“What happened?” Lula asks, taking my hand, and I realize I was gripping the sheets tightly.
“I don’t really know. A man showed up and tried to get in, but security got to him first. I didn’t hear all of it, but Kade assured me it was taken care of.” Tears form in my eyes when I think about how happy we were as we were leaving and getting into the limo. “We were on the way to the airport in the back of a limo when I felt us swerve. The driver shouted that someone was trying to hit us right before we ran off the road. Kade cursed and then everything went black.”
“Oh God,” Berkley whispers, and I turn to her.
“The last thing I remember is Kade saying it was all his fault.” Tears fall down my cheeks and I don’t bother to wipe them away. “I need to see him, Lula. I need to tell him it wasn’t his fault and that I’m okay. I need to tell him that I love him.”
Lula shares a look with Berkley for a long moment before she stands up. “Okay, I’ll go talk to him and see if it’s possible.” She walks out of the room and I turn to my sister.
“Why wouldn’t it be possible?”
Berkley looks hesitant as she watches Lula go, then turns to me. “Apparently there was a fight and I’m not entirely sure that Kade won.”
“Oh God,” I say just as I push back the covers and get out of bed.
Chapter 10
Kade
My jaw is sore and I can taste blood on my split lip, but I don’t think about it right this second. The only thing that matters is getting to my wife. I need to tell her what happened. I need to explain.
“Get him some ice,” Xander says to Vaughn. “His eye is going to swell shut.”
“I think you need my help more than you need me to get him ice,” Vaughn says out of the side of his mouth as he eyes me.
My shirt is ripped but X looks just as bad. “Why not get the middle child the attention he needs,” I say, raising my chin.
“Fuck you, Kade,” X spits back. “You finally going to tell us what the fuck is going on or am I going to have to keep beating it out of you?”
We’ve been at this for a while because they won’t let me past them to see Collins. I have to give it to my brothers, they’re at least putting up a good front. It reminded me a lot of when we were kids. Always trying to do what we thought was best for the other. That’s how I’d gotten us all into this mess to begin with.
“I think my wife should hear it from me before you two assholes.” I growl. Vaughn puts a hand over his chest. I love my brother but Collins is something deeper, the other part of my soul, and it feels wrong to not tell her something. That’s how it will always be.
“Hey, that hurt.”
“Then stop being a baby and help me get X out of the way,” I say to him, but he’s already shaking his head.
“Nah, I want to hear the truth too bad.” He smirks. We’re all fighting and he can still fucking smirk. I think he does it to piss us off. He’s always so easy-going. Not today, though. I saw something darker flash in his eyes when he looked at my wife’s sister. It was no hardship for him to go and get her. That was clear.
I try to take them off guard as I lower my shoulder and try to blow through them. But we know each other well enough to anticipate moves, and I feel a punch to my side as X elbows my jaw again.
“Fuck,” I call out when we land in a heap on the ground. From that point on I don’t know who is hitting me, but there’s no holding back. I think I even feel someone bite my leg.
“Kade!”
The sound of Collins’s voice has me scrambling out from under my brothers. I see Lula standing next to her and wonder if she’s out here trying to get us to stop too.
I get up and move toward her, and part of me is terrified that she won’t welcome me into her arms, while the other part knows that she has to. We’re soul mates, and she can’t just forget that, no matter what she thinks happened on our wedding day.
To my relief she runs to me and I sweep her up in my arms. Lula cautions her to take it easy, but when I feel Collins whisper she loves me against my neck, I know everything is going to be okay. Fuck, she can take the edge off when I need it most.