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“I’m looking for Malcolm Bello.”
“Your relation to the patient?”
“Friend.”
She sighed and picked up the phone. “Ms. Brooks, I have a—” The nurse looked up at me with her eyebrows raised.
“Sasha Mitchell.”
“Will do." She hung up the phone. “She's coming out here to take you back.”
“Thank you.”
I stepped away from the desk and stared at the hallway that led back to the rooms, rocking back on my heels. The doors flew open, and out came my best friend, still dressed in her work clothes and looking mad as hell.
“Oh my God. Ashley, what—”
“Wait until we get to the room.” She gave me her back, and I had no choice but to follow, biting back the million questions running through my mind. Her small and quick steps created distance between us, giving me a perfect view of the tension in her shoulders.
When we got to the door, Ashley paused. “Let me be clear.” She glared at me. “Malcolm told me to call you. We will be having words once he tells you what he needs to tell you.”
“O-okay.” I was beyond confused.
She exhaled and shook her shoulders, forcing a smile on her face that made her dimples pop. As we entered the room, Ashley gently said, “Baby? Sasha’s here.”
“Good.” Malcolm sat up, wincing and grabbing his side. “I’ve got an update.” The fluorescent light overhead made him look ill, and for the first time since we’d hired him, I didn’t care about the update.
“That’s not important right now. What happened? Did you get in a car accident?”
Ashley pushed another pillow behind his back and kissed him on the cheek before sitting next to the bed.
Malcolm shook his head slowly, cautiously. “No. I found Tootsie.”
“Tootsie did this?” I dropped my purse on the tile floor and fell into the chair opposite Ashley.
“Yeah. He snuck up on me outside The Side Pocket, down on Cherokee.”
I scanned the bandages covering his head, his swollen left eye, and his split bottom lip. “I’m so sorry.”
Malcolm chuckled, then grabbed his ribs, shutting his good eye. “Shit.” He shooed Ashley’s hand away from where she was fussing with the blanket. “You’ve got nothing to apologize for. I got sloppy and didn’t blend in like I should have. I’d stepped outside to call Marco, and the next thing I know, I’m waking up in an ambulance.”
“They’re here in the city?”
“Probably not anymore.”
I nodded. “Well, I’m glad you’re okay.” We shared a smile, and I was relieved. That is until Ashley snorted, drawing our attention to her fierce expression.
“You call this okay?” She gestured at his prone body.
“Baby—”
“No, Malcolm. When this job was explained to me, you weren’t supposed to make contact, and you said you’d come home as soon as you found them. Instead, you were beaten and left for dead in an alley.”
“If Tootsie Adamo wanted me dead, I’d be dead.”
Malcolm was right, but that fact did little to settle Ashley. If anything, it revved her up. “Oh! Well, that makes it all so much better.” Ashley looked at me and sucked in a breath. “You knew this could happen, and you asked him to do it anyway.”
I shook my head. “I didn’t think—”
