King of Spades |Book 1|

Chapter 38 • The Beginning of the End

•Rayan's POV•

The stab wound hit an artery, and the blood loss was critical. The stitches that Luca put in his shoulder at the house just made everything worse with the fear of increasing infection.

The police came and got his statement, which is routine for a bullet wound. He told them he was hit by a stray bullet walking in a neighborhood he shouldn't have been.

He'll also undergo another surgery today to get out the last pieces of bullet fragments but it's risky. If another artery is ruptured his life could end fast. I try not to think about the worst.

Dane gave the name of a town he's probably never been to the police say they'll look into it. None of us realized how bad everything was until Talus was admitted to the hospital. The bullet fragments are all throughout the muscles of his shoulder. Now it is only Roman with me in the waiting room, everyone has gone home to catch up on some sleep.

"He'll be okay, ya know," he says to me in a whisper. He doesn't really speak much, but when he does it'll amaze you.

I don't say anything back. I just stare into the distance. Talus has been asleep for hours all drugged up. His body is in bad shape and after all this his mental will be too.

Dane hasn't showed much emotion since this all started. Cussing here and there but nothing genuine. I know it's bothering him, he doesn't want to lose another sibling. He says he's at home sleeping but he probably pacing the living room with her hands in his hair, thinking about the moment our brother was hurt.

Salem, on the other hand, has been doing everything he can to make sure Talus, Simone, and I are okay. I couldn't have asked for anybody more supportive to come into my life I just wish the circumstances were different.

I remember how he told me about his assault charge, and how he can't get a job because of that. But wasn't he a minor when that happened? I didn't think anybody could access that record. The thoughts play in my head for awhile as I find short conspiracy to conjure in my head about Salem, but I let them go. Too much is going on right now to be jumbled with random thought.

"I lost my brother when I was 9," Roman says from beside me. I look up for the first time in awhile and meet his face. It's expressionless.

"I remember everything about him. All the details, all the personals, his biggest fears, the things that made him smile ... everything," his words get weaker and his eyes turn dark, like he is looking into a place about himself that has been shut off for years.

"I never knew what tragedy was until his passing. I personally didn't feel it as much as everyone around me, but it was there. The painful heartache of my parents was the worst. They were never the same after that."

He didn't speak anymore. His quietness didn't mix well with the angry beeping noises floating throughout the hospital. Something wasn't right with any of us. We have all experienced the worse hand dealt in life.

*****

I lift up my shirt and feel the thick 'K' scar on my stomach, thinking back to everything that has happened while living here.

Meeting everybody and learning their lives. Whoever Kai, Griff, and Lane are, and why this psychotic thing happened to me.  Dealing with the harsh attitude of Dane, and now this stuff with Talus. I can't believe I'm dealing with this right now.

My entire life has been filled with secrets and lies. How did I never meet Simone or Dante? My siblings have loved them for god only knows how long, but how did I never meet them? How did I not know my father runs a legacy of gang activity, smuggling guns and whatever else. How the hell did Salem fall so perfectly into my life at the most imperfect time. Theres so many questions that need to be answered, but yet it feels like there is no time to get what I am looking for.

Gang? Really. They mentioned something about 300 years. So how many of my ancestors have been into this type of stuff? I don't understand how I could have missed even the slightest of hints to all this happening around me. Guns and dirty business where the main focus of all of our fathers. After the explosion, how could any of them let this still continue? Now my brothers, my boyfriend-thing, and people I've either grew very close to or have known my entire life are involved in this mess.

I'm amazed at the mental stability Salem and Dane have had through all of this. Being the next "leaders" or whatever they are. Are they too deep into this to escape it now? Obviously something terrible is surrounding this whole situation if my other brother is almost dead because of it.

As my brain wonders, I don't notice the warm bagel sandwich that was put into my hands.

"Eat," is all Dane says. He walks away without even looking at me. I can tell his mind is just as clouded as mine. I eat the sandwich slowly, not tasting a single bite. Most of my body feels numbs. The build up of constant bullshit in a persons life will definitely do that to you.

*****
A light tap on my shoulder springs my body out of the almost heavy sleep it was in. My arm is sore from resting my heavy head on it for who knows how long.

I look up to see Navy, a light smile on his eyes. I don't even have to say a word to know what he is telling me.

Talus is awake.

I sprint out of my chair and head around the corner and straight to his room. Monitors beep around me as my ears heat up with happiness and worry. I enter the room, but immediately stop in my tracks.

His skin is paler than normal, his hospital gown making his body a lot for scrawny then I recall it actually being. From where I stand I can see the sweat glistening off his forehead.

"I'm not in pain," he chokes out. He moves to sit up, but stops himself halfway. "The only reason why I'm so achy is because of the infection and the shattered bones I experienced from the gunshot wound."

My eyes widen in horror, and all he does is laugh. Slowly, I walk over to his bed. There already a space next to his side as if it was made just for me to sit at. I take a seat, keeping my face neutral.

I ask how he's feeling and all he does is shrug. The drugs thats running through his IV surely have him feeling very close to heavenly right now. We sit quit for awhile, and even though I should wait due to these circumstances, I can't help myself.

"All these secrets Talus. All the things I don't know. I was kidnapped and mutilated, and you were shot. We lost half our family in a split second. Why does this keep happening Talus, all this misery?" I manage to spit out all in one sentence. He stares at me blankly, as if he knew my boiling point was at its peak.

"One day, it'll all make sense. It's dramatic, I know, but when something like this is thrown on teenage boys, we had to turn into men," he says, looking a bit distraught.

"We never asked for this," is the last thing he manages to get out before the constant drugs put him swiftly back to sleep. I sit there for a moment, then I lay beside my big brother wondering if this is all we have in store for us.

•••••
Chapter 38 done!

Couple more chapters to come:) then book 2.

I know it's been awhile. I wish I could have fully committed to this book years ago.

If yours still with me since the beginning, leave a comment. Thank you.