Conspicuous Secrets

Chapter Fifty-Nine

I woke up in a hospital bed.

It was difficult to focus on everything in the dim lit room and I had to blink a few times to adjust my eyes. After a moment, the first thing I spotted was a couple of vases of flowers and cards on a small, wooden table on the other side of the room. There were even a few "Get Well Soon!" balloons tied to the table leg.

My brother was in the room, sitting in one of two cushion chairs. Marla and Holden were standing beside him, and Aria was sitting in the other chair beside him. She had a large bandage covering her right shoulder but looked to be in good shape. At first, the sight brought a comforting warmth through my body, but a moment later, my heart sank in my chest. There were all here. Shouldn't some of them be visiting Kason in his room? ...Unless the couldn't. Unless he was dead.

Tears sprung in my eyes and I looked down at myself. My arm was in a cast, I felt a bandage on my head, and a large dressing was wrapped around the top of my torso. I wasn't wearing a shirt with my loose sweatpants, but it didn't matter considering everything between my rib cage and my neck was covered in either a bandage or wrapped in a secure cloth.

A loud consistent beep picked up its pace as a fought for a difficult breath. He was gone Kason was dead. Tears fell from my eyes and each deep inhale sent sharp streaks of pain through my chest. "Hey, hey, hey, calm down," Gavin said, appearing in front of me. "You're okay."

I shook my head. "No," my voice croaked. "It's not okay."

My brother nodded with raised brows. "Charles is gone. We don't have to deal with him anymore."

It was good news, but not the good news I had wanted. I shook my head again, not able to stop my panic. "Kason..."

"Is alive," he assured me. "Kason is alive."

I stared at him, inhaling a deep relief. "Where is he? Can I see him?"

Gavin shook his head. "You are still recovering from surgery. The bullet shattered our collarbone. They had to go in and put a plate and some screws on it to hold it together so it can heal correctly."

I looked down at the cast on my wrist. "Broken wrist?" I questioned, though I had known as soon as it happened. My brother nodded. "What about Kason?"

"He's okay," he said. "He has some internal bleeding, but they went in and was able to patch him up as soon as we got here. Daniel and Lucy are with him right now in his room. He's still recovering—just like you are."

I nodded, using my good arm to wipe the stray tears from my cheeks. Gavin had a small bandage on his forehead where Charles had hit him with his gun, but other than that he looked fine. Taking a deep breath, I looked around at my friends who had relieved, small smiles on their faces. "Aria, are you okay?"

She nodded. "Fortunately, the bullet didn't do any serious damage. So, I'm okay."

I slipped her a sad smile. "I'm sorry this happened to you."

Aria rested a hand on the bandage on her shoulder. "It wasn't your fault," she assured me, though I was sure it was. And Charles can't bother any of us anymore. So, everything is okay."

I turned to the twins. "Are you guys okay?"

Marla and Holden nodded. "Yeah, we are okay."

At that point, Gavin dimmed the lights and pulled a blanket further over me. "Get some rest, Sis, you need it."

"I literally just woke up—I have so many questions."

"It's also the middle of the night," he refuted. "And now that we know you are well, we'd like to sleep. We'll answer all of your questions once you rest."