For a few seconds only Vinny’s breathing fills the silence, then he explodes.
“What a fucking shitshow.”
“Yeah...” Ruko agrees, and I don’t understand their reactions.
Not at all.
And then the door opens.
A sleeping Lex is brought in, half his face covered with bandages and a little brace over his once-again straight nose.
When the doctor follows the nurses in she nods at us and smiles reassuringly.
“It went perfectly,” she confirms.
Ruko stands hurriedly as Vinny’s voice comes through the phone.
“What, Si? Oh yeah, Dad just told me. Wait a sec. Dad?”
“Yeah?”
“The news of the trade just went live?—”
“The Empire’s statement is a fucking joke,” Si says with feeling, interrupting Vinny.
Ruko rubs at his brow and shakes his head.
“I’m gonna kill them,” he grumbles.
“No you’re not,” Vinny says with feeling. “We’re finally done with those losers. Now, since he’s going to need the support, I’ll allow you to root exclusively for the Demons for the rest of this season, but after that you owe me at least two seasons of wearing only Pirates merch, you got me?”
The tension dissolves instantly, humor coloring everyone’s faces now.
“You got it, son,” Ruko says. “Now, let me talk to the doctor real quick. Be quiet.” He turns to her and nods down at his phone. “The news just came out that Lex has been traded to New York. I’m pretty sure he’s going to fly that way as soon as possible, that they’ll want their own team doctor to look at him.”
The doctor nods quickly.
“I can have his charts, the report from the surgery, and all the tests sent over whenever you have a name of who their doctor is.”
“Thank you,” Ruko says, and sighs. “Is there anything else we need to know to make sure he makes a full recovery?”
The list isn’t that long.
No fast, sudden moves for at least five days, no blowing his nose, and obviously no taking off the brace they taped to his nose until whoever his doctor in New York is removes it themselves.
The doctor takes her leave when Ruko and Vinny have run out of questions, so I busy myself writing it all out to send to Lyla while Ruko and Vinny talk about the trade.
“The speculation will be worse than when he was drafted to the Empire,” Vinny says. “But—” His sharp exhale comes through loud and clear. “At least the players aren’t complete assholes. So that’s something that’s already better than LA.”
I’m glad to hear that.
Ruko only hums in agreement, and it doesn’t look like he’s going to say anything more.
“Why will there be speculation?” I finally have the guts to ask.
“People think that—” Ruko starts but a groan from the bed stops him.
Lex wakes up, and his bright smile the moment he sees us is enough to calm my rising anxiety.
