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“Um, we went to school together a long time ago.”
“So you’re from around here?” I asked.
Cal glanced at me, then shook his head. “No. It was back when he still lived in New York. Before B… I mean, Mr. Crawford, took him in.”
I considered what Lucky had told me about his childhood. He hadn’t exactly had an easy time of it as a kid. Something about the guy sitting next to me told me he hadn’t either. It was the way in which he held himself. He was trying to appear relaxed but was failing miserably.
“So you know Bennett too,” I prodded.
Cal lifted a hand to his mouth so he could chew on his fingernails. It was such an odd gesture for someone of his age. I wondered if he was even aware he was doing it.
“Yeah, B… Mr. Crawford ran this group to help poor kids. He brought a bunch of us out here to learn about nature and stuff.”
“That sounds pretty cool,” I responded.
Cal was silent for a long time. “It was,” he finally said wistfully. Something about how Cal was holding himself made me decide to back off. We rode the rest of the way to the hospital in silence. After parking the truck, we made our way inside.
“They’re in the surgery waiting room,” I told Cal. The young man nodded and in his eagerness to see Lucky, presumably, ended up walking several feet ahead of me. When we got to the elevator, I hesitated.
“You coming?” Cal asked as he held the door with his hand.
“I’ll take the stairs,” I murmured. I’d never been a fan of enclosed spaces even before I’d left for the army. I was even less of one after the attack in the small room that had left my teammates dead.
I took the stairs two at a time despite the ache in my knee. I knew I wouldn’t be able to embrace Lucky the way I wanted, but just seeing him and knowing he was hanging in there would be enough until I could get him alone.
It only took a few minutes to reach the floor I was looking for, but the scene I walked in on as I reached the waiting room was completely unexpected. Lucky was standing just outside the waiting room door like he’d been in the process of exiting the small room. I was so glad to see him that it took me a moment to notice what his eyes were practically glued to.
Calvin.
The young man had just stepped off the elevator and, like Lucky, was standing frozen in place. I couldn’t see Lucky’s expression, but there was no missing Cal’s from my vantage point. He looked both horrified and relieved. He also looked like he couldn’t move.
“Calvin?” Lucky said, clearly shocked.
Cal didn’t move. He didn’t speak. He just stood there like he was made of stone.
I couldn’t say how long the pair just stood there like that, but Lucky was the first one to move. His pace was slow and uncertain as he closed the distance between himself and Cal, and I felt this odd need to step between the two men. Whoever Cal was to Lucky, friends wasn’t the right term.
Because friends didn’t hesitate to approach one another. They didn’t look terrified.
“Calvin?” Lucky repeated as he got closer and something in Cal’s stance finally changed. His shoulders dropped and the backpack he’d been holding hit the floor with a thud. Even from where I was standing, I could see Cal shaking.
“Calvin,” Lucky said again, but this time his voice was entirely different. It was gentle and patient and full of understanding.
“I’m sorry,” Cal croaked and then he began to cry. “I’m so sorry, Lucky,” he repeated, covering his eyes with his hands.
I was still reeling from the one-eighty in Cal’s behavior when Lucky closed the distance between them and, without hesitation, wrapped his arms around Cal. Cal let out a harsh sob, then he was clinging to Lucky.
I had no clue what to make of the scene or how to react to it. I hated that the first thing I felt was jealousy but there it was. I figured the sight of Lucky in any man’s arms would probably always provoke that particular emotion for me.
“Hey, you made it,” I heard my brother say. I forced myself to tear my eyes from the scene before me and looked at my brother who was stepping out of the waiting room. He was dressed in scrubs.
“Yeah, uh, how’s Xander?” I asked.
“He’s in recovery,” Jake said with a smile. “The surgeons had to put a pin in his leg and one of his ribs perf’d his lung but they were able to fix everything. He’ll have to be monitored for a concussion but there’s no sign of a brain bleed. Bennett’s with him now.”
