Jasper (13 page)

Now,
Travis was on his way to the hospital via ambulance, and Trevor was taking his
first helicopter ride ever. Too bad he couldn’t enjoy it. Other than the whir of
the blades, there was no noise coming through Trevor’s earphones. Dante and
Frey were speaking to one another, but they had either turned his cans off or
were using their Gargoyle hearing to speak so low he couldn’t hear. Matthew sat
silently next to him, holding Trevor’s hand. The teen wasn’t offering words of
encouragement nor condolences, so he was either in the dark as much as Trevor
or had a really good game face. As the helicopter landed on the helipad atop
the hospital, he was about to find out which.

The
news wasn’t good. Travis had sustained a gunshot wound to the stomach. Dante
used his credentials in the medical field to get as much information for Trevor
as he could, but there was no news other than Travis was in surgery, and it was
touch and go. Surgery could take hours, so Dante encouraged him to try to
relax.

Trevor
wanted to yell at his boss. He balled his fist up and considered hitting him.
His brother was probably going to die, and Dante wanted him to relax. What a fucking
joke. Until Theron was six feet under, there would be no relaxing. Not for him.
Not for Jasper.

Jasper.

This
was his fault. If he’d been strong all those years ago and not let Theron use
him as a boy toy, this wouldn’t be happening. Did Dante and his clan not realize
they were toxic? Isabelle and Connor were kidnapped because of Theron’s father.
Isabelle’s foster father was dead. Sophia’s parents were kidnapped because of
them. Now, Trevor was being followed, and his brother, the only one in his life
who’d ever given a good goddamn about him, was on an operating table because of
them.

Matthew
must have seen that Trevor was about to blow. He put himself between Dante and
Trevor and said, “Uncle D, not now.”

Dante’s
eyebrows shot up, obviously not used to being scolded, especially by a
teenager. Frey put his hand around the back of Dante’s neck and directed him
away from the younger men. Matthew waited until his dad and Dante were on the
other side of the room before turning to Trevor. “It sucks, I know. There’s not
a fucking thing you can do but wait. This shit ain’t fair, man. And on fuckin’
Christmas day? Who the fuck does shit like this on Christmas?”

“Matthew
Hartley, language.” Abbi had walked into the room mid-tirade. She must have
ridden with Gregor and the other women, because they all came into the waiting
area at the same time. Matthew didn’t apologize. Trevor appreciated the teen’s
outburst on his behalf. At that moment he realized he had a real friend in
Matthew in spite of their age differences. Matt hadn’t liked him at first,
because he didn’t want to see Jasper hurt. Ever since the shooting, they had
grown closer. Matthew flicked his hand at his sister, and she took the hint.

“Thank
you. I don’t want everyone’s sympathy right now.”

“Trevor?
Where’s Trevor?” Jasper ran into the room and wrapped his arms around Trevor
once he spotted him in the corner. When he didn’t return the affection, Jasper
pulled back to look at him. “Baby, are you okay?”

“No,
I’m not fucking okay.” He pushed out of Jasper’s grasp. “Just don’t.”

“Trev…”

“No,
Jasper. Leave him be,” Matthew pled.

Trevor
was suffocating. There was too much emotion in the room and none of it good
except for Matthew taking up for him. “I gotta get out of here,” he said and
ran out of the room.

“Trevor,
wait,” Jasper called after him, but he didn’t wait. He didn’t bother going for
the elevator. He had to get outside into the cold air as quickly as possible.
He found the stairwell and ran down the six flights. He jogged down the hallway
toward the front entrance and didn’t stop once he was outside. He ran until he
couldn’t run any farther. He had no idea how far he’d gone or exactly where he
was. Now that he realized what he’d done, he knew it was really stupid to leave
the hospital without protection. He turned to go back when he saw Tessa.

The
redhead was leaned against a light post, arms crossed. “Feel better?” she
asked.

 “Not
really. The only family I have is in there fighting for his life. What are you
doing here?”

“Someone
had to follow you, and I figured since I have an idea of what you’re going
through, it might as well be me.”

He
started to yell at her and tell her she didn’t have a clue when she held up her
hand. “Stop. Don’t even say it. I’ve been chased my whole fucking life because
my mother ran off with me after I was cloned. More than one person lost their
life on account of me being me. On account of Jonas playing God. One of my
uncles died pretending to be Gordon’s brother. All those redheaded women died
just because they looked like me. I could have died when Richard Merrick chased
me away from the fair. You know what happened to Isabelle’s family. To Connor. To
Sophia and her parents. So don’t even think you’ve cornered the market on being
a target in this family.”

“If
Jasper…”

Tessa
cut him off again. “If Jasper what? Hadn’t gone to work today? Didn’t have a
past? Wasn’t your mate? If is one of the biggest two letter words there is, and
one of the most detrimental used. If you want to blame Jasper’s past for what
happened today, you need to blame the Unholy being created on my past, on me
being cloned. That’s what started that whole mess. I don’t know what happened
between Jasper and Theron all those years ago, but whatever it was didn’t cause
what happened today. Theron being an evil bastard caused what happened today.”

Trevor
knew she was right, but it didn’t make it any easier. He knew Tessa was a
strong woman, but at that moment, he realized how strong. Even when he helped
get her home from the hospital after she wrecked, he hadn’t stopped to think about
what all she had endured at the hands of Gordon Flanagan. She’d dodged the man
who thought he was her father her whole life, creating aliases and moving from
place to place.

“Do
you regret it?”

“Regret
what?”

“Mating
with the warden?”

“Not
for one second. Life is too short for regrets, Trevor. You either live your
life to the fullest, surrounding yourself with the ones who care about you, or
you simply exist. You go through the motions day after day, doing the same damn
thing, and for what? To go home alone at the end of the day, eating cheese puffs
and reading romance novels, wishing you were the girl in the book who got the
hot as fuck alpha male? Or sitting in your apartment eating Pop-Tarts while
playing video games alone? I let my uncle dictate my life for a long time.
Jonas told me I couldn’t let the Gargoyles know about the half-bloods. You know
what? I said
fuck that
. When I came out of my coma, the only thing I
wanted was for Gregor to bite me. Make me his. I came too fucking close to
dying. But it wasn’t about me. I didn’t ever want to put him through that
again.”

“Did
you really shoot him?”

“She
damn sure did. Twice,” Gregor said as he walked up behind Tessa. The grin on
his face let Trevor know he didn’t hold a grudge against his woman. “Sorry to
interrupt, but after what happened to Travis, I would prefer you not have my
mate out in the open as an easy target. Can we take this conversation somewhere
less visible?”

“Yeah,
sorry. I just needed some space.” Trevor began walking back toward the
hospital.

Their
return back inside was done in silence, giving him time to think about what she
said. He still wasn’t ready to face Jasper, but he didn’t have a choice. What
Tessa said made sense. It wasn’t Jasper’s fault Travis had been shot. He
couldn’t be blamed for what happened two hundred years ago. But if Theron was
going to try to kill the loved ones of the Clan, it might be better if he and
Jasper weren’t romantically involved. Trevor should probably move out of town
and get far away from Jasper so he wouldn’t be a target. He wouldn’t make that
decision now, not until Travis was out of surgery and Trevor knew what to
expect next. He stopped by the desk and filled out the appropriate paperwork
for his brother before returning to the waiting area.

Jasper
couldn’t stop blaming himself for Travis being shot. He had been selfish in
wanting to move so fast with Trevor. Now, he wasn’t even sure it was a good
idea to have Trevor in his life. He didn’t want to be the cause of heartache
for anyone, and he was the cause of this. If he hadn’t been such a coward when
he was younger, he’d have stood up to Theron, clan or no clan. He should have
continued fishing like he wanted. He’d had a good life with his mentor. At the
very least he could have left town the moment Theron began abusing him and
started a new life in a new country. Greece wasn’t the only place to fish.

If
Travis pulled through, Jasper was going to reconsider having Trevor in his
life. He’d lived alone most of the time anyway. He was used to not having a
mate. For Trevor’s sake, he could continue living alone. If Travis didn’t pull
through the surgery, he doubted he would have to make the choice. Trevor would
make it for him. He knew Trevor blamed him for his brother getting shot. Hell,
he blamed himself.

When
Trevor came back into the waiting area, Jasper resisted the urge to go to him.
He stayed seated next to Matthew who had told him to give Trevor time to chill.
The teen was wise beyond his years. Probably because his young life had been
marred with its own torture and heartache. Trevor looked their way and,
surprisingly, came over to where they were. “Matt, please scoot over.” When he
did, Trevor sat down between the two of them and leaned his head back against
the wall. Neither one said anything to him. The need to touch his mate was
close to unbearable. His beast was roaring for him to comfort Trevor, but he
pushed back, explaining silently how Trevor needed time.

The
hours passed by in mostly silence. When the doctor came in several hours later,
Trevor jumped from his chair. Everyone stood, and Jasper made his way to
Trevor’s side. As the doctor began to speak, Trevor reached for Jasper’s hand. Before
the doctor could give much information, the door flew open and a woman asked,
“Where’s my son?”

Trevor
tensed beside him, squeezing his hand. “I’m here.”

If
looks could freeze a person, the one she gave Trevor would have sent him to the
Arctic. “Where’s Travis?”

“Who
are you?” the doctor asked.

“I’m
his mother. Now, where’s my son?”

The
doctor looked at Trevor, and he nodded once. Instead of letting go of Jasper’s
hand in the presence of his parents, Trevor held on even tighter.

“I
was just about to tell your other son that the bullet hit Travis’s spleen, so
we removed it. Luckily, no other major organs were affected. With his previous
heart condition, we’ll need to monitor him closely. He’ll have to be sure and
get regular immunizations since his susceptibility to infection will be higher,
but I’m confident Travis will make a full recovery. Your son was lucky. They
are waking him up now, and he will be moved to ICU for overnight observation.
The nurse will come back down and let you know when visiting hours are.”

Jasper,
along with everyone in the room, was relieved that Travis would be okay, but
they all stared at Mrs. McKenzie. She didn’t give Trevor another look. She did
take in all the others who were standing around before grabbing her husband’s
hand and leading him to a couple of chairs on the far side of the room. Jasper
wanted to hug Trevor tight, letting him know there were people who gave a damn
about him. All he had to do was look around at the Clan members who were there
for him. Then again, Trevor might be silently blaming every single one of them
for what happened to his brother.

Everyone
gathered around Trevor, the women hugging him and the men giving him shoulder
squeezes. Abbi suggested they try to eat something, so she, Frey, and Matthew
went down to the cafeteria. When they returned, they passed out sandwiches,
chips, and bottles of water. When Trevor’s mother had the audacity to ask Abbi
if she brought enough for her and Mr. McKenzie, Abbi didn’t hold back.

“Mrs.
McKenzie, just because you bring a child into this world does not make you a
mother. In less than ten seconds you proved to everyone in this room the type
of person you are. Travis might be on the operating table, but Trevor is
hurting for his brother. You spared him one look that spoke volumes. You
haven’t seen or spoken to Trevor since he left for college, and you didn’t
bother to ask him how he is. But you know what? He has a new family now. If you
want to pretend he doesn’t exist, that’s okay. We love Trevor. Every single one
of us in this room loves him, and we’re glad he’s part of our family. We are
honored to know him. He’s smart, funny, brave, and has a lot of love to offer
back. We are here for Trevor and Travis, not you. If you want food, I suggest
you go get it yourself.” Abbi turned her back on the woman, walking into the
open arms of Frey.