Hard Brake (Wilkins Brothers Book 2)

Chapter 20

GRUFF

I’m having a really hard time sitting here in the waiting room of the hospital. It is bad enough that my little brother is in surgery for a bullet wound to the stomach, but I have to live with the fact that this is pretty much my fault. I can’t even look my mom or Jetson in the eyes right now. It should have been me. I should have known that it was risky to take Camila and the kids to see Bellamy today. I should have insisted on doing it myself. They are my responsibility, not his and now his life is hanging in the balance and I don’t even know where Camila is.

The door to the private room opens and we all look up to see who it is, hoping for an update from a doctor or nurse, but it is just Darren and Hazel, Bellamy’s dad and step-mom. They go right over to my mom and Jetson, consoling them and offering them some of the food that they brought. I go back to my pacing, it is the only thing that makes sense to me right now. I’ve been pacing and fielding phone calls from Radcliffe for the last several hours neither has helped me.

“Do you want something to eat or drink, Gruff?” I was so lost in my mind that I didn’t know Hazel had made her way over to me. She has a small container of what looks like fruit in one hand and a bottle of water in the other.

I shake my head, “No thank you.”

“You should eat something to keep your strength up, just in case.” She holds out the container and water and I take them both. She smiles and I do my best to smile back, but I’m sure it is nothing more than a straight face to her. There is nothing to smile about right now.

I take a seat on the opposite side of the room from my parents to give them space. I don’t want Mom to look at me and be reminded that I fucked up and put her baby in danger. I catch a glimpse of Hattie making her way over to me and she sits down in the spot beside me. She doesn’t say much at first, just rests her head on my shoulder. I wish I could make the pain go away, but I can’t. I reach my hand over and let her take it and squeeze for comfort.

“Have you gotten an update lately?”

“For which one?”

“Camila and the kids. Mom filled me in when I got here on Jasper. I’m worried about the kids, Gruff.”

Hattie had bonded with Nico and Anna, especially Anna. She opened up to Hattie long before she opened up to me. I know I may have been the one to take them into my home, but I wasn’t the only one to take them in my heart. “Radcliffe’s last update was that they are ‘working on it,’ but he can’t tell me details because they’re confidential.”

“Because of the Feds?”

“You’re not supposed to know that, Hattie,” I scold her, even though there is no real harshness to my words.

“You all talk too much when you think nobody is listening. Is it true, that they have a guy that is working undercover with her husband’s men?”

I groan, “Seriously, Hattie, how the fuck do you know these things?”

“Camila isn’t just your friend, you know? She’s told Landry, Hattie, and I a few things.”

“Shit, Landry!” The mention of her name made me realize that I didn’t let her know what was going on. I know that she’s been having issues with Jasper lately, but I know she still cares for him as a friend and she’d want to know.

“Bellamy said that she would tell her.”

“Fuck, do you know how she took it?”

“Not sure. She was in Phoenix doing a photoshoot, Bellamy wanted to wait until she was done so that she didn’t cause a scene or whatever while she was working. I’m sure she’s done by now, but I haven’t heard much else.”