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“Did you want to come with me, Aubs?” His eyes flicker from face to face. But he allows only brief glances. “I’ll head to the shop and take care of this, then maybe we can hang out?”
“Not tonight.” Setting her coffee down and pushing off my bed until her feet touch the floor, she has everyone’s attention as she walks to her brother and wraps him in a tight hug. “Thank you for coming to see me today. I’m gonna stay here for now.”
“I tried all night to call you.” Pulling back, he cups her face and studies her eyes. “I swear. I didn’t give up.”
“I know.”
“And this morning, I tried to get in, but they wouldn’t let me.”
“The hospital is secure for everyone’s safety.” She pushes to the tips of her toes and presses a kiss to his cheek. “Including mine. I still don’t have my phone back, and probably won’t be able to replace it for a few days. But if you want to reach me, you could probably call the hospital.”
“Or call me,” Archer inserts. “I’ll be wherever Doctor Mayet is, and wherever she is, I figure—”
“That’s where I’ll be,” Aubree confirms with a gentle smile. “I’m where my best friend is until she’s back on her feet. But call me, and I’ll get you inside with less fuss.”
While they say their goodbyes—and Eli continues to peek around—Archer watches me. He strokes my arm and plays with the ring circling my finger, mirroring the way the anxiety he carries in his heart tangles with mine.
I feel his worry. His fear. His exhaustion. I feel everything he’s endured in the last twenty-four hours.
Yes, I was inside that bank last night, and in an OR after that. I’m in pain. Tired. Completely and utterly wrecked and in need of another twenty-four hours of sleep.
But Archer had to watch it all unfold from the outside. Unable to fix things. Unable to take my place, when I know he would rather be the one in danger. He had to live every single second I got to sleep through, and he had the added terror of not knowing if I would bleed out while we were separated.
I cup his face. “Hey, I’m okay.”
He doesn’t make a sound. Doesn’t cry. But I feel him shudder under my touch. I feel his fears continue to roll through his mind and torture him with a millionwhat-ifs.
“Everything’s okay now.”
ARCHER
Minka sleeps through the night and into the next day without waking. Even when the nurses replace her bags of fluid, and come in hourly to make sure she’s still alive and hasn’t developed a fever or some other nasty medical emergency.
She doesn’t wake when I crawl onto the bed beside her, or when the nurse demands I get my ass down and leave her patient alone. Or when Felix tells the woman to fuck off and bring back someone who will physically remove me.
So far, no one has come.
Minka doesn’t wake when Tim’s chair squeaks as he sits, or when Aubree hisses in pain after her toe connects with the wheel of the bed. Nor when Tim pulls Aubree into his lap, wraps his arms around her torso, and drags her closer until her head rests under his chin, making her squeak because he demands she stay near.
She sleeps through Cato’s arrival, a brief scuffle over chairs, and the conclusion, when he parks his ass on the floor, knees up, and rests his elbows on top.
The nurses have to step around him every time they administer Minka’s meds, and still, no one talks about howtwoMalone brothers have breached a hospital deep in lockdown.
No one asks, and they don’t explain. It’s just… the way it is.
And in all the time Minka slumbers, Fletch doesn’t come back. Or call. He doesn’t check in to make sure she’s doing okay. Fuck, she could’ve died overnight, and there’s no way he’d know until someone leaked it to Tiffany Hewitt at Channel Nine, and she blasted it all over live television.
Fuck that asshole.
“Suzanne Slade had a rough night.” Doctor Cleary stops in the doorway of Minka’s room and scowls as she counts heads.
Of all the hospital staff we’ve encountered since coming here, Cleary has the balls and clout to do something about it, but apart from a glare, she says nothing of the six of us crammed into one small space. Best of all, remains silent on my presence in Minka’s bed.
“We lost her again, about six hours ago,” she murmurs. “Her heart’s weak, and she reacted negatively to one of the meds we prescribed. She went into a-fib, but we got her stable again with the paddles, so now her mother’s currently zonked out on benzos before she herself becomes a patient.”
“Rough night indeed,” Felix repeats in the dull morning light.
When Cleary glances his way, he smirks. “Doc.”
