Living with the Grace Boys

Chapter 22

Rae's POV

My brain is pounding. I can't remember where I am or what happened. I sit up. Too fast. My vision goes blurry. Shooting pain flares through my head. I reach my hands up to try and mask the pain. Firm hands push my shoulders back and force me to lay down.

My vision clears and I see myself in a hospital bed. How'd I get here? I glance around the room and sigh in relief when my eyes land on Shane. He stares at the floor. His hands are balled up in fists to keep them from shaking.

I extend my arm to bring him out of his thoughts. He jumps at my touch, but immediately smiles when he realizes that I'm awake.

"Oh thank God you're awake. We've all been so worried." He has major bags under his eyes. Like he hasn't slept in days.

"You look awful." I point out. He chuckles.

"I haven't had any sleep for the past 2 days."

"2 days? What're you talking about?"

"You've been out for the past two days. Don't you remember?"

"No. I don't even know why I'm here."

"You were in an accident. It was really bad. You sorta sprained your ankle." He's got to be joking. I look down at my ankle. He's not.

"Wait, what? How was I in a car accident?" Oh. I remember now. "Never mind."

"At least you're awake. Things have been catastrophic at home." Shane's upset. I can see it in his eyes.

"What happened?" I grab his hand. He slides closer to me.

"Liam's sick again." I give him a look of confusion.

"Oh, sorry. Liam's always had this condition thing where if he gets even the slightest cough, it turns into this ongoing hell for him. He'll get sick and it will be terrible and won't go away for weeks." Shane's eyes gloss over.

"Why don't you bring him to the hospital?"

"We can't." He stiffens up.

"Why not?"

"Mr. Pikes won't let us. He knows of Liam's disease and says that if we ever do anything to help Liam, he'll hurt all of us. And he means it." He takes a deep breath. "We didn't believe him at first. So when Liam got sick we brought him here. We payed the price for that."

He lifts up his shirt and I see a large purple scar running from the bottom of his rib-cage to his hip. Like he was gashed with a knife. I trace his scar with my finger.

"What'd he do?" I pull my hand back.

"He cut me. Only me. Sterling was pissed, but if he did anything it would've been worse for the rest of them. I'm okay though."

I scoot to the other side of my bed and motion for him to sit next to me. He obliges.

We sit together on the bed in silence. I rest my head on his chest. My auburn locks spilling over his shoulders. I listen to his heart beat and feel his chest move up and down with every breath he takes.

I wish we could stay like this forever, but we have to return to reality. Liam's sick and my foster-dad is a psychopath. Great. Just great.

**********

Shane and I arrive home after spending the past two days in the hospital. After I woke up earlier this morning, the doctor examined me and said that I could go home.

I hobble up the front steps, getting used to the feeling of my crutches. I open the door and regret not knocking first.

I step inside to see Griffin and Isaac yelling at each other while Liam lays on the floor throwing up. He's a nasty shade of green. Noah and Spencer are trying to clean him up and get him to stop crying. I can hear crashing from upstairs. Most likely Eli. Sterling's not in sight.

Shane walks in behind me and groans at the sight. He goes over to Liam and wipes off the puke from his mouth. He tells Noah to go get a damp wash cloth. He steps in between Griffin as Isaac. This can't be good.

I crutch to Spencer and tell him to move Liam to the kitchen. He picks Liam up and I pass him the bucket he was holding. Noah follows. I look at Shane, who nods. I crutch as best I can up the stairs to investigate the crashing noises.

*******
Shane's POV

I stand in the middle of Isaac and Griffin. They both yell at me. I don't care right now.

"Why the hell are you two fighting when Liam's on the floor puking?" Anger bubbles in my stomach.

"Stay outa this Shane!" Griffin yells.

"You can't be serious. You want me to stay out of the fight you're having in front of the boys?" I stare at him incredulously.

"Stop acting like Sterling, Shane. This isn't your fight." Isaac pipes up.

"Why are you even fighting?" They better have a good reason for this.

"It's none of your fucking buisness, Shane!" Griffin's mad. Shit.

"All I wanted to know was why you're screaming at each other, goddammit." I spit.

"Don't act all high and mighty with us. Cut the bullshit. This fight doesn't involve you, so butt out." Isaac remarks.

"I'm just trying to help."

"We could've used your help for the past 2 days but you had to be with Rae. What, is Rae more important than your own family now?" Griffin exclaims.

"Really? There was 6 of you taking care of Liam. You didn't honestly need me. I was with Rae, 'cause if you haven't noticed, she doesn't have 7 other brothers to take care of her!" I shout.

"Family first, remember? That's what we said." Isaac says.

"If family is soooo important to you, why are you fighting and not helping Liam?"

"Just shut the hell up." Griffin comments.

"No. I'm not gonna stop until you tell me why you're fighting!"

"This is why your own twin hates you! You are so fucking annoying and we wouldn't be in this mess because of you! It's all your fault Mom's dead and Lulu's dead and Dad left us! You're such a fucking screw-up!" Isaac spits out, bitterly.

I let the tears form. He's right. If I hadn't wanted to take a walk that day, we'd still be with Mom and Dad and we'd still have Lulu. It's all my fault. I feel the tears fall from my eyes.

"Shane, I'm-I'm sorry. I didn't mean-" I cut Isaac off.

"If you didn't mean it then you wouldn't have said it! Don't you know how awful I feel about that? Do you know that everyday when I wake up, that's the first thing I think off? You don't because you don't give a fuck what I do!" I let all my anger pour into my words.

"Griffin?" Noah enters the room. He's crying too.

"What's wrong?" We rush over to him.

"Liam's-Liam's coughing up blood. I don't know what to do. I'm scared." Noah looks up at me. He sees my tears. We start walking towards the kitchen.

"What the hell is going on here?" Sterling. How much of that did he hear?