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I bit my lip and nodded slowly. This was gonna get tricky. “He was.”
She stared at me as Tobias said, “Huh?” and pulled into a parking spot.
“He came to my place to apologize for being a dick. He was there until one-thirty.”
“You let him in even though you have a protection order out against him?” Tobias definitely sounded pissed.
“I applied for one. Still haven’t had the court date for it. And he just needed to talk. He said he’s seeing his therapist again.”
Candace nodded. “He had a doctor appointment early this morning.” She frowned. “But his knuckles were all busted up ….”
“Because he punched a wall.” Never would’ve thought saying that would be a relief.
Tobias’s expression hardened. “So he says. How do you know he wasn’t punching Aithan after cold-cocking him with a crowbar?”
I swallowed. “Well, he showed up at my house around the same time Aithan sent me a text. Tristan couldn’t have been in two places at once.” I held up my phone to show the time stamp of the last message I received from Aithan — eleven forty-two p.m.
Tobias didn’t look convinced, but Candace nodded. “You need to take that to the police because, right now, Tristan is in deep shit.”
“With good reason,” Tobias snapped.
I touched his shoulder, hoping to calm him. “Aithan first, then the police. It won’t hurt Tristan to be under the cops’ thumbs for a little while longer.” Maybe they could scare him straight the way they had back in tenth grade.
We got out of the car and rode the elevator to the lobby, then wended through a maze of white corridors to the Emergency Department.
“Why do hospitals always seem so huge and smell like you shouldn’t touch anything?” Candace muttered.
“Sterile hell,” Tobias agreed, scanning the crowded waiting area. People paced or talked in hushed tones. Others stared at their phones or at nothing. A few dozed in their seats, bodies hunched, faces lax.
After being directed to another floor on another wing of the sprawling building, and wandering through another maze of hallways, we finally found Aithan’s room at the end of a quiet hall. The door was closed.
“Do we knock?” Candace asked. “What if he’s sleeping?”
“Then we wake the fucker up.” Tobias opened the door.
Aithan was alone and hooked up to machines. An oxygen tube rested beneath his nose, monitors were taped to his chest, and an IV was stuck into the back of his hand. He looked ashen, but he opened his eyes, spied me, and smiled.
“Hey, beautiful.” He sounded raspy and weak. “Come give me some sugar.” After every few words, he paused and drew in a labored breath.
I kissed him, trying not to dislodge any tubes or jostle him. “I’m afraid I’ll hurt you,” I said, wanting to hold him close but holding back instead.
“Nah, I’m on morphine, and you’re the best medicine a man can get.”
“Oh, boy.” Candace laughed. “You’re so loopy, Aithan.”
“High as a kite, girl,” he slurred and gave her a lopsided grin.
“Hey, brother from another mother.” Tobias clasped Aithan’s hand. “Glad to see your brain still works.”
“Oh, yeah. No bleeding in my noggin, but I’m gonna have a gnarly scar.” He turned his head and pointed to an area above his left ear where a long arc of staples closed a nasty wound.
“Fucking hell, Aithan.” I dropped into the chair beside his bed. The left side of his face was black and blue from temple to jaw, and his left eye was swollen and black, the whites reddened by broken blood vessels. Someone had hastily wiped dried blood from his neck, but it still lingered in his scalp and around his ear. His chest was bruised where the hospital gown dipped low, as was his entire right arm and his jaw.
I pressed my lips together. Seeing him like this shook me. He was always so strong and solid. He seemed like the kind of guy you couldn’t knock down, no matter how hard you tried. But someone had put him down hard and out cold.
He could’ve been killed.
His sleepy gaze drifted to me and turned concerned. “Hey, don’t be upset, Zel. I’m still alive and s’posed to go home in a few days.” He reached for my hand and I clasped his fingers. His grip wasn’t as firm as usual, but it was still far from weak and that made me feel a little better.
