Her Titans by Genevieve Jasper
Quincy
35
The aftermath is pure chaos. The gunshots have our guys swarming the room, and Atlas carries Lai over to the bed. Her eyes are closed, her face scrunched in pain.
“Hold on, gorgeous, the nurse will be here any second.” I ring the bell repeatedly next to the bed.
Max and Causus are busy directing the guys to clean up and intervene with the police. I don’t even bother to tune in, I know they have it covered. Jeremy is in the crowd and ready to do what’s needed, but Max gets him to stay for medical attention too. The nurse runs in and steps up to Lai, looking at her shoulder.
“She needs pain relief,” I tell her.
“I think she’s going to need more than that. What happened?!”
Lai is laying back, groaning and breathing heavily. “She got pulled around by this arm. Has it done any more damage?”
“It could’ve. Can we clear the room out? I’ll get a doctor in here.”
The guys finish funnelling out to complete Max and Causus’s orders, and we all gather around Lai on the bed.
“Hang on, baby. It’ll be over soon.”
She nods her head but doesn’t open her eyes. A doctor rushes in and after a quick inspection decides Lai needs surgery again. The three of us kiss her and Causus wishes her luck before she’s wheeled out. The nurse notices the blood on the back of Jeremy’s head and leads him to his own room. As some guys return to board the window, we follow the nurse to the empty room. She fixes Jeremy’s wound as we all remain silent, the nurse talking to him about concussion and what to look out for. He nods along, but we all know nothing will slow him down. The nurse is eventually satisfied and leaves.
“Fucking hell,” Atlas breathes on a sigh, scrubbing a hand over his head.
“What now?” I ask the room.
“Our lawyer should be here any minute. He’ll work on keeping the police away, but we’ll have to speak to them at some point. Even if we are the Titans, a dead man just fell six floors from our room.” Atlas raises some good points. We all know they’ll take what we tell them but it doesn’t stop the rigmarole of giving statements.
Causus stands up. “Let me know what the story is, I’ll be back by the time Lai wakes up.”
“Where are you going?”
“It seems I’ve got some mistakes to correct.” He leaves us there with his cryptic exit.
A couple of hours later, when everything is calming down and it’s getting late, the doctor lets us know we can see Lai. We walk into her room and see double. Sat next to her are Lia and who can only be Gia, their resemblance uncanny. They’re not identical but you can clearly tell they’re related. Lai looks drained, but happy.
“Guys, this is Gia, my sister! Gia, this is Maxton, Quincy, and Atlas,” she says, pointing us out with her good arm.
Gia stands with the expression of a deer in headlights. “Hi,” she says softly, offering her hand, which we all shake.
“I’m going to go, Lai. I’ll come back first thing tomorrow, okay?”
“I’ll walk out with you,” Lia offers.
Lai nods and hugs them both, even as she winces.
“Bye, everyone,” Lia says, Gia awkwardly giving a mini-wave as she leaves.
Atlas walks closer to Lai, cupping her face. “How are you feeling, baby?”
“A bit overwhelmed, to be honest. I don’t really understand what’s happened.”
“Gia’s release has nothing to do with us, that was all Causus’s doing,'' Max admits. “What did Gia say?”
“She doesn’t really know anything either, someone came to get her an hour ago and suddenly, she’s free.” There’s awe in Lai’s voice and her eyes are shining, even if they are tired. They shoot to the door as Causus walks in. “Thank you so much, Coze.”
He shrugs, nonchalant as usual. “She shouldn’t have been in there.”
“How did you manage to get someone convicted of murder out of jail in five hours?” I ask him.
“How did you manage to get away with shooting someone out of a six-story window in a busy hospital?”
“Touche, dude. Touche.”
A smile touches his lips. “I just wanted to check in on you, Lie. How are you doing?”
“I’m good. I don’t think it's sunk in yet that it's over.”
“Well, it is. Just focus on recovering now, okay?”
“Okay, Coze. Thank you.”
“Stop thanking me, I’m blushing.”
Lai laughs and gives a wave as he turns and leaves. Atlas, Max and I start dragging chairs around her bed, but she shuffles over awkwardly.
“Sit with me?”
“Who?”
“All of you.”
None of us can turn that down after the last 48 hours. Atlas and Max sit side by side against her headboard and she snuggles back between them, while I sit against the end rubbing her feet, which are propped in my lap.
“Mmm, that feels amazing,” she says, her body relaxing now it’s just us.
Atlas turns his head to press a kiss against her hair. “Get some rest.”
“I feel like I’ve been resting forever. I want to spend some time with you three.”
“Baby, we have forever for that.”
And we did. Lai was safe, and our lives stretched ahead of us. I couldn’t wait to see what it brought us all. Together.