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Ares was in my brother’s room when I arrived back at the hospital, and I was surprised to see him. He’d stayed until visiting hours wrapped last night, and yet, here he was there again today.
He and my brother sat on his bed when I came in, playing a loud-as-fuck video game that bled into the hallway.
“Watch my back, kid,” Ares barked, laughing. “Next time, we’re not going to be on teams, bro, if you can’t cover me.”
He chuckled after it, but my brother rolled his eyes. They were playing some kind of first-person shooter, blood and guts everywhere. There definitely hadn’t been any games in my brother’s room when I’d left this morning.
Yet, here it was, along with Ares. It was a newer system too, the thing rigged up to the television the hospital had provided for my brother. The TV was ancient as fuck, so it looked pretty hilarious with that system.
“What’s going on?” I asked, sliding my brother’s bag off my arm as a character on the screen exploded. Really, its head had been completely blown off.
“Christ, sis.” My brother growled at me, and Ares did too when his guy, I guess, exploded in the same way.
Ares shook his head, and his hood was up again. I wasn’t sure what story he’d told my brother about his face, but he was still trying to hide it. The hood did pretty well for the most part, but his face was still another color. Ares tossed his controller. “Yeah, little. What the fuck?”
I raised my hands, rolling my eyes. I tossed the bag by the door. “I thought I was bringing your game.” I mean, it wasn’t this thing, but I’d brought it.
My brother exposed teeth with his grin. “Wolf brought this over. Pretty pro, right?”
I’d say, thing was sleek as fuck.
Ares stood as he slapped my brother’s hand. “No problem,” he said, bumping his fist after. “Kid looked bored as hell.”
“I brought him something.” I gestured toward the bag. “And what are you doing here?”
“Came to visit the kid like he said,” Ares returned, and I nearly fell on my ass. I’d heard what my brother had mentioned, but still, Ares was here again. Like stated, he stayed pretty late last night. Ares joined me by the door. “And what took you so long? The kid said you left hours ago.”
I really didn’t want to rehash my last few hours with Dorian. I scrubbed into my hair. “Had some interference.”
Ares’s thick dark eyebrows drew inward. At this point, my brother was playing his video game again.
Ares studied him before finding me.
“What kind of interference?” he asked, and though casual about it, I noticed an edge to his voice. He angled outside the room a bit. I joined him but didn’t really feel like talking about this. Especially because he was right about us not being friends.
I wagered he was only here now because of my brother. They at least played on the football team together and had hung out.
I opened my mouth but didn’t have the opportunity to say anything at the approaching steps of another. Callum came down the hallway, his driver, Lucas, behind him, and I was surprised to see them both. Callum had said he was staying behind to pay that bill.
He was apparently right behind me, his suit jacket over his arm, and I’d never get over the ritzy life he held. I mean, the man had a driver, the guy hanging back when Callum strode down the hall. Callum lifted a hand. “Sloane.”
“Hey, Callum,” I said, immediately turning toward Ares. I had to angle a bit.
Ares had distanced. Like legit, he was behind me, and I had to make a full rotation.
The football player was basically on my back, and I had to distance just to get some breathing room.
He glanced down at my few steps, his head shooting up when Callum joined us.
The older man grinned. “Hello, again. Finished up, so I thought I’d head on over here.” Callum’s attention directed to Ares. “A friend of yours?”
It was funny how that word kept coming up. Ares Mallick had definitely expressed he was no friend of mine, but for the sake of conversation, I nodded. “This is Ares. A friend from school.”
“I see. Nice to meet you, young man. My name is Callum Montgomery.” Callum put out a hand. “For all intents and purposes, I’m this one’s guardian. Her and her brother’s.”
I’d never seen Callum joke, but the smile in his voice gave that as an indicator. It was nice to see him being casual, like he really was starting to become a close friend, and I liked that. I didn’t have a lot of those. None actually.
Callum’s hand lingered in the presence of my friend, Ares merely studying him. I didn’t know what was up with that, but he made no move to shake.
