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I hated the shiny floors.
They hid the truth: hospitals only carried pain. They should be covered in dirt and black sludge, dark stains of blood and barely beating hearts, lungs that only floundered, like a soon-to-be-dead fish.
Walking death.
"Rook," this time, his tone demanded my attention, tearing my gaze away from the man with the mop and towards Douglass’ grey-blue eyes.
"Yes?" It was a choked, half-sob.
Another rattling breath from blue tinged lips. “You have to save her. From Garrett. He betrayed us.” Crooked fingers that were once so strong, now, too thin and angular. "She cannot be dragged into that hell."
I nodded, biting down on my lip where acid edged at the tip of my tongue: the sign of my grief, though I couldn't hold back the trickle of snot running from my nose. The silent tears down my cheeks. Was death always this terrible? I didn't think so, not even when my nana had died had I felt this horrible. This ache. "I swear, I will take care of it."
I didn't mention that Garrett was already handcuffed and detained. His own death looming, waiting for me.
As soon as I had what I needed from him.
"That's not good enough." Bony fingers grasped my wrist tight. "They want her. They hate what I've done and will want their retribution.”
"They won't get her."
"Swear it." For a dying man, his grip was strong, the clench of desperation. “Swear that you will protect them both for the rest of their lives, or until the day you die.”
“I swear it.”
“With a blood oath.” After noting my stunned silence, “Please,” He pulled open the top of his hospital gown. “Swear it…with your blood.”
My chest tightened. I never made such a promise, not like this. And yet, how could I deny him? He had given me everything in this world and never asked for a single thing in return.
No, I couldn’t deny him a single thing.
Nodding, I pulled a knife from my pocket. Slicing into my palm, I gripped his shoulder with one hand, while pressing the bleeding hand to his chest, where I could feel a weak heart beat beneath paper-thin skin. "I swear upon my life and honor, Douglass, that I will protect Summer and Callie, no matter the cost. I will give anything I have for them, including my own life. Their well-being will forever be my duty."
A loosening of his grip on my wrist, an easing of his shoulders. A, “Bless you, son."
He hadn't called me ‘son’ in a long time, not since the day I waved goodbye from the university entrance, watching him and Melanie continue their life without me. Since then, our relationship changed. We'd seamlessly transitioned from mentor to friends, then friends to confidants, even though I was still several years younger than him.
I didn't answer, except to kiss the top of his hand, clinging to it like the lifeline that it was. Straightened his gown. Wiping the tears of relief from his cheek.
"Now." He sucked in a breath, the rattling growing louder.
"No, no more talking,” I whispered urgently. “Sleep, rest. Your daughters will need your strength.” I had someone watching out for their arrival. Tonight would be my final goodbye.
Once they were here, they would take up the remaining time he had left. I wasn't his real son, not blood and flesh, like them. They deserved his remaining moments more than I did.
"No." A stubborn glimmer in his eyes, that tilt of his chin that he was so well known for. "We have unfinished business."
My thoughts immediately went to the note in my pocket. The anonymous warning written in script, Ask him about Greybone Estates. I quickly smothered the emotion it brought out, shaking my head. "There is no unfinished business between us, Douglass. Be at peace.”
He shook his head, his dark hair a shadow across his white pillow. "I have two more things I require of you. Two last things."
"Anything."
A slight pause, a swipe of his tongue across dry lips. I jumped to my feet, grabbing the yellow plastic cup and pushed the straw in between trembling lips. He took a weak sip, his throat bobbing as he swallowed it down. Then another rattling breath told me he was done. I placed it back on the table, my attention on him once more.
"Do not weep for my death.” His sad and all-knowing eyes took me in. "I am not the end of life, Rook. There is more to life. Learn to love again.”
Once again, the man knew me better than I knew myself.
