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“Aw, well, I mean, I didn’t want you to quit. I just thought you might have to.” When Gucci patted Solo’s chest, he added, “Plus, no one wants to be stuck with this guy here, so we kinda need you to come back.”
“It’ll take more than a few bruises to knock me out.”
“I guess you look worse than you feel, eh?” Gucci laughed until Solo backhanded him against the chest. “Ow. What? It’s not like he has to look in a mirror.”
“Shut the fuck up, Gooch.”
“The dark shadows, the red eyes. He kinda looks possessed—”
Solo shut him up by throwing his arm around Gucci’s neck and squeezing until Gucci hunched over and coughed out an apology. “What was that? Wanna say it again?”
“I said sorry.” When Solo let go, Gucci glared at his friend and rubbed his neck. “It was a joke.”
Houdini chuckled. “You know you only have to wrap one of those monster biceps around Solo and his head would pop off. Go ahead. You’d be doin’ us all a favor.”
“You’d miss me,” Solo said. “Admit it. I keep things interesting.”
“Nah, you only take the heat off the rest of us by actin’ a fool.” Houdini cocked his head. “On second thought, maybe we’ll keep ya around after all.”
As they continued to hurl insults back and forth, I relaxed against the pillow and grinned. It was comforting to see nothing much had changed while I’d been out. Or had it? Sure, I’d told the guys I’d be back in class and ready to go, but would that really be the case? I hadn’t spoken to anyone at NAFTA yet, and crashing a seventy-million-dollar plane wouldn’t put me in anyone’s good graces, my fault or not. Who knew what the outcome of the investigation would be? On top of that, one look at my banged-to-shit body, and I had a feeling they wouldn’t like what they saw.
As if he sensed the change in my mood, Solo looked over and raised an eyebrow, and I shook my head. I didn’t want to think about it, not right now, and I sure as hell didn’t want to talk about it with the others around.
Shit. What if NAFTA didn’t allow me to continue?
4 Solo
ONE LOOK AT Panther’s face told me he’d retreated into heavy thoughts, and it didn’t take a genius to figure out what those could be. Self-doubt. Pain. Probably wondering if he still had his spot at NAFTA or if he’d fucked it.
God, I hadn’t wanted to come here and see the aftermath of what happened, but now I was glad Gucci had all but dragged me to the hospital. I thought seeing Panther lying in the hospital bed would send me spiraling into a dark place I wouldn’t come back from, but now that I was standing there looking at him, I realized it was the complete opposite.
Panther looked rough, no doubt about that, but seeing him awake meant he was alive, and that outcome was a million times better than what had happened to my brother. Of course, I didn’t want Panther to know how panicked I’d been, so before I entered the room, I’d shoved down my emotions, determined to keep things light like always. When it came to dealing with the tough stuff, it was either shut down or make a fucking joke. I’d already spent two days staring at the wall, so it was well past time to move on to phase two.
“So,” I said, leaning forward to brace my hands on the end rail of the bed. “When can we spring you? Or do you find the meatloaf surprise and Jell-O too appetizing to leave?”
That made Panther crack a smile. “I haven’t had the pleasure of meatloaf surprise just yet.”
“You will this afternoon,” said the nurse as she pushed a standing cart inside the room and stopped beside Panther’s bed. “If you can manage to keep it down, it looks like you’ll be able to go home tomorrow.”
“Hell yeah, did ya hear that?” Houdini said. “You’ll be up and flying again in no time.”
The nurse whipped her head around and pinned Houdini with a stern look. “You’d do well to make sure your friend doesn’t push himself too hard. His body needs time to heal.” She ran a thermometer across Panther’s forehead, and I found myself glancing at her computer screen to check his vital numbers. All within normal.
“Uh, maybe we should go,” Gucci said to Houdini. “Get a drink or something while your guy gets probed.”
“That would be a good idea,” the nurse said as she clicked away on her keyboard.
“Right…yeah, okay. I’ll be back.” Houdini gave Panther a look that said, Good luck with your bitch nurse, and as Gucci followed after him, he shot me a wink.
Alone again. Well, almost.
“So, um, you said he might be able to go home tomorrow?”
