“You can wait in the room down the hall,” she says, pointing. “He’s only allowed two visitors at a time.”
I thank her and walk down the hall, shaking and sick to my stomach. When I enter the waiting room, Axel is there, standing in the corner by a vending machine.
He’s talking to the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.
She’s Asian. Everything about her is perfect. Face, hair, figure. Wearing a simple black sheath, she’s got her arms wrapped around her body as if for protection from something.
She glances over and catches me looking at her, and I know. I just know who she is.
Kiyoko.
Cole’s ex.
Axel follows her gaze and sees me. He murmurs something to her, squeezes her arm, then walks over to me.
“Hullo, luv.”
My eyes fill with tears. “What happened to miss?”
His smile is faint. “Miss went out the window when Cole decided to lose his mind over you. How are you?”
My lower lip quivers. I swallow, choking back tears. “Not good. How is he?”
He exhales heavily, shoves his hands into his pockets, and shakes his head. “Awake, but not able to speak.”
My entire body goes cold. My heart starts to pound painfully hard. “Oh God. That’s not good.”
“No, it isn’t. But he’s strong. And he’s being well taken care of.”
I glance over at Kiyoko. She’s staring at me like she wants to push me out the nearest window.
Axel murmurs, “That’s an old friend of Cole’s and mine. We all went to university together.”
“Kiyoko.”
He seems surprised I know, glancing over his shoulder at her, then back at me. “Yes. She flew in a few days ago. Let me introduce you.”
He takes my elbow and gently leads me over to where Kiyoko stands conjuring Biblical plagues of locusts to devour me. If eyes could be swords, I’d already be missing my head.
“Kiyoko, this is Shay. Cole’s girl.”
I think Axel just took his life in his own hands with that introduction. Kiyoko looks at him with withering disdain.
I say, “Hi. It’s nice to meet you.”
Kiyoko returns her attention to me. There’s a long, awful moment of silence, then she covers her face with her hands and sighs. “I’m sorry. Don’t mind me, I’m just tired.”
She drops her hands and gives me a sad smile. “Hello, Shay. It’s nice to meet you too. I’m sorry it had to be under these circumstances.”
Thank God. If she’d decided to hate me, I probably would’ve started crying and never stopped.
“Me too. Axel says he isn’t able to talk.”
“It could be damage from the breathing tubes. But I don’t think so. I think he just doesn’t want to. And depending on how bad his spinal cord injury turns out to be, he may never want to speak again.”
The three of us stare at each other while I breathe around the sobs building in my chest. “Can I see him?”
Axel says, “His brothers are in with him now, but when they come out, I’m sure he’ll want to see you. Why don’t you have a seat, and I’ll let them know you’re here.”
Kiyoko and I sit in the uncomfortable chairs and look at everything but each other as Axel leaves the room. He’s gone for about five minutes. When he returns, it’s with a pained look on his face.
I leap to my feet, heart palpitating. “What is it? What’s wrong?”
He looks at Kiyoko, then at me, then stands there looking uncomfortable.
“Well, he’s talking.”
“Oh thank God!”
Kiyoko stands. Without thinking, the two of us clasp hands. She says, “Is he in pain? Does he need anything? What did he say?”
When Axel looks at me, I already know what he’s about to tell me. I know, but it still hurts like he drove a knife right into my heart.
“He said to tell Shay to leave and not come back. He said he only wants to speak to Kiyoko. And he said…”
He pauses to shake his head and sigh. “I’m sorry, luv, but he said to tell you it’s over.”
Cole
When Axel returns ten minutes later, he’s smirking.
Sitting in the chair beside my bed, Callum looks at him and says, “How’d she take it?”
“Oh, I’d say she took it rather well. Took it like a champ, in fact. Nary a tear in sight. She did give a nice little speech though. Quite rousing.”
Carter looks interested. “Really? What did she say?”
Axel looks at me and smiles.