Falling Up

60. Dead

"Vincent is dead," said Tyrus. "You never have to worry about him again."

"Please tell me you made it painful."

Tyrus paused, pulling his chair closer to Jason's bed. "I guess you'll find out eventually," said Tyrus, taking a pause before letting Jason in on the news. "Noah killed him."

Jason furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. Noah killed Vincent? "Is he alright?" asked Jason in concern.

"He's handling it much better than I expected. Much better than some of my team members would handle killing someone."

Jason thought back to the man he killed when they were trying to escape. He shuddered as the image of the dead man crossed his mind. That image would haunt him for a lifetime.

"Jason," said Tyrus, interrupting his thoughts. "I'm sorry. For everything." Tyrus looked into his eyes and Jason could see the remorse lingering there in his somber expression. From his sunken tired eyes down to the way his posture slumped in the chair, it showed the signs of a defeated man. "I never meant for you or your family to get hurt. I'll never forgive myself for putting you in that situation, but I will spend the rest of my life making up for it. That I can promise."

Jason looked away, gazing out of the nearby window in thought. "You put Riley in a situation I never wanted her to be in again. And now I've learnt that Noah has killed someone, which is probably going to affect him for the rest of his life. I just... I'm not sure I can forgive you for this, Tyrus."

"I'm fine, Jason," said Noah, walking into the room just as the orange hue from the early morning sunrise filtered in through the window. He held two coffees in his hand, the steam still pouring from the top. "Him, on the other hand," Noah said, pointing to Tyrus before passing him one of the coffees he had. "He's been living here for the past three months, so can you please give this guy a break already?"

Noah walked up to Jason, a smile on his lips as he gave Jason a longer than usual bro hug before handing the second coffee over to Jason. The coffee was meant for Noah, but he didn't argue as he took a sip of the steaming hot cup.

"I'm glad to see you're awake. Had us all worried for a moment there." Noah stood back up, moving to the far wall and leaning against it.

"Where's Riley?" asked Jason, eager to see her after everything. He needed to make sure she was safe.

"You really think she would be up at this hour?" Noah pointed to the clock on the wall that ticked over to 5:45 am. Jason chuckled, then coughed in a loud, hoarse voice. Tyrus pulled the coffee out of his grip before running his hand up and down Jason's back until the coughing subsided.

"Wait, she's by herself?" Jason panicked for a moment.

"Relax, Kain is with her."

"Wait!? What?"

"Relax already Jason. Your heart is going to explode," said Noah, pointing to the heart monitor, which showed his heart rate at an elevated 172 beats per minute. "We can discuss that later. Can you give us a minute please, Tyrus?" asked Noah.

Tyrus nodded, and although he looked hesitant, he moved towards the door, exiting and leaving the two of them alone. Jason had so much to catch up but he didn't even know where to begin, so he was thankful when Noah broke the silence.

"You know, when I said Tyrus has been living here for the past three months, I wasn't kidding."

Jason looked at him with a curious stare, waiting for him to continue.

"I think that's the first time he's stepped a foot out of this room, actually," said Noah, looking at the back of the door where Tyrus disappeared. "He showers here, gets food delivered to him and someone even had to bring in some clean clothes for him. He spends his days managing his work from that laptop and phone." Noah pointed in the corner, which had a fold-out table propped up with his laptop and a few papers.

"Why?" asked Jason.

Noah laughed. "You're so oblivious sometimes, Jason. I guess it's probably one of the qualities Tyrus likes about you. But you can't tell me you're seriously unaware of how much that man loves you."

Jason crossed his arms over his chest, feeling the slight painful stretch of his bullet wound in his back. "If he loved me as you said he does then why did he use me like that? Why did he use us like that?"

"Look, I understand that he did some pretty shitty things, but he's working on making it up to you. At least just give him a chance, will you?"

Jason huffed out a sigh. He couldn't deny his feelings for Tyrus. But he put Riley in danger. "I don't know Noah. I need time to think about it."

"I'm sure he'll wait as long as you need him to."

Noah perched himself on the chair left vacant by Tyrus and proceeded to chat with Jason for the next hour about all the things he had missed out on in the past three months. Apparently, it wasn't much. Riley still continued with her classes and Noah had run the garage in his absence. Apart from that, they spent most of their free time by his side. He felt warmed by the notion, but he wished they didn't spend so much time sitting by his bed while he was essentially just sleeping.

After an hour or so, Riley popped her head in the door and he assumed Noah had messaged her to come on by. It was still way too early in the morning for her, but the smile on her face was more than enough to make him beam a bright smile back at her.

"Jason!" Riley screamed with delight as she came rushing over and bounding on top of him. He grunted, feeling the weight of her pressed down into the wound on his back.

"Oh sorry," she said, getting off him as fast as she could before resorting to finding a place perched on the edge of the bed. "How are you? Are you okay? Can I get you anything?"

Jason let out a chuckle at her rambling and smiled. "I'm fine Riley. How are you? Are you okay? Noah told me you're back with your therapist?"

"Umm yeah, I hope that's okay?"

"It's fine Riley. I'm glad you're back in therapy and you look to be doing well."

"Yeah, it's great. The FBI is even paying for it. Thanks to Tyrus, of course. Noah had the option too, but you know what he's like."

"I don't need any therapy. Thanks," chimed in Noah.

Jason raised his eyebrows as he watched Noah. He wasn't too sure whether that was true or not from what Tyrus had told him, but he would leave the subject for now. He had enough on his mind and Noah seemed okay for the moment.

"Oh, I'm sorry," said Riley, jumping off the bed. "I didn't realise I was sitting on your foot."

Jason guessed Riley hadn't been told yet and he and Noah glanced nervously between each other.

Riley looked at them with suspicion. "What is it?"

They both paused, unsure how to broach the subject with her.

"Now's not the time to be hiding things from me. Actually, I'm making a new family rule. No more secrets. We all know what good those have done for us in the past."

Jason let out a big breath of air. "You're right. No more secrets." He paused for a moment, scrunching the edge of the blanket between his fingers.

"He can't feel his legs," said Noah.

"But it's going to be okay," added Jason in a hurry, watching as Riley's face fell and her eyes turned watery. He hated seeing her unhappy. "The doctor said it's temporary, but it will just take time. In the meantime, I'm going to need an extra hand around the house. Do you think you could do that for me?"

Riley wiped her eyes with the back of her sleeve. "Of course," she sniffled. "I can take up the extra cleaning and I'll do your share of the cooking."

"Woah woah woah," chimed in Noah. "Let me handle the extra cooking. We don't want Jason to go through all of that just to be poisoned to death."

"Hey!" Riley threw a spare pillow in Noah's face and they all started laughing.

It felt good to be back with his family and even though it was going to be a long road to recovery, he felt positive he would get there. He could do anything with his family beside him, and now they were finally safe again.

Authors Note

Oh my god everyone, I think I only have one more chapter left! What a wild ride. Stay tuned for the final chapter.

~ Elara