Page 111 of Silver Sanctuary

Ex-girlfriend. That was the way Stone had wanted it to be.

The woman finally looked away from her computer, not an ounce of compassion in her eyes. Shit. She should have lied.

“I’m sorry. If you are not the next of kin, then I can’t give you any information on him. You’ll need to speak with whomever is Mr. Lawson’s family.”

“Are you fuck?—”

“Mae!” Her brother’s voice slammed into her before she even saw him. The noise of the busy emergency room faded away. Her body turned, but even blinking felt like it lasted for hours. Her eyes bounced to a few random people, some withclipboards filling out paperwork, others holding conversations with the people next to them. And then, her eyes landed on Hawk.

The truth was written all over his face. She’d never seen her brother so pale, so worried. So completely consumed with pain that he didn’t crack a smile at her or try to make her laugh. She faintly registered the fact that he was in scrubs. There must have been so much blood. Blood that would have stained his clothes and his skin as he did everything he could to help save Stone.

Somewhere behind her, the strangest high pitched whine started. The eerie noise was otherworldly, and it worked its way down deep into her heart.

Hawk wasthree steps awayfrom her when the room started spinning.

Two steps awaywhen the whine stopped and was replaced with a pain-drenched sob as it tore free from her throat.

One step awaywhen she started falling.

Mae collapsed into her brother’s arms. He didn’t speak, he didn’t try to tell her the worst of her fears weren’t true, he just held her.

And she knew. The truth soaked into her bones, and the world around her faded away.

“Breathe, Mae. I need you to not fall apart right now. So, just take a couple of deep breaths and pull it together.”

“Tell me he’s okay. Tell me he made it!” she screamed into his chest, not caring that the emergency room had fallen to a hush while other people watched her come apart.

“Shh. He’s in surgery. I don’t have any more information than that. But he’s here. The doctors have him now.”

“W-what hap-pened?” Her chest burned.

“I’ll tell you what I know, but we have to go upstairs. I was just coming to see if anyone was waiting down here.” His head swiveled around the room. “You came by yourself?”

“Y-yes.”

“Damn it, Mae. I told you to wait for someone else. You shouldn’t have driven?—”

“You think I-I’m waiting after you t-tell me he died in your arms?”

Hawk shook his head. “I don’t fucking like that you didn’t listen to me. But I understand. We need to go upstairs. There’s a private conference room I was able to get for us.”

“What about everyone e-else?” She wiped at her eyes while her brother helped her stand. God, her legs were shaking. How the hell would she even be able to get upstairs?

“I’ll send out a text. You good? Want to sit for a minute before we go?”

“No. We should go. What if they’re looking for you to give an update about him?”

“Okay. Let’s go.”

Minutes melted into hours that were filled with her friends moving all around her in a pattern she couldn’t make sense of. She was offered water, or coffee, or something to eat, at least once every five minutes. While it should have been comforting, everything about her body felt like it was one sudden movement away from crumbling to ash.

Time started dragging on, until the sun was high in the sky and Sebastian and Emma had joined the group. Mae just kept thinking, over and over and over, that everyone was there now, so the doctors could come give them an update. But nothing came as the hands on the clock kept spinning around and around.

Finally, after the second sandwich of the day had been shoved in her hands and promptly put down on the table beside her, a man in dark blue scrubs stepped into the privatewaiting room. “Excuse me, I’m looking for the next of kin for Stone Lawson?”

“That’s me. I’m his health care proxy,” Gunner said as he cleared his throat, standing to offer his outstretched hand to the doctor. Sebastian walked to the front of the group as well, shaking the doctor’s hand in turn. Mae must have given Hawk a confused look because he leaned over to her.

“The other guys legally designated Sebastian and Gunner as their health care proxies when we moved here. I have you, so I didn’t need to do that. But this way, if family wasn’t able to get here fast, and something bad happened where medical decisions needed to be made, they could legally step in.”

She didn’t know whether to feel comforted by his whispered words or not, but she was grateful that Gunner would keep a level head and not make any rash decisions if Stone’s care was left up to him.

“How is he?” Gunner’s question sat in the still, quiet air as the seconds passed. Mae watched the doctor remove his scrub cap, and run his fingers through his hair.

And then she saw it, the moment he steeled himself to tell them all the news. The second the doctor’s eyes filled with compassion, looking around at the room filled with people who loved Stone. And then, those eyes landed on her.

Mae stood, her whole body trembling as she walked to stand next to Gunner. She saw the truth written so clearly on the doctor’s face, but she still needed to hear him say the words.

“Just tell us. Please. Is he alive?”