DANE
A loud, pounding startles me awake. It sounds like someone is trying to beat the glass off my door. What the hell?
I jump out of bed, jerk on a pair of shorts, and run to the living room, ready to pound whichever one of my stupid ass cousins is drunk and banging on my door at one in the morning. But when I see who it is...
"Tria?" I ask, wondering if I'm still asleep and having some terrible sex dream. Please, God, let me wake up before it gets started.
"I need your help. I'm sorry. I didn't know who else to call. Mom is out of town, Dad is pointless, and the other Sterling boys hate me."
She darts inside and grabs my shoes before shoving them at my chest, forcing a grunt from me when I'm caught off guard by her excessive force.
"What the hell, Tria?" I finally manage to get out between her frantic shifts.
"It's Rain. She won't answer her phone, and I called Mom. She doesn't have a fucking sugar problem. I picked her up from the hospital earlier, and now—"
"Get in the car," I interrupt, unlocking my Range Rover and rushing her down my steps.
None of her bumbled up ramblings make a bit of damn sense, but hearing Rain might need help is all I need to know.
I barely let her get her feet in before I'm barreling out of the driveway in reverse. Her door slams right as I throw it in drive, but she doesn't complain. She's just as worried as I am right now.
I dial Rain, thankful Dale gave me her number, but it only rings several times before going to voicemail. It's possible she doesn't want to talk to me or Tria and we're overreacting, so, using my car's built-in phone system, I dial Dale instead.
"Hello," he answers in a rasp, just-woken-up voice.
"Call Rain right now and see if she answers."
"Christ, Dane. It's one in the fucking morning. She'll kick my—"
"Just do it!" I demand, gripping the steering wheel tighter as we round a curve.
I hear the call being connected when he dials it using three-way, but just like with me, it goes to voicemail.
"I tried going to her house, but it's locked up. I beat on the door, but no answer. Her car isn't there, but I think she left it at the hospital. I'm pretty sure she didn't know they'd make her get a ride home," Tria says shakily.
"Fuck," Dale hisses. "Hospital? Why the hell didn't someone call me?"
"Because you all treat Tria like shit. Do you have a key to her place?" I ask, taking another sharp curve.
"It's a keypad lock. It's five, four, three, two, one."
I roll my eyes while groaning. "That's fucking stupid."
"I know, but it's Rain. She keeps things simple. I'll meet you there."
He hangs up just as I see her house coming into view. I'm really thankful I'm such a psycho who wanted to see where his dream girl lived after she first moved back. I'm sure Tria will wonder how I knew soon enough, but right now she's too focused on her sister.
She flings her door open before I even come to a complete stop, but I still beat her to the door and use the ridiculous keypad number that I fully intend on having her change. Tria leads the way through the house, but neither of us knows which way is her room. Until we hear the hellacious heaving from down the hall.
Tria barges past me to beat me into the room, and I stumble to a halt when I see Rain hanging off the side of the bed, gripping onto her nightstand, and hurling into a trashcan.
She whimpers while dropping her head to her arm, and I rush over to the bed. "Go crank my car. We're taking her to the hospital."
Rain cries out when I scoop her up, and I hold her to me, trying not to let her feel me shaking. I don't know if I've been this scared since I was eighteen and learned about her surgeries. I know one thing, I can't pretend not to care about Rain Noles anymore.
After pacing the halls for an hour, the doctor finally walks out to talk to us. He breathes out wearily, and then he gives us a brittle smile.
"The pharmacy messed up on her post-op meds. They gave her the wrong milligram. It made her sick, but she's fine now. We want to keep her for another night of observation, but she refuses to stay."