Page 24 of Rebellious

“I think Rule would love that,” Rebel said, pulling herself together if only for Axel. He was a small kid, who deserved the same safety and security she’d felt at his age. “I’ll even help you write a letter to him and explain why you’re sending it.”

“You tell me the words and I’ll interprertet and write what I want to say.”

“Interpret, and okay,” she said.

“Come with me, you three,” CJ said, backing away from the bed and nodding toward the door.

“I don’t want to leave Reb,” Axel said. “I’m her bodyguard forever.”

Rebel exchanged a smile with CJ. He winked at her.

“Don’t you want to cheer her up?”

“Yeah, C. I do,” Ryder piped in, his serious expression evaporating.

“Good,” CJ said. “Let’s go into the hallway and practice Little Red Riding Hood. We can each play a part, then come in an act it out for her.”

Axel tipped his head back, his green eyes teary and grave. “That’ll make you happy, Reb?”

She wasn’t sure, but it might take her brothers’ minds off what had happened, so she nodded. “Very.”

“Be right back,” Axel said, jumping out of bed. “Come on, men,” he ordered, running toward the door, Ryder and Ransom hot on his heels. “We won’t be long, Reb.”

“What Axel said,” CJ told her once the boys were out of the room.

“CJ?” Rebel called before her brother walked out the door.

He turned to her.

“I love you.”

“I love you, too, bae.”

Walking outside Rebel’s room, CJ closed the wooden door and leaned against it, not liking his little sister’s paleness or her sadness. He took a long, shaky breath to steady his racing heart, but the air was thick and suffocating. Nauseating.

“CJ?” Axel’s little voice echoed in the exceptionally quiet corridor.

“Reb’s going to be okay, right?” Ransom asked, the words trembling and unsure.

Polished terrazzo floors reflected the soft, warm light from overhead recessed fixtures rather than the harsh fluorescent tubes found in other parts of the hospital.

“Why do people keep trying to hurt Reb?” Ryder asked, needing reassurance though he was the next oldest among the four of them.

A sleek electronic chart tablet glowed faintly next to a hand-sanitizer dispenser, catching the cold glare from the circular mahogany nurse’s station directly across the wide hallway, where Axel, Ransom, and Ryder leaned against the wood veneer. They looked at CJ with wide, terrified eyes, anchoring him to the spot while he searched for responses to their questions. Except he had none at the moment, only able to process the stark contrasts around him: the expensive, sweet fragrance of a massive bouquet of lilies on the reception counter overlapping with the sharp, chemical sting of antiseptic. Every sound magnified in the quiet zone—the gentle, relentless pip-pip of a telemetry monitor that underscored the muffled squeak of a nurse's rubber-soled shoes moving down the carpeted edge of the hallway.

It all looked and sounded the same, but an instant changed his life again. He couldn’t fucking imagine what the fuck had happened for a shopping trip to turn into another fucking hospital stay.

“Rebel wants us to perform Little Red Riding Hood,” Axel reminded him, still a sad little boy instead of the little monster who planted bombs and made threats. “It’ll cheer her up.”

“You said so,” Ransom said, the words skirting accusation.

“I did,” CJ responded. Full awareness hadn’t hit him until he walked into the hallway and realized they could’ve lost Rebel again.

Scowling, Axel marched to CJ. “If you don’t got the brain to cheer Reb up, get to fucking stepping cuz we do.”

CJ snapped his brows together, Axel’s sudden anger catching him off-guard. He’d changed from a frightened kid to a belligerent little nightmare in an instant. Not only wasn’t he in the mood to argue with Axel, CJ did want to cheer up Rebel. He’d made the suggestion. Stewing in his hodge podge of emotions achieved nothing but more heartache and fucked him up more.

“We can go in the waiting room to practice,” Ryder suggested still leaning against the nurse’s station next to Ransom.