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“One good thing came from this. If it had been Kom’s skull he’d gone for, the Rickenbacker would have shattered.” Matt offered the Nobek a saccharine-sweet smile.
“You’re a sassy little guy, aren’t you?” Kom scowled, but his eyes twinkled as he rubbed Matt’s shoulders. “At least we know one person who outranks that guitar.”
“I am rather valuable.” Avir tapped the hospital medi-bed’s controls, and the backrest lifted him to a sitting position. Matt shifted where he sat on the edge of the bed.
He sighed over Avir’s black-and-blue forehead. “My poor Dramok. Are the pain meds working yet?”
“They’ve kicked in. Nothing will heal the damage to my pride, though. Knocked unconscious by an old, gimpy Earther. I could die of shame.”
“He must have put on an amazing act for you to allow him in the room to talk.”
“He cried actual tears. I swear it on my ancestors. ‘My nephew is all I have left. I have to make this right.’” Avir’s imitation of Valter’s creaky voice was decent enough to bring a scowl to Matt’s face.
“He’s such a slimeball.”
“I was doubly stupid to show him the guitar and brag what an amazing musician you are. I paid for wanting to rub his nose in your accomplishments.”
“You bragged on me? Tell me what you said.” Matt pretended to preen, and they laughed.
“I want to hear more about you smacking him silly,” Avir insisted.
“Mattie owned him,” Kom chuckled. “Then he gave Masok a hell of a fight trying to reach him a second time.”
“Our companion might have given you a run for your money, my Nobek,” Standing on the other side of the hospital bed, Masok laughed. “Pound for pound, he brings the fight like nobody else.”
Matt wasn’t sure he rated their proud gazes. There’d been an instant of weakness, when he’d imagined himself in his dorm, held powerless by Valter. The brief instant he’d wavered could have proven fatal to him and Avir.
Maybe his discomfort showed. Kom’s grip on his shoulders tightened. “With Valter in jail, and likely to remain so for a while due to his attack on Avir, we won’t have to even think about him.”
“Mattie wasn’t charged for assault, was he?” Avir’s eyes narrowed.
“After what the bastard did to you and ranting he’ll finish the job as soon as he’s free? Not a chance. The officers said it was clear-cut self-defense.”
“How do you feel now that you’ve confronted him?” Avir asked Matt.
“I experienced a bad moment at first. A flashback to Lucas, which is still shaking me up,” he admitted. “I guess I’m not quite out of the woods where my mental state is concerned.”
“You proved you aren’t helpless. You stood up for yourself and Avir. You fought and won.” Kom’s tone was soft with encouragement.
“Yeah. I did.” Matt drew comfort from it and hoped it meant he’d be all right.
Chapter Sixteen
Ten months later
“I’ll just fly away
From the cruel
Games you play
There’s no debt
I can pay
That’ll buy back
My yesterdays”
