Chapter Forty-six

Bram called Izabella as he tucked Tyler in the car beside him. His driver wasn’t new to this kind of thing. “Bram!” She answered on the first ring. “Are you okay? What about Tyler? What happened?” He hadn’t realized she would be waiting up for his call.

“I’m fine. Tyler’s in rough shape though. I’m going to stay in his apartment with him tonight to make sure.” Bram felt better just hearing her voice on the other end of the phone. Tyler was currently tucked beside him, resting his head on Bram’s shoulder. “I’m sorry. It was a crazy night.”

“Don’t be sorry. I’m just happy everyone is okay. You’re sure he doesn’t need to go to the hospital?” She asked on the other end. Her worry touched him, and he couldn't help but smile at the phone.

“I don’t think so. Nothing’s broken. He just had a hell of a night. And I want to make sure he’s fine before I leave him alone.” Bram said into the phone, as he stroked Tyler’s golden hair. He came way too close to losing him today.

“I have leftovers from supper. I could pack some, with some clean clothes. Do you want to have the driver stop by to pick it up?” She asked.

“Maybe in the morning. It’s getting late.” Bram sighed. They needed food, but not that kind. “It’s late. Why aren’t you in bed?”

“I was worried about you.” The sentiment touched him, his chest tightened briefly. “I would have been awake all night if you didn’t call.”

Bram chuckled. “Thank you. I appreciate that you care.” His worry couldn’t be alleviated that quickly though. “Izabella, if anyone comes and knocks on the door, I don’t want you to answer it. Just stay quiet and text me, okay?”

“Uh, okay. What’s going on?” She was starting to sound worried.

“I think the gang that tried to hurt you in the store may be after us. I can’t say they weren’t isolated incidents, but they were at the club and went after Tyler. I just want you to be careful.”

“We will be. I’m so sorry. Go take care of Tyler. I have Devon. I’ll make sure he’s safe. Thank you for calling.” She was giving him a reason to get off the phone, but he really didn’t want to. “I’m really glad everything worked out. And I’ll be very careful. You take care of Tyler and I’ve got Devon. Don’t worry about us, okay?”

“If anything happens, call or text me. Just in case.”

“I will. I’ll talk to you in the morning. Call when you wake up and let us know what’s happening, ‘kay?”

“I will.” Bram said into the phone. He didn’t hang up the phone right away, and he could hear her on the other end still.

There was complete silence for a moment, and he almost hung up, until he heard her whisper, “Bram?”

“Yeah?”

“No matter what, if you need to come back, I can give you the spare room for Tyler, and go down to the apartment. I won’t ask any questions. It’s just… if this all happened in the bar, I’m worried they know where you’re staying. I swear, as soon as you get here, I’ll disappear.”

He looked down at Tyler, and really wanted to take him to his house. He had so many more options there. “Iz, what would you do if I showed up and my flamingo outfit was completely drench and ruined?”

“Be angry that I can’t see you in pink?” She hesitated before giggling. “I might also buy another for you. Christmas or a birthday? I saw the transfer in my account today too. It was more than I was expecting, so please just double check it. I do thank you for everything though. Sweet dreams. I hope you know that I’m really happy I met you.” There was a long pause. The car was pulling up to the garage. “If you come here, I’ll do anything to help.”

“It’s a mess. I also can’t explain it. Not yet.”

“I won’t ask. I promise.” She sounded so sincere. “Please let me help you and Devon.”

“We’ll be up in a minute, if you’re sure?” Izabella swore she was. They took the stairs. Bram was tiring before he got to the top. He didn’t knock. Izabella was at the counter, standing in a candlelit kitchen. Staring at her phone. Her eyes met his as he came in with Tyler.

“I’m taking Tyler into my room.”

Izabella dropped her phone and ran in front of him. “I have the guest room prepared, and your room. Devon was a really big help.” The bed was made and already turned down. Bram tucked Tyler in between the sheets. “I’m going to go downstairs. Is that okay?” Her eyes were wide, bouncing between the two of them. Though she looked concerned, true to her word, she didn’t ask any questions.

“Of course.” He wanted to take her hands, but as he reached toward her, he realized he was still covered in blood. His hands dropped helplessly to his side. “I’m really sorry.”

“May I let myself in in the morning? So that Devon doesn’t wake you up? I can prepare breakfast.” He found himself following her to the door.

“Yeah, you have a key. Let me walk you down.” Bram stuffed his hands in his pockets, feeling very awkward.

“I know I promised that I would ask any questions. But what are you covered in?” She glanced at him sideways as they went down the stairs together.

“I don’t even know. You should see my poor bar. The walls were running thick with it. Whatever it is, it got everywhere. I’ll have a cleaning crew there all night trying to get it all up. Hopefully whatever it is doesn’t stain.” He shrugged, watching her open the door to the apartment. She hadn’t been in it yet, so she was half looking around as it swung inward.

When she turned back to him, the fear and worry was gone in her eyes, but she looked tired. “Thank you, for walking me home.” She smiled at him. Tucking her hair behind her ear. “You should get cleaned up, and I’m going to bed. I want to be able to wake up earlier enough to keep Devon out of your room.”

“Yeah, good night, Izabella.”

“Night, Bram.” The door closed and he heard her click the lock and deadbolt.

Back in his room, Tyler had half sat up and stripped his clothing off. Bram carried him to the shower, undressing himself too. “I think my leg's broken.” Tyler said, as Bram sat him on the little bench at one end of the shower. Bram knelt before him, looking him over. Broken leg, numerous broken ribs, a broken nose for sure, Bram frowned. He was lucky they made it out of there.

Bram stood up, biting deeply into his wrist. “Not too much now. Once we’re cleaned up, I’ll get ahold of Millie and see what we can do about procuring a decent meal.” Tyler wrapped his lips around the open wound suckling. Bram ran his fingers through his golden hair. After a few minutes, Bram tugged at his arm. “Alright, that’s enough. Let me help you wash.” Putting his finger under Tyler’s chin, he forced him to look up. Putting his hands on either side of his face, he braced his thumbs against Tyler’s nose, setting it straight again.

Swearing Tyler pushed Bram away. “You could have at least warned me.”

“It hurts more when you’re expecting it.” He grabbed Tyler’s arm, yanking it up. Causing him to cuss him out all the more. “I’m sorry. You know my blood will start working soon, and we can’t have those bones heal when they’re not in place.” Bram knelt in front of him, pressing on the broken leg. Tyler bounced his head off the side of the shower, his knuckles white as they gripped Bram’s shoulders.

“You could at least get me a drink first.” Bram looked up at him, a little surprised, but stepped out of the shower leaving Tyler alone for a moment. When he came back, he had two cups of whiskey. Turning the shower head so that it wasn’t raining on him, he handed Tyler the cup. In one quick swallow, the cup was emptied. The second followed in the same manner.

“I’ll rinse off and give that a moment to settle. But we can’t wait too long.” Bram went to the other side of the shower, washing away all the blood that was still covering him. “Why don’t you tell me what happened? What were you doing there?”

“One of those gang members came into the club. He was bragging about them and things they did. We flirted a lot, and he asked if I wanted to learn more about them. I figured he was hunting me or trying to get me to join. I didn’t know an Elder would have a hand in some stupid gang thing. Let alone fucking Angela Sether.”

Bram turned around, glaring at Tyler. “Excuse me?”

“You heard me. Angela was there. Under one of those masks. She’s probably been leaking everything to that asshole, and for who knows how long.” She was one of the few that knew Bram had adopted a child, but it didn’t sound like she had explained the reason Bram had started DAS in the first place. “That place is going to be a disaster tomorrow.”

“Perfect. What the hell happened? Everything has fallen into utter chaos in three days.” Bram grumbled, kneeling in front of Tyler, checking on the setting of the bone. Lifting his leg, Bram placed Tyler’s foot against his hip so that he could hold him steady. “This is going to hurt like hell.” It clearly did. Tyler was screaming and panting by the time Bram got the bone together well enough to be satisfied.

“I hate you.” Tyler grumbled.

“I could have left you to die. Or let your shoulder heal out of socket, and you also could have had an amazing limp.” Bram chuckled, grabbing a washcloth, cleaning Tyler from head to toe. As he washed his hair, he laughed. “You’re going to be so pissed when you finally look in the mirror.”

“Why?” Tyler asked sleepily.

“Your hair looks like it had a really bad dye job.” At the moment, he didn’t seem to care as Bram’s hands worked over him to get him washed up. His head resting against Bram’s hip. Once his hair was washed and rinsed, Bram shut the water off and grabbed a towel, drying him as well as he could before lifting him into his arms again and bringing him to the bed. As he laid him down, he was half asleep. “Alright.” Bram said softly, “I’m going to go make some arrangements, I’ll be back in a bit.”