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“What did you expect me to do? Just drop off your patient and walk away?”
“Yeah, I did.”
Charlie threw up his hands again and paced across the room, moving with ease around a low coffee table and past a heavily padded armchair. “Are you fucking kidding me? You can’t be this stupid.” When he turned back, he pointed at Will. “If we hadn’t stayed, you and your patient would have been shot dead. You get that, right?”
Yeah, he got it.
Will balled his hands into fists at his side and drew in a deep breath. He needed to get a handle on his emotions. Shouting hurtful things at Charlie was utter nonsense. They weren’t dating, didn’t mean anything to each other. Charlie, West, and Edison had helped him escape as well as helped to save Francisco’s life. He couldn’t forget that.
“You’re right. I’m sorry.” His voice grew calmer and steadier with every word that he spoke. “Thank you. You and your friends risked your lives today to protect me and my patient. I’m very grateful for that. Can you tell me if Ed and West got Francisco safely to the hospital?”
“They just dropped him off at the ER. They hung back long enough to make sure that he was taken care of,” Kairo called out from the next room, proving that he was hanging on their every word. “And Charlie, you might want to take your earpiece out.”
Charlie rolled his eyes and snarled curses under his breath as he dug something tiny out of his ear. Will assumed they were all wearing one, so it was very likely that Westin and Edison heard at least Charlie’s half of their argument.
He marched into the next room. Will followed him part of the way so that he could see Charlie cross to where Kairo was sitting behind a laptop. His ex handed the other man something and stormed toward the living room. His temper didn’t appear to have been placated by Will’s words of gratitude.
“What’s going on with you? Why are you even here? You should be back in the States with your practice and-and a husband,” Charlie stammered, his anger simmering in his voice. “How are you mixed up in this kind of mess?”
“Don’t worry about it. Our lives went in vastly different directions. I’ve got it under control.”
Lies. Big, nasty, smelly lies.
Nothing was under control.
But Charlie didn’t need to know that. It felt like everything was spiraling out of his control with each passing day, but he refused to give up. He could still figure this out.
Charlie closed the distance between them and grabbed his chin with his thumb and forefinger, tilting his head up so that the overhead light illuminated the bruises on his face. “Is this what control looks like?”
Will jerked his chin out of Charlie’s grasp and smacked his hand away with his right, but his former lover caught his wrist to inspect his battered and healing knuckles.
“What the hell is going on, Will?” Charlie pressed, his voice softening for the first time since meeting in the clinic.
Hell, no.
Charlie was not allowed to use that voice. It was already creating cracks in the armor wrapped around him. Everything inside of him was crying out to spill the entire story to Charlie. He’d been fumbling in the dark for months now, and it wasn’t just his life on the line. Francisco could have been killed tonight. Santino was dead. But he couldn’t stop. Not now. Time was running out, and if something wasn’t done soon, they’d lose their chance.
Sure, Charlie was his asshole ex, fantastic at driving him crazy, and too bossy for anyone to tolerate, but Will couldn’t deny that Charlie was also a born problem solver. The man could peer straight through all the chaos, see the perfect solution, and lay out the steps required to accomplish exactly what needed to be done.
But he couldn’t drag Charlie into this. Wouldn’t do it.
“Look,” Will started only to stop again. He took a step backward and held up both of his hands to ward Charlie from drawing any closer. The distance helped to clear his head and put steel into his spine. “I appreciate the concern, but really, I’ve got this. Thank you for risking your lives to save Francisco and to protect me. But right now, all I want is to return home and try to sleep for an hour before the cops are banging on my door.”
“You’re not leaving,” Charlie growled, once again becoming an immovable mountain.
“What?” Will shrieked when he could get the gears in his brain turning.
“Actually, you do need to stay,” Kairo interjected, stopping Charlie from throwing more fuel on the fire that was building in Will’s temper. The sweet man slipped into the room and came to stand between Will and Charlie. He even gave the taller man a shove, putting more distance between Charlie and Will. “You were the last one to leave the clinic, right?”
