” Billy says, sounding amused. “Now I’m not the only one who needs plastic surgery in the family.”

“You bastard!” Keith yells at me.

“I’m not the one who jeopardized a child, dickhead,” Billy says, which means that bastard wasn’t pointed at me after all.

Something wet finds my hand, and I jerk a little.

“It’s just me washing the blood off your hand with baby wipes,” Bella says. “I always have them on hand for a sticky-fingered six-year-old girl. No more blood.”

I look down, seeing my clean hand, but I avoid looking at the bloody weasel who is sobbing on the ground.

“I’ll get him to a doctor now,” Billy says from somewhere behind me.

“Thanks,” I mumble just as Tag comes up and grips my shoulder, a show of support.

Rye joins us, and Brin wipes her eyes as she leans into him. “Scariest night ever,” Brin says. Rye looks like he’s never letting her go. Dane is probably doing the same to Rain.

“Where’s Ash?” I ask Tag.

“At home with Trip. As soon as I get home, I’m going to curl up and keep her against me for hours. A lot of bad memories came with this phone call. But I had to be here for you the way you were for me.”

The circumstances are completely and totally different, but I get what he means.

“You can come in now,” a nurse says.