I scoff. “Of course, you did.”
“I need to know how to one-up you when we finally go toe to toe,” Ignacio replies.
I shake my head. “So sure you’re going to win still, hmm?”
“After today? Absolutely.” Ignacio winks at me, and I snort.
We climb into the SUV, and Joel bitches as he gets into the front passenger seat. The sucker who volunteered to drive us freezes as he goes to shut Joel’s door and the man snaps at him.
Ignacio snickers. “Think he’ll survive the car ride?” he whispers.
“No chance.”
We share a grin, and Ignacio relaxes against his seat. “Have to say, considering they're not limos, these SUVs are pretty comfortable.”
I sneer. “I still can’t believe you used to allow all of you to travel in the same fucking car.” I shake my head. “And I’m supposed to trust Roman with you?”
He glares. “I will never let anything happen to Roman. He meanseverythingto me.”
The sincerity in his voice eases some of the protectiveness, but I know it’ll never fully let up, not even for Ignacio, who is best equipped to keep the little shit safe.
Playing devil’s advocate, because there’s nothing better to do on the drive home, since the former O’Connel house is further away from the training warehouse, I say, “I have a hard time believing that when Benjamin once meant so much to you, too.”
The look I get is glacial.
Joel coughs in the front seat, and music suddenly fills the car, as if he can drown out our conversation—as if he hasn’t heard worse before.
“Don’t you fucking dare,” Ignacio says, the promise of violence in his dark eyes. “That…that was both of us. I am not going to be a scapegoat for you, not again.” His face goes blank for a moment before he smirks. “Roman promised to not let me get hurt again…I should leave you to him.”
I laugh. “I see why the Little Prince likes you, Chaos. You’re fun to play with. No…you don’t have to worry about me. I understand what happened in the beginning was…messy. Ididn’t have the full scope of things, and while I won’t apologize for my less-than-stellar opinion of you at first, I know you’re not entirely to blame. I’m not blind to Benjamin’s faults, as much as he tried to keep me that way for a while.”
I wish I could be upset with Benjamin for that, but I don’t believe it was nefarious on his part. As much as he fucked up, he also realized his errors. I hope the breakdown he had the other day is actually abreakthrough.
“How’s he coping?” Ignacio asks quietly.
I stare at him until he squirms, before he sighs and elaborates.
“When I was in his room the other day, I noticed he doesn’t have a TV. I have no idea when he’ll be allowed to leave the medical area, but…when was the last time he played his games?”
“Games?”
“You know…video games? His friends are probably going nuts. I’m actually surprised our police contacts haven’t alerted us to a missing persons report or something for him by now, if he hasn’t been online in a while.”
“He has his phone. I’m assuming he’s been in touch with them that way. That’s a question for Hollis, though. He still has Benjamin’s phone tapped, as far as I’m aware. Back to what you were saying, he plays video games?”
Ignacio blinks at me, then blinks again. “He hasn’t played any around you, or even mentioned it?”
I shake my head.
“So how the fuck has he been destressing? Or spending his downtime? He was injured, I got that, but he’s better now, right? He was at dinner, and I’ve seen him leave his room a few times.”
I run a hand down my face, gently poking at the sore spots and wiping the blood away. “He’s off bed rest now, but still in the medical area because he’s under a lighter version of suicide watch. Since he asked me to hurt him—not for fun, but as part ofsome fucked up type of self-harm—Doc and Javi are keeping him for a little longer.”
Ignacio curses. “I’m going to assume it was a combination of a role he didn’t fit, Lio being missing, and not having the outlet for his video games.”
“How often would he play these games?”
Ignacio shrugs. “Few times a week with his friends, more if he needed to get out of his head. It was…nice, hanging out together, but doing our own thing. He’d get so lost in a game that I could just see him let go and…watch as he didn’t think about anything or anyone for a while. I’m honestly really surprised he never mentioned it. I mean, he’s such an adorable little geek about them that I proposed at an arcade, for fuck’s sake.”
