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The heart rate machine picked up, and Ray straightened.
“T? Hey, bro. Can you wake up for me?” Ray paused, throat thick. T didn’t move. “Please, T. We’re all a mess and we need you. I need you.”
Ray rested his forehead against T’s uninjured shoulder. Like that first night in the waiting room when Macey had walked away, he let the tears come. He’d cried when his mum had died, but before that day, not since he was eleven. T had beaten him in a wrestling match, and he’d cried in embarrassment and swore it wouldn’t happen again. It didn’t. The crying or T winning at any physical match.
“Ray?” T croaked out.
“T?” Ray shot up and stared at his brother. “You okay?”
“No,” he moaned. “Water.”
Ray jumped up and ran out the door, calling to the nurse. “Water! T’s awake and he wants water.”
“Okay.” The nurse nodded and stood.
Ray rushed back into the room. T’s eyes were closed again. Shoot. He stopped next to the bed, wanting to rouse him but also wanting him to heal more.
The nurse came in with a cup of ice. “Let’s start with this.”
T’s eyes fluttered open. “Water?”
She pushed the button to incline his bed slightly and spooned some ice chips into his mouth. He sucked on the spoonful and murmured, “Thanks.”
“Of course.” She looked over his monitors. “Everything looks good. What’s your pain level?”
“Nonexistent,” he said drily.
She eyed him. “I know you’re tough, but it’s going to hurt, so we’re going to stay on top of the pain. I’ll contact your doctors and see how they want to proceed but right now we’ll put some morphine through your I.V.”
“Please wait until I talk to my brother,” T murmured. Did it hurt to talk? Ray didn’t want to cause him any unnecessary pain.
“I’ll give you ten minutes.”
“Thank you.”
“Do you need anything else right now?”
“More ice. Answers.” He looked at Ray.
The nurse spooned in some more ice, then handed the cup to Ray. “I’ll be right outside if either of you need anything.”
Ray thanked her.
The door closed, and T blinked at him. “What happened?”
“What do you remember?”
“In the hall. Watching you and Macey kiss. It was a good one.”
Heat and guilt filled Ray.
“Then I walked back into my suite, and the world exploded.” He lifted his left hand and winced.
“Your left side took the brunt of a homemade pipe bomb,” Ray told him. “Try not to move. Just let it heal. Dad’s got burn specialists here from the Grossman Burn Center. They’re the best in the world.”
T grunted as if to say, Of course he did. “Am I going to be ugly and scarred?”
“Most likely.” Ray gave him another scoop of ice. “I’m so sorry, bro.” The words didn’t come close to expressing how he felt.
