Page 96 of Never and Always
Piper
Iran.
There were no thoughts in my head, just the desperate need to get to my brother.
I pushed through the front doors and a blast of cold air hit me. I didn’t slow down. My entire focus was on the limp body lying in front of the hotel.
“Chance!” I sprinted the last few steps, then dropped to my knees.
He was facedown, and I rolled him over. When I saw his face, a terrible sound rasped out of me. His face was swollen and bruised. He’d been beaten. Blood covered the front of his shirt.
“Chance, no…” I gently touched his cheek. There was blood everywhere. I touched his neck. Did he have a pulse?
Strong arms wrapped around me. “Piper?—”
“Everett, he’s hurt…”
“I know, babe, and he needs help.”
“Is he…alive?”
Enzo dropped down beside my brother and expertly checked his vitals. “He’s breathing.”
Everett tugged me back. “Move back, Piper, let Enzo and Caden see to him. They both have first aid training.”
I blinked, tears in my eyes, and realized Caden was there too. I resisted for a second.
Everett’s lips pressed to my ear. “Let them help him.”
I nodded, and Everett pulled me back against him. Caden and Enzo knelt beside my brother, both checking him over and laying him flat.
A horrible sound escaped my throat. What if he didn’t make it? We’d never have a chance to sort things out. My mother and grandmother would be devastated.
Everett held me tighter, and I felt pressure growing in my chest. My gaze stayed locked on my brother. On his terrible injuries. Then I looked at my hands. They were smeared with blood.
My brother’s blood.
“He’s been stabbed,” Enzo said. “He’s lost a lot of blood.”
Caden rose, pressing his cellphone to his ear. “This is Caden Castro, we need any ambulance at the Langston Windward. Front entrance. We have a twenty-eight-year-old male with stab wounds, and he’s taken a bad beating.”
“Stabbed.” A sob welled up inside me. “Corvo did this.”
I felt like everything was falling apart. I desperately tried to stay in control, to keep my emotions in check.
“It’s all right.” Everett pulled my face around so I was looking at him. “Caden and Enzo are taking care of him. We’ll get him to the hospital.”
“What if…?” I couldn’t finish.
“Don’t play that game. Right now, let’s focus on getting him to the hospital.”
I nodded, pressing my lips together. I stared at my blood-smeared hands.God. “I feel like I’m flying apart. I can’t fall apart.”
“Yes, you can.”
I blinked at him.
“Fall apart, Piper. I’ve got you. You don’t have to always be strong, you don’t always have the answers. Just hold on and let go.”
