Kevin's jaw was clenched tightly shut and his grip on the phone left his knuckles white.
Nick had his hands in his lap as he fidgeted nervously with the hem of his shirt.
Finally, Kevin spoke, all confidence was gone from his voice. It shook with uncertainty and fear. As much as he didn't want Cane to view him as weak, he couldn't hide the way he felt.
Which was helpless.
"Well, we'll come out then," Kevin said into the phone. As he looked up, he was met with two pairs of questioning eyes. There was another pause in the conversation and then, "How long?"
Kevin waited for an answer, "Okay."
The phone was placed gently on the hook and ran a hand over his tired face and threw his hair. He realized suddenly that it had been days since he had a good nights sleep. Ever since Joe was taken, all that came when he laid down were nightmares. After this was over, the first thing he planned to do was curl up in his bed and go to sleep. Looking at his brothers, he saw that they needed the same thing.
"Well?" Joe asked.
"Everyones gone," Kevin replied. "Cane wants us in the lobby on this floor. He's gonna be here soon."
Joe nodded and Nick closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Their few moments of peace were indeed over and it was now time to face the music. Music that Nick figured would sound like scary organ music if a soundtrack was made for this situation.
Kevin stood up and Nick slowly followed the act. Joe began to ease his legs over the side of his bed. Kevin quickly went to his brothers side and placed hand around his waste, helping him stand.
A wince spread across Joe's face as he slowly made his way to the door, aided by Kevin. It had been the first time he had been out of the bed since his surgery and it felt like he wasn't ready. His chest ached and his whole body was sore. He tried to hide it, but it hurt like hell.
Nick walked slowly out into the hallway, keeping close to his brothers. He noticed how much Joe had paled since he had gotten up and he wished he could've been left out of this. He had been through enough already.
Joe had one arm wrapped around Kevin's shoulders, holding himself upright. His other arm was firmly clutching his ribs, trying to protect himself from the pain.
They approached the lobby and Joe leaned heavily on the counter, letting go of Kevin. He was finally able to take a breath and regain his composure.
Nick stood to his right. Kevin to his left.
Silence spread amongst them for a few moments until Nick broke it, "Guys?"
Joe and Kevin both turned their heads to show that they were listening.
"What does he want?"
That question had been running through all three of their minds ever since they heard they had to meet Cane. Kevin kept running the plan over and over in his mind, but he had a feeling it wasn't going to work.
How could it?
Did they really just expect Cane to leave Nick and Joe down here and chase Kevin upstairs? Kevin knew he was going to have to do something to make Cane follow him up the stairs.
He just had no idea what that something was going to be.
All Kevin wanted was for his brothers to be safe again. They hadn't felt safe since Cane's car had showed up behind them and they were all ready for everything to go back to normal.
"Nick, we gotta just wait and see. It's all gonna be okay," Kevin finally responded to Nick.
Nick looked skeptical, "How do you know?"
Joe cut in this time, "Because we're your older brothers and we say that your gonna be fine."
Nick looked at Joe and smiled. The way Joe said it so, matter-of-factly, made Nick believe it.
A quiet beeping sound startled the boys and they looked across the lobby, searching for it's source. Nobody was their but as the sound was heard again, they looked closer.
The elevator.
They were on the 7th floor and the elevator had made it to the third. In what seemed like slow motion they watched as it came closer.
4.
5.
6.
Joe reached out and placed a hand on both brothers shoulders. Kevin and Nick responded by placing a hand over Joe's. Each brother held their breath as the elevator rose to their level.
7.
Slowly, the doors slid open, revealing Cane and Blake. Cane smirked dangerously while Blake stood back, a blank expression on his face.
Father and son stepped out of the elevator. Cane looked around and nodded his head in satisfaction of the empty floor. He brought his gaze to the three brothers standing closely together.
"Hello boys."
I officially give you guys permission to hate me for leaving it their. This honestly wasn't meant to be a cliff hanger. I wanted to write out the entire hospital scene in this chapter but my moms making me get off.
I feel so bad for not updating and then bringing you a short, crappy update. I'm so sorry. I really hope you all don't hate me for it even though I'd hate me for it. I promised a good action filled chapter, and this was just lame.
But now I'm making a real promise to you guys.
I will update tomorrow. It will be long. It will be action filled. It will be dramatic. It will be angsty.
I'm not even gonna ask you guys to review cause I don't deserve them.
Hah.
Again, I'm so sorry. And I'll update tomorrow.