Be warned....

Things are getting serious in this Chapter!

:O

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Chapter 22 - Whispers in the night

Keane's POV

I was half awake: half asleep when I heard a ruckus outside.

Car doors slamming.

Footsteps.

Whispering.

I carefully shoved Noah off me without waking him and got out the bed quietly, heading over to the window rubbing my eyes. I opened the curtains slightly and peered out.

Shit.

5 men and that fucking little prick Alexis were stood around a black BMW X5. I slowly opened the window and craned my ears,

"Does everyone know the plan?"

"We go for Ariiayla and if her brothers get in the way we kill them okay"

"What room are they in?"

"Definitely 2nd floor, but I'm not sure"

"Are we going straight in now?"

"Let's leave it like 10 minutes, let's make sure they are all asleep, best to catch them by surprise"

We had to leave now.

"Guys, guys get up" I said, shaking them all awake,

"What? What the hell Keane?" Noah said, rubbing his eyes,

"Not trying to panic anyone, but 5 men and Alexis are outside and in 10 minutes they are coming to kill us and take Arii, so I suggest you get the fuck up and grab whatever stuff you need, shove whatever clothes you want on and we leave" My attempt to stay calm was failing,

"Okay, okay, grab bags, Arii slip my hoody on" Tayte said, there was scrambling around, Noah went over to the window,

"Noah, get away from the bloody window" I said, pulling him away,

"Sorry"

"Are we going out the fire exit at the back?" Tayte asked. Before I could respond we heard,

"Arii if you are listening to this you are in grave danger, it's not safe and you have to move on, you Keane, Noah and Tayte need to move on"

"Okay now that is creepy" Noah said,

"Where the hell is that thing?" Arii said, I found it under the bed,

"Arii if you are listening to this you are in grave danger, it's not safe and you have to move on, you Keane, Noah and Tayte need to move on"

"Okay, shut it up, I don't like it," I turned it off. Not knowing how it mysteriously turned itself on in the first place and said,

"We've got to go out the fire exit, or we should set the fire alarms off, the assembly point is in the car park, it would be a diversion for us to try and get into our car and get away"

"Yeah, good idea" Tayte agreed, clutching Arii's hand, we found the nearest alarm and smashed it, waiting for the screeching noise to go off. About 5 minutes later people began to come out of rooms in dressing gowns, shorts and hoodies with worried and annoyed looks on their faces, we tried to blend in with the crowd as we all headed for the stairs. I admit we did look a little suspicious with our stuff, but hopefully the men would bugger off and try again tomorrow.

"Do you see the men?" Noah asked,

"No" I replied, as within the wave of the crowd, we stood in the car park. I unlocked the car,

"Noah, Tayte, Arii get in the car" I said,

"And what are you going to do?" Noah asked,

"Just go" I said sternly, passing the keys over to Tayte and whispering "I want you to go Tayte and don't wait for me, keep them safe okay, keep them safe,"

They disappeared off into the car and I pushed my way through the crowd, I noticed the men were stood in the doorway of little chef and burger king. If they moved then they would see the car, I could see them watching, scanning the people. I looked back, they'd started the car. If they didn't go, the men would look over and see.

I saw Alexis look over, he looked at me; our eyes met. Without taking his eyes off me, he shouted something, I was guessing he was calling to the men because they came out and looked over at him, he pointed at me, their eyes averted and I prayed that Tayte would tear off out of this place and forget me. I'd give my life to keep them all safe. I didn't want to turn my head back to see if they were there. It would definitely give them away. They approached me and I met them halfway, this was it!

Tayte's POV

After noticing Alexis and the men, I decided I had to get out of here; Keane was going to stall them as long as he could. I didn't want to leave him, I would never leave him. But I had to disappear from here, for now anyway. I pulled away,

"Where are you going?" Arii demanded,

"Keane is still there" Noah said,

"He said we have to get out of here"

"No, we can't leave him" Noah shouted,

"We have to" I said calmly, pulling out and round the roundabout,

"Tayte, please, please go back for him, we can't leave him, we can't,"

"Baby, we have too, just for now"

"Tayte, don't do this, you can't do this. It's Keane," Noah said. I tried to block them out as I headed into Cirencester. 2.30am there was nowhere to go, so I pulled into a car park and cut the engine. Locking the doors so they couldn't get out. "We can't just sit here whilst Keane is there with them"

"He wants you safe" I said,

"He never THINKS about how WE feel about all this" Noah screamed, attempting to get out the door, Arii hugged him, making me feel bad. But I know if I hadn't had gone Keane would have killed me and the men would have seen us and who else knows what would have happened!

Keane's POV

Meanwhile...

"Keane my boy, the question is simple, where is your sister?"

"Go fuck yourself" I spat, he smiled. The fire alarm had long gone off and the car park was deserted and dark, the few lampposts providing the only light. I wasn't tied up; they were just in a circle around me,

"And I'll ask you again, where is your sister?"

"And I'll say again, go fuck yourself," someone lost it and punched me in the face, I laughed as I stumbled and regained my balance, "You can beat me all you want, I'm not going to tell you anything"

"A beating is to easy, we'll let you die slowly...slowly and alone"

"Go for it" I said,

"If you won't tell us then fine, we'll hunt her down one way or another and you won't be able to do anything about it when Cylan has her back again" one snarled, then pulled out a gun, and before I knew it, he'd shot me in the stomach. He'd put a silencer on so the shot couldn't be heard. I knew before it was too late.

I fell to the ground, shock evident on my face, clutching my stomach, I don't think I actually processed the pain, I couldn't believe he'd actually shot me,

"We'll take good care of her" Alexis smirked, and then they all got into 2 cars and drove off.

Shit.

Shit.

Shit.

Shit, did my stomach hurt!

I hauled myself up and staggered over to the grass. Falling back to the ground. I pulled my phone out and called Tayte.

"Keane

     Tayte, their...gone...get...get back...here

Keane, are you...

    Tayte....

Yeah...

    ...they...shot...me" the phone was hung up. Guessing Tayte was freaking out and driving like a maniac back to the travel lodge.

I pressed hard on my wound;

I was losing too much blood.

There was so much blood.

It was seeping out, covering my hands, covering my stomach,

I had to get to a hospital soon, but we also had to get out of here as fast as we could and...

What could we do at 3am in the morning?

I heard the car before I saw it, it came tearing in and screeched to a halt. Tayte dashed out followed by my brother and sister.

"Keane" Arii cried. I smiled at her softly, trying to control my breathing, trying to control the pain; tears were rolling down her and Noah's cheeks. Tayte pulled off his hoody and pressed down on my wound. I winced and groaned in pain, my vision going blurry,

"We've got to get you to the hospital" Tayte said, there was worry in his voice but he was keeping it together for everyone's sake (or trying to)

"Keane" Noah said, I tried to focus on his face, "Promise you won't..."

"Noah...baby bro...it's...okay...I'll be...okay" I said after each breath, I squeezed his hand, my eyes rolling to the back of my head,

"Keane stay with us, come on brother" Tayte said, taking my face in his hands, "focus on my voice okay"

"M'kay" I muttered, "M'kay,"

<<<

I was moved into the back of the car carefully, Arii was in the back with me, pressuring the wound, talking to me, trying to keep me conscious. She was coping considerably well, holding my hand, she smiled at me. Noah on the other hand was freaking out in the front of the car, Tayte was both trying to drive and keep Noah under control.

Tayte's POV

It happened so suddenly. One moment I was trying to calm Noah down. The next, we were spinning off and smashing into the crash barrier.

Then....then it all went black.

<<<

I awoke to find flashing sirens of police cars and an ambulance. I began to panic;

"Whoa, it's okay, it's okay, your okay," Someone said beside me, it was a paramedic who looked extremely familiar, "You were in a car crash" He said, I turned to look at Noah, but he wasn't there, neither was Keane or Arii in the back,

"Where's...where's my family?" I said panicked, looking at him properly for the first time, it finally clicked in my brain that this was the guy we dared Noah to kiss,

"They're in the ambulances already, one had a gunshot wound, he's been taken with a girl, I assume your brother and sister"

"Yes and where's Noah?" He looked at me and I think it just clicked in his brain too,

"You're the guys from the Little chef, Noah's the one who kissed me," Worry then became evident in his voice, I nodded, "He must be in the other ambulance, let's get you out carefully,"

Freaking out in the ambulance definitely, I thought. He helped me out, luckily I wasn't in a too bad condition, well I wasn't in extreme pain and I could walk, I was the lucky one, despite being the one driving. I had a numb pain in my ribs (probably cracked a few), but it was bearable for now. I got to the ambulance, Noah was on a gurney, he had a bloody head and he looked terrified.

"Noah"

"Tayte...Tayte...what happened? My head really hurts, where's Keane and Arii? Tayte I'm scared," he began to breathe heavily and Angelo put the oxygen mask on, Noah's eyes widened in surprise as he recognized who it was,

"A...Angelo" He said taking the mask off,

"Sssh" He said putting it back on "Rest...you took a nasty bang to your head," I sat by him stroking his bloody hair, he held out his hand and I squeezed it.

"I promise that it will all be okay Noah, I promise," I leant forward and kissed his forehead, a pain shooting through my chest, but I ignored it.

Angelo's short POV

He looked so frail and fragile, led helpless and scared. I can't believe something so bad can happen to someone as innocent and beautiful as him. It's just wrong. I watched them both, feeling a pang of jealously as Tayte was comforting him. It was totally unacceptable as I knew he was his brother, but I really did care about this guy and the strange thing was, I didn't even know him, or was likely to ever see him again. The ambulance sped on. I made sure Noah was as comfortable as possible for the journey to the Royal Hospital, as well as Tayte, because I knew he'd damaged his ribs. I could tell he was in pain but obviously didn't want Noah to realise this. I smiled, wish I had a little brother that I was close with.

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Tayte's POV

7 hours later

After the whole ordeal with the police, because Keane was shot. Of course we didn't want to say anything as things would just get even harder than they already were and how would we even explain anyway? Then it went personal and family was being inquired about, parents especially and of course Noah and Arii were in no fit mental state to talk about it. So I dealt with it as best I could. Hopefully the police will sweep it under the rug. I know it is ridiculous that we aren't reporting what's been going on, but I am sure that Keane would probably kill me if I did. They did however get a call (Which lasted quite a while) and told me that everything was okay and would be sorted out for us, which I thought was strange, but wasn't going to inquire any further, that would be pushing my luck.

So it was now 10.15am. Keane had been in and out of surgery, we were sat in the private room he was in.

The bullet had got its self-lodged amongst some organs and he'd lost a considerable amount of blood, so they operated to remove it and sort out the internal bleed. The only external injury was a laceration just above his eye, caused by being flung forward when I lost control of the car.

Noah had a head injury, a pretty nasty one, he'd cracked his skull (hairline skull fracture) and they still weren't 100% sure whether his brain was clear or not, they'd taken him for a MRI and a CT scan but no results have been conclusive yet and I didn't know whether that was a good or bad thing. They'd stitched him up and he was admitted and under observation, since he'd already been sick and collapsed, which was a worry and head injuries need to be treated with caution, especially since he has a mild case of concussion.

Arii was basically okay; she had a few minor lacerations and was just really shaken up.

I had a laceration on my head, which required stitches and I'd cracked a rib, my chest was a bit tender, but I wasn't worrying about myself. Noah was asleep on the chair next to me and Arii was sat cuddled up on my lap,

"I love you" She told me,

"I love you more baby A" I said,

"I was so scared"

"I'm sorry"

   "It wasn't your fault"

"It mays well have been" she kissed me,

"Don't think like that," I looked over at Keane led wired up on the bed.

I shouldn't have left him! I thought and then said it out loud,

"I shouldn't have left him. I fucking shouldn't have left him"

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3 hours later

"Mmm" Keane muttered, opening his eyes slowly, blinking at the light, Arii scampered up and rushed over, I stood up, "Where...where am I?" He said panicked,

"Keane your in hospital" I replied, "Your okay, there's no need to panic,"

"I...Oh...Sorry" he smiled, then he went to sit up, wincing,

"Keane, careful, slowly..." Arii said,

   So...um... what the hell happened?"

   "We crashed on the dual carriage way...you had to have surgery and they removed the bullet and stopped the bleeding; we're in the Royal hospital in Gloucester"

"Are...you two okay?" Arii took his hand,

"Yes, we'll be fine" She said, "You've just got to get better"

   "What about Noah?" He asked worried,

"He has a pretty nasty head injury, he's fractured his skull, but it isn't serious, or so they say, he has a mild concussion and he's had stitches and they're keeping him under observation, he has been sick and collapsed and they're not 100% sure that his brain is all clear though, plus all the stressing out about you didn't help either, he's had an MRI and CT scan but either the results haven't come back or they have and haven't told us" I said.

"Shit" He looked over at Noah, who was still sleeping peacefully.

The doctor came in and spoke to Keane, and checked on Noah, since he'd refused a bed.

"Is he going to be okay? Have you got...the results...back yet?" Keane asked,

"He will be fine, just focus on getting yourself better first and foremost and no the results aren't back, but they were just a precaution, I'm sure Noah will be perfectly alright Keane"

"I feel fine"

"That's good to hear, I'll be in to check on you both later"

Keane's POV

A couple of hours later Noah woke up, he looked at me, I smiled softly,

   "I thought...I thought..."

"Sssh, come here..." I told him. It was only us two as Tayte and Arii had gone to get some food, he came over and sat on the bed, "Look at you" I said, taking his face in my hands and running my fingers over the stitches in his head,

"What about look at you" He said, voice quivering,

"I'm fine...I'll be fine...there's nothing to worry about"

   "You were shot Keane"

"And now...I'm okay"

"Don't try and make it all better, I almost lost you," He said, as a tear drop fell,

"But you didn't"

"Keane, I don't know what I'd..."

"Sssh little bro...I'm in no state to have this conversation right now," I made him lie next to me, he rested his head in the crook of my arm carefully, I really did love my little brother, 20 years old and just such a special person!

"Things can only get better right?" He said,

"Right...things will be better from now on" I told him shutting my eyes,

If only!

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Next Update: Friday

Sorry for mistakes!

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