Jax
The pizza place is fluorescent and smells like grease and salvation.
I am sitting in a booth. I am still wearing my blood-stained tuxedo shirt. Luke is next to me, wearing a glittery sash he stole from the victim’s party as a "trophy." He is on the phone.
"Yeah. Joe’s. Bring the Porsche. We needed cheese, Preston. Structural cheese."
Ten minutes later, the door opens.
Max walks in.
He looks exhausted. He is wearing linen pants from the retreat, but he has thrown a leather jacket over a set of borrowed scrubs. His hair is windblown.
He sees me. He freezes. He scans the blood on my shirt.
"Jax?"
I stand up. "It’s not mine."
Max walks over. He doesn't ask for data. He doesn't ask for a report. He steps into my space and puts his hands on my face. He grounds me.
"You’re here," Max whispers. "You’re calibrated."
"I had a flashback," I admit, leaning into his touch. "But I came back. Luke pulled me out."
Max looks at Luke, who is currently inhaling a slice of cheese pizza.
"Thank you, Luke," Max says seriously.
"Don't mention it," Luke says. "Also, Preston is double-parking the Porsche. We might get towed."
Preston breezes in, looking immaculate in his silk kimono and trench coat. He looks at me. He looks at the blood.
"Well," Preston says. "That is certainly a look. Very... avant-garde."
"Mrs. O'Brian?" I ask Max.
"Transplanted," Max says, sliding into the booth. "The heart is beating. She’s going to live."
"The guy on the street?" Max asks.
"Femoral repair," I say. "He made it to St. Jude’s. He’ll live."
We sit there. Four men in a pizza shop at 04:30. Blood, silk, linen, and glitter.
"We are terrible at bachelor parties," Max concludes, looking at the menu board.
“I suspect,” Preston adds, stealing a pepperoni from Luke, "we are the worst bachelors in New York."
"Pizza," Max says decisively. "Large. Hawaiian."
I choke on my water. "Excuse me?"
"Hawaiian," Max repeats, deadpan. "Ham and pineapple."
"Max," I say, horrified. "That is a crime. That is fruit on a pizza. It’s unnatural. We’ve been over this before!”
"It is salty and sweet," Max argues. "It provides a complex flavor profile."
