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“Nikolai…”
“You can do it to me, and I can’t do it to you?”
He hangs up the phone, and I have to laugh a little at his inability to take a joke. He’s the sensitive type, so he taunts me to take the attention off himself. Every time I bring something up that makes him even the least bit uncomfortable, he gets pissed off and shuts down the conversation.
Maybe he should talk to a therapist.
“How’s Eddy doing?” I call to the backseat, not forgetting about my new passenger. He’s going to be useful for our final push against the Cartel, but that’s not why I’m asking.
I care about him. Something about him being related to Dream makes me feel like he’s part of my family too.
“He’s… okay,” Dream replies hesitantly. “But we really need to get him to a doctor. How soon can we see one?”
“I have a private physician that I can have flown in tonight. I will warn you, though, it’s a fifteen-hour drive.”
“Eddy, is that okay with you?” Dream asks him softly.
“I’m… I’m just… glad to be free,” he replies, and his voice is so weak I can barely hear it over the sound of the engine.
“We’re going to get you fixed up,” I say to Eddy. “I have the best doctor money can buy, and a private chef who will make you anything you want. Steak dinner, shrimp and grits, pizza and beer – you got it.”
“Thank you,” he says, and I can see a smile creeping onto his face. “I’ll have it all.”
27
Dream
Eddy nods in and out of sleep on the way to the border while Jasha makes phone calls to get a house rented for us to stay at. Nikolai doesn’t want to leave Mexico just yet, but I’ll do whatever Eddy wants to do, and I doubt he’ll want to stay here.
I don’t bother him with questions just yet, though. I just let him get his rest, which he seems to appreciate. Even the short run out of the bar seemed to take a lot out of him. The electrolytes we gave him helped, but it’s going to take him a while to get back to his original self.
I can still hardly believe that we got him back. I feel guilty now for being so hard on Nikolai. He made this possible. If it wasn’t for him, I probably would’ve gotten caught on the border and sent to prison.
And Eddy would be dead.
As the road stretches out ahead of us, each mile taking us further away from danger, the silence that settles in the car feels comfortable, not awkward.
I watch Eddy sleep, studying the cuts and bruises on his misshapen face. I can still see him through them, and I feel a sense of relief knowing that he’s still there. Even if his mind is cloudy and his body is starved, he’ll recover.
I know he will.
Nikolai’s eyes are fixed on the road for the entire drive, his handsome face rigid against the backdrop of a darkening sky.
I want to know what he was going to say to me before I stopped him, but I won’t remind him. I want him to say it when he’s ready.
As the hours go on, I wrestle with the guilt that creeps into my thoughts. I’d doubted him, and worse, I’d judged him. If it weren’t for Nikolai, his ruthlessness, his willingness to step into the fire for us, Eddy would be gone, and I’d be staring at the cold walls of a jail cell.
His actions were calculated yet inexplicably compassionate. I doubt I’ll ever be able to thank him properly.
We drive on, swallowed by the impending darkness, yet ironically, the path ahead seems a little clearer. I want to be with Nikolai. I want him so badly that it hurts, but I won’t know how he feels until he tells me.
* * *
The housewe’re staying far exceeds my expectations. If this is what Jasha can get on short notice, I wonder what we’d be staying in if we had weeks to book the trip.
It’s better than anything Nikolai has come up with, and that makes me think that Jasha was the one who picked the house they’re living in. Nikolai might be the older one, but Jasha is clearly more artistically inclined.
“This is gorgeous,” I say as I walk into the house. Nikolai and Jasha are behind me, supporting Eddy’s weight like he’s a drunken fraternity boy walking home after a long night with the guys.
