River.

Chapter 36: Crashing Down

I walked into the hospital room and saw Riley laying down.

He glanced over at me and a faint smile grew on his face.

"Hey kit kat." He said. "I'm not dead yet."

That made me tear up. I couldn't believe I'd almost lost my brother. I honestly don't know what I'd do if I lost one of my brothers. Even though they made me wanna kill them at times I'd beat the living daylights out of anyone that messed with them. Only I had that right.

I sat down next to him and ruffled his hair.

"How are you feeling East?" I asked him.

"Like crap. But hey, I'm alive so I can't complain too much." He replied as he struggled to keep his eyes open. "And by the way, what happened to the bitch that shot me?"

We all giggled but he didn't. He was as serious as serious could get.

"She ran out the back door... but it's okay, I managed to place a tracker on her car before I walked into the house." Danny stated.

"What?" We all simultaneously said.

"Why'd you place a tracker on her car before anything even happened?" Jordan asked.

"Because, her car seemed suspicious." He replied which made him sound really dumb.

We all just looked at him and internally judged him.

"I've been in the CIA for 8 years. I'm trained to notice things out of the ordinary." He responded after seeing the looks on our faces. "You all should be thanking me."

"Thanks Danny." We all sarcastically said.

"Cassidy.... There's still something that's confusing me." Dad stated.

"Wha?" I asked.

"That woman... she said Grayson's her son. Is that true?"

I'd completely forgotten we told my parents that Grayson was Rivers godson.

"Yes. It's true." I admitted. No point in lying anymore.

"I have a feeling that Grayson's not really River's godson..." He skeptically stated.

"He's not. River met him on the plane and when we got to the airport we found out that his mom was pretty much a crackhead so we just brought him here with us until she was ready to take care of him. But then River talked to her on New Year's eve and she agreed to let him adopt Grayson."

"Why didn't you guys tell me this sooner?" He asked.

"Because it wasn't a big deal."

"It wasn't a big deal?! Cassidy, you guys brought a kid to my house that you met on a plane with a mom that has serious issues!"

"Why are you mad? It's not Grayson's fault. He had nothing to do with this."

"I know its not his fault! It's yours and River's fault that we're even in this position right now!"

I looked at him like he'd just lost his mind. There was NO WAY I was letting him blame this on me.

"Seriously Dad?! We couldn't have just left him with his deranged ass mom!"

"Well you should've called CPS or something instead of bringing this burden on all of us."

"What the hell! Why would we call CPS?! I'd never want a kid to have to go through life in foster homes! I thought you of all people would understand that!"

"You shouldn't have brought him here! In fact, if you would've just left him at the airport Riley wouldn't be laying up in a hospital bed right now!"