Page 112 of Beauty & Chaos

Marry her?

I mean, yes.

Thatisfucking happening. But I wasn’t expecting her best friend to be so on board. Tonight.

One glance at her father, who is still shooting me death glares, tells me I have a lot of work to do there.

That I can do.

I go back to pacing along the shitty carpet when I see Connor Barrett walking down the hall. He spots me and heads over.

“Travis.” He shakes my hand.

“How is he?” I ask, feeling like a piece of shit not asking after Decker.

“It nicked his arm.” Connor smirks. “Hard man to kill, trust me.”

I shake my head. “Have they caught the shooter?”

“No. They likely won’t, but we are checking out any footage we can find.” Connor slides his hands into his pockets, then tugs one out and when he sees Killian. “Hey man, thanks for the booking last month.”

“Always, you know that.” Killian shakes his hand.

Zayne joins us, and we introduce him.

“How is Brooklyn?”

“Still in surgery.” I tell the Marine and fellow billionaire. “I’ll keep you posted.”

He slaps me on the back and says his goodbyes.

We go back to waiting.

––––––––

I’M NOT GOOD at waiting, and my fury grows as I continue wondering who was responsible for shooting her.

I know who.

Indirectly, of course.

Zayne has gone, and Killian is yawning.

“Go, I’ll be here all night. You may as well get some sleep.” I tell him.

“Okay man.” He slaps my back.

When I’m on my own, I make my way through the hospital and find a dark, private space. Then pull out my phone and scroll to the number I never thought I’d dial.

Doing a few more technical things, I protect my phone’s identity and push the green button.

It rings.

My heart pounds as I wait to hear the voice I despise.

“Hello.”

It’s late, but I knew he’d answer.