Chapter 7

I had never seen a room clear out so quickly. Jaz stepped in after everyone else had left to check on me. I asked her what was so important that everyone had to watch.

"Can you handle seeing your father?" The question caught me slightly off guard, but I was more or less confused about why it was relevant. Noting the confusion on my face she continued.

"The boy you rescued yesterday, his father is running for governor and-" Hearing enough I reached for the remote and turned on the tv.

"My son didn't run away, he went undercover to find the rebel faggots and their headquarters. We believe that this operation is already underway and we will be keeping the public updated as the data comes in, thank you." The governor walked back into the criminal justice and police department with my father not far behind.

"How long has this been airing?" I asked. I was a little shaken from seeing my father be so respectable after everything that he had done to me.

"The video has been circulating for about two hours but our tech team didn't get wind of it until thirty minutes ago." Jaz noticed that my hands had begun to shake. She gently placed her hands over mine knowing that it would help because I was on the verge of a panic attack.

"Haymond, look at me and just breathe, okay." I hadn't realized that I was holding my breath and when I finally let out all of the pent-up air in my lungs I could start to feel myself relax. I had a sliver of a thought that was haunting me though.

"What happened to Aiden," the question hung in the air like a fog. Jaz turned away from me.

"Jazmine, what happened to Aiden?" I hadn't meant to be harsh in any but Jaz flinched.

"Since you weren't awake yet, Damian suggested that we show him as little of the house as possible and lock him in one of the greeting rooms. We settled it with a vote and.." she trailed off. She was beating around the bush and I was getting tired of it.

"What was the vote tally?" When she didn't answer I asked again this time almost yelling.

"Jazmine, what was the vote tally?"

"Six for, and two against." There was a moment of silence as I tried to comprehend what was going on. I was equally frustrated and concerned regarding Aiden's imprisonment. I truly understood why Damian and the others would be so hellbent on the safety of the guild but this had reached the breaking point for me. We were breaking our own rules by doing this. We had promised to welcome everyone with open arms and instead we had completely shut this kid in.

When did we start listening to the government? The very same people that were willing to give us the death penalty just by being who we are. I harbored a little thought, wondering if the others had believed everything that my father had said about me when I chose to run. I quickly pushed that insecurity to the back of my mind, because like it or not this wasn't about me.

"Call an officials meeting," I told Jazmine. I was a little heartbroken that I had to talk some sense into the other officials on my team because they weren't thinking about the negative impacts this whole mess could have on Aiden. I rolled out of bed, grabbed my shirt, and slid it over the wrappings that covered most of my abdomen. Jaz gave me a worried glance, but I ignored it. I didn't have time to debate my condition with her and I was beyond worrying about my health.

I gritted my teeth and took a few steps. I had been in the hospital many times before and this was always the hardest part for me. It took me a few seconds to stabilize but soon as the cloudiness in my head disappeared. Jazmine had gone ahead to get the others and as I was about to leave the door swung open. Caleb looked less than happy and I couldn't tell if it was because of the situation that was happening or the fact that I was disobeying the doctor's orders.

I prepare for a possible argument but instead, Caleb said,

"Can you get there by yourself or are you going to need help?" I could almost feel the humor in his voice. The man I thought of as my brother was laughing at me.

"No, I'll be fine. Just have to unhinge my peg leg. I joked. Caleb smiled.

"Well see you in the meeting room then pirate."