Emmett leaned back into the sofa, his face blank, his shirt still spattered with red.
Ashton stepped forward. "Emmett, whatever happened, this isn't the place to deal with it. He needs a hospital. Unless you're really planning to let him bleed out in your sister's living room."
"Mr Laurent," he said, flat and clipped. "This is my family's problem. Not yours."
Under any other circumstances, Ashton would have walked out or started swinging.
Instead, he took half a step back and adjusted his tone as if he were trying not to spook a wild animal.
"Emmett. I'm not here to interfere. Cassian's a friend. I'm just asking you to let him get medical attention. He's in no shape to argue. Neither are we, if something worse happens tonight."
"He's not dying," Emmett said, not even lo
