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ONE
Luciana
When the nursecame into the hospital waiting room again, I felt as if I’d been sitting on the edge of my seat for hours. Jasper automatically grasped my hand as the woman motioned for us to get up. She only spoke broken English, but Niko’s sister, Emi, had explained to her in Japanese that we’d want to visit after she and Niko’s parents had seen the patient.
I scrambled to my feet and followed the nurse, my heart thudding against my ribs in a strange mix of relief and fear. Yesterday had been the worst day of my life: watching Niko’s limp body loaded into an ambulance, failing to get anyone to tell me whether he had a chance of surviving. Pacing this waiting room until visiting hours were over, only getting sporadic updates from Emi, who’d looked equally horrified.
He’d been in surgery and knocked out on medication, but late this morning he’d finally come to. Naturally his family had wanted to spend time with him first. I couldn’t resent them, as anxious as I was to see with my own eyes that he was okay.
Or at least as close to okay as you could get after taking a couple of bullets in the chest.
Jasper stuck close by my side as we strode down the hall, his gray-green eyes clouded with his own worries. His tall presence would have felt more reassuring if his broad shoulders hadn’t been rigid with tension.
A police officer stood outside Niko’s door, in consideration of the fact that his injuries had been due to an awful crime by assailants who hadn’t been arrested yet. I knew that Rafael was monitoring the hospital on the outside, watching for anyone suspicious, but my stomach stayed knotted.
Would my mother’s thugs make another attempt at Niko’s life? Or at mine and my other lovers’?
Quentin had opted to help Rafael with his external surveillance, figuring Niko wouldn’t want to see him all that urgently. But he’d given me a tight hug before I’d come inside this morning. “He’ll come through. He might not look so tough, but that guy is made of strong stuff.”
I couldn’t have been more glad that he’d been proven right.
As we came up on the room, Emi emerged, ushering out a middle-aged couple while she chattered away in low but rapid Japanese. She shot me a glance over her shoulder with a swish of her sleek black bob and winked before guiding her parents in the opposite direction down the hall.
Emi and I had become fast friends when she’d come to visit Niko in Boston and eagerly cheered me and Jasper on in our qualifying competition. She’d realized I was dating not just her older brother but my skating partner and my bodyguard as well and accepted the unusual relationship without blinking.
But during our first get-together after we’d arrived in Tokyo to train for the World Championships, which were happening next month in Nagano, she’d told me that we were better off not trying to explain things to their parents. “The older generation,” she said with a tsk of her tongue as if that explained everything. “They struggle enough with the idea that Niko likes girlsandboys without him dating both at the same time.”
Which he was doing. Jasper was as much Niko’s lover as I was, even if they hadn’t taken their physical relationship to quite the same level just yet. Considering that when I’d first met them, neither of them had been willing to even admit their feelings for each other, they’d come a long way.
The nurse motioned for us to stop just outside the room. As she slipped inside to confirm that Niko was ready to see us, the police officer gave us an inscrutable onceover. I hoped he was taking his job seriously.
Of course,Iwas the one who’d really failed here. It’d been my mother’s goons who’d attacked us and shot Niko. Somewhere along the line, I hadn’t been careful enough in covering my tracks.
Or maybe it went all the way back to my selfish desire to pursue my skating dreams. I’d known how angry Mom was about my decision to leave Austin. She’d threatened my men multiple times in the past.
I should have realized there was no way they’d be safe as long as they were with me.
The nurse returned and bobbed her head to us. “You may go now,” she said in her halting English.
Jasper swiped his hand through his shaggy auburn locks and set his jaw before stepping inside. I hurried after him, my pulse thumping even faster.
At the sight that met me beyond the door, my heart just about leapt right out of my chest. Niko was sitting up in the hospital bed, propped against a couple of pillows. His warm smile somehow shone as bright as always, but I could see the strain in the rest of his face. And there was no ignoring the bandages bulging beneath his hospital gown or the IV hooked up to his wrist.
Jasper went straight to him and grasped his free hand. “How are you doing? No, that’s a stupid question. I’m so glad you pulled through. Is there anything we can get for you?”
Niko let out a laugh that was only slightly raspy. “Who knew all it’d take to make you more talkative was me getting shot?”
I grimaced as I came up at our coach’s other side, but my mouth sprang back into a joyful smile a second later. “It’s just so good to see you awake and doing better. We were so worried. Jasper’s right—if you need anything at all—”
Niko held up his hand, still clasped in Jasper’s larger one, and his bright brown eyes twinkled with amusement. “I think the hospital staff has that covered. Not that I mind your kindness.”
Jasper swallowed audibly. “Have the doctors said anything about your recovery? Or how long they’ll need to monitor you for?”
Niko shook his head, the neon pink streak dyed into the smooth black strands swaying with movement. “They’re running a few more tests. But it seems hopeful. Unless something unexpected appears, it sounds like I should be back on my feet in a day or two. Just… moving slowly for a little while after that.”
“Of course.” My throat closed up for a moment before I could force the words out. “I’m so sorry, Niko. It was all my fault. If I hadn’t turned against my mom—”
Niko shook his head again, vehemently enough that my voice died. “Don’t say that. I made my own choices—and I’m happy with them. I know the risks, and I still think they were worth it to see you and Jasper shine.”
