45. Wes
CHAPTER 45
WES
I slumped down in the uncomfortable plastic chair in the hospital waiting room, my head in my hands. It was pounding, and Beckett’s incessant pacing wasn’t helping, but I couldn’t bring myself to tell him to stop. His best friend was just kidnapped and then shot. He could pace if he wanted to.
Riley watched both of us with a concerned expression. He knew something was up with me, but I brushed him off when he asked about it. There wasn’t much I could share about what happened and he needed to focus on Jay and Beckett, who was seconds away from spiraling. I would be fine.
Luca and the rest of the guys were on their way home. They were coming right here, since while Daniels had been stabilized, he needed real treatment. Everyone had a variety of minor injuries that needed to be checked on as well. In less than an hour, Luca should be in my arms.
I wanted Diego here with me. No, I needed him here. As soon as Dakota and Jay were found, I called him. I didn’t know if he’d even answer my call, and I couldn’t begin to explain the relief I felt when I heard his shaky voice, rough like he’d been crying.
He was in bad shape and I had left him alone. It didn’t matter that he asked me to, that he fucking almost safeworded. It didn’t matter that he was right and that I was more use to my sons at the moment. I still left Diego alone. I had been torn into two, my heart and mind in two places at once. Whichever decision I made would have been the wrong one.
Diego promised me he would be okay, and that we were good. He apologized to me! I quickly remedied him of the notion that he had to. It was my job to take care of him, and I didn’t do that. I was still failing him.
But I had to respect Diego’s wishes. He assured me he was fine. I had no choice but to believe it.
I couldn’t leave Beckett and Riley like this, and Diego wasn’t able to come here. I would never ask him to do that, even if I really wanted to. Especially after everything that happened, he wasn’t in a place to push boundaries today.
I just…I wanted my men close. I couldn’t be the strong one anymore, but I had no choice.
“Wes,” I looked up at Riley who came to sit next to me, “It’s okay if you need to leave. I know something else is going on too.”
My son was being honest, he would understand if I left, but I could also see how much he wanted me to stay. Diego was right. I was needed here.
“I’m fine. I’m right where I need to be.” All the tension left Riley’s body, and he shocked the crap out of me by wrapping his arms around my middle, hugging me. Once I got over the shock, I hugged him back.
“You’re okay, kid. I got you.”
We held on to each other tightly until the doctor came out to tell us that Jay made it through surgery fine. He then curled into Beckett’s lap, but that was okay. He still came to me on his own, and that felt like a huge step in our relationship.
I must’ve dozed off shortly after that because next thing I knew Luca standing in front of me.
“Luc, holy fuck.” He looked exhausted, and practically fell into my arms as I stood up. I cupped his cheek taking in every inch of him. He seemed a little out of it, like maybe he was given pain killers. He had told me he was unharmed but seeing him now I had doubts. I should have asked Diego, but I didn’t want to put that on him.
“Talk to me love, what happened?” I was hesitant to hold him or kiss him since I wasn’t sure what, if any, injuries he sustained.
“He needs to see the doctor,” Brooks snapped. I felt guilty that I hadn’t even realized he was there, but I took him in now. He’d also seen better days, with the one side of his face a colorful collections of bruises. “He has a cracked rib, but won’t let anyone look at it.” Brooks put his hands on his hips and stared at me, demanding me to do something about it.
Stubborn asshole. I glared at Luca, but I don’t think it had the effect I wanted it to. “I’ll take care of him Brooks,” I promised, “Has he been given something?”
“Yeah, we gave him pain killers for the plane ride, so he could stand it. He’s riding high right now.” Brooks lips tilted in a half smile, “He was very talkative. We learned a lot about your military days.” By the sparkle in his eyes, I had a feeling it had nothing to do with missions and everything to do with what went down in private.
“You know what? I don’t think I want to know. Where’s everyone else? Any other injuries that were hidden from me?”
Brooks shook his head, “No, sir. Besides Daniels, Luc and I got the worse of it, and I just got away with some impressive bruising. Maverick went with Daniels to get him taken care of. Skye is with Matty. Luca refused to get check out until he saw you.”
His eyes narrowed like that was somehow my fault. Luca didn’t try to defend himself. He just half laid on top of me, his eyes half closed.
“Come on love, let’s get you help.”
“Missed you, baby.” Luca slurred.
“I missed you too, so fucking much. We’re never doing this again. Where you go, I go.”
“’Bout time.”
Brooks was just watching us. “Have you seen a doctor?” I asked him. I was worried about the look in his eyes.
“They cleared me. No concussion. I’m just tired mostly.”
“Good. Have you taken anything?”
“Just advil. I wanted to be clear headed.”
“Thank you, Brooks. That was very considerate of you.” I was worried about him, but I was going to take him at his word that he was okay. “Can you make it home? Diego needs you.”
His eyes widened, “Fuck yes. I’ll get home. I’m okay, I swear it.”
I handed him my keys. “I believe you. Take this, you can use my car, there’s plenty of us around to get home eventually. Take something stronger when you get home, okay? Diego does need you, but you need to take care of yourself too, got it darling?”
Brooks nodded, taking my words seriously. “I will. D and I, we take care of each other.” He paused, “We’ll be okay. All of us.”
I cupped his good cheek. “I know.”
There was some kind of understanding between us then. We both loved the same people, and even if we didn’t love each other that way, we’d always be on the same side to put our men first.
Brooks looked a little unsteady. But not because of injuries. I could just tell he was still shaken about everything. Honestly, I was impressed with how well he was handling everything. He took to this lifestyle like a champ.
“Come here, darling,” I told him, holding my free arm open to him. Brooks needed a hug badly. He needed that reassurance and closeness. He came freely, careful not to jostle Luca, who was practically asleep on his feet.
I kissed the side of his head affectionately and held him tight until he got control of himself enough. Brooks pushed away, tears in his eyes.
“Thank you. I really needed that.”
“I’m always here for you, Brooks.”
He grinned, “I like that. A lot.” He glanced at Luca, “Please make sure he rests.”
“I will. Go.”
“Yes, sir.” One more long and meaningful look at Luca and then he was off.
I focused my attention back on Luca. “C’mon love, let’s get you to a doctor.”
We were finally leaving the hospital, and I’d never been so happy. The last three days had been brutal. Luckily, Skye, Maverick, and the rest of the team got away with only superficial injuries. Luca had a couple cracked ribs, but it could have been way worse. Especially after Skye explained how he got trapped in a room full of guards and fucking traffickers, and he wasn’t armed. It wasn’t the first time he’d been in a situation like that, though, and it probably wouldn’t be the last. All that mattered was that they all managed to get out safely.
Daniels would be fine. He’d be out for a while, and would need physical therapy, but the doctors were sure he’d have a full recovery. The same could be said for Jay, thank fuck. He made it out of surgery okay and he’d be good. Dakota being a nurse was a huge benefit, and we all knew he’d be well taken care of when he was released from the hospital.
We were still dealing with the fallout from that night. The police raided the hotel, but unfortunately a lot of the big-ticket players including Vladimir, and Luca’s former school mate Tanner, escaped. The girl, Amara, was willing to talk, and gave a lot of details about how Tanner manipulated her into sleeping with him and then kept her drugged and captive. She had been reunited with her brother, who was her guardian, and hopefully she’d be okay.
Luca and Diego had spent the last few days smoothing things over and making sure they were in the clear. Wherever Diego couldn’t manage to make them disappear, Luca used his connections to ensure Il Fortunato’s name was left out of media and police reports. For as long as I knew him, I’d rarely seen that side of him where he had the throw his weight and influence around. He usually did his best to ignore his upbringing. It was kind of shocking, but I could tell how much it exhausted Luca to act like that and every night he collapsed in my arms completely worn out.
Then there was the matter of Matty. He had spent the night in the hospital due to extreme dehydration, mostly, but was released the next day. I didn’t know all the details of what happened to him. Luca had managed to pull more strings to convince them that Matty would be in danger if they contacted his legal guardians or if his presence was made public. At the moment he was back at the estate with the guys and would remain there under their protection for now. I was looking forward to getting to know him.
Luca grabbed my hand, smiling at me. We were driving back to the estate. Finally. I hadn’t seen Diego since that night he kicked me out. We’d spoken a bunch, but I needed eyes on him and make things right again.
“I love you so much. I’m so glad you finally came to your senses and decided to be with me.”
I snorted. “I am too. Even if life got 10 times more complicated since I did.”
Luca shrugged. “Eh. In my unbiased opinion, it was worth it.”
I raised an eyebrow at him. I absolutely agreed. I wouldn’t change a thing, but still he was a cocky fucker.
“Let’s just get home. We need to be with our family.”
“Home, eh?” Luca was grinning. “Are you admitting that the estate is your home?”
I shrugged, not totally sure. It sure felt like it the last month or so since they were gone. I stayed there every night. I loved my apartment though and wasn’t quite ready to part with it.
“It does feel more like home,” I admitted, “Maybe I could live there most of the time. But I’d like to keep my apartment in the city. I want to be able to be close to Riley and Beckett when they need me.”
Luca squeezed my hand, “That’s fine, baby. Whatever you need. It’s good to have a place to stay in the city anyway. We do a lot of business there, so having a closer base is nice.”
I smirked. “Is this your subtle way of implying I work for you now?”
“Well, I was thinking more with me. But yes?”
I pretended to think about it, even though I had already decided. I had kind of told him that already, at the hospital when I said I was going where he went, but he was likely too out of it to remember. I didn’t want to be on the outside anymore. I wanted to be with Luca and with Diego. I wasn’t sure if they discussed their plans, but I expected he and Brooks to become permanent members of the team as well.
At the very least, I knew they’d be staying at the estate for the foreseeable future. In the midst of all the chaos of the last few days one of the contacts I reached out to earlier finally got back to me. They weren’t able to prove it but word in the underground was that Bradley Fieldburg had hired a hitman to kill his father. While no one knew who the hitman was and he wasn’t talking, some other mercenaries were.
One had been particularly talkative and mentioned how Bradley had been asking about two young mercenaries, a thief and a hacker, and had supposedly hired some men to take them out. My contact didn’t know what happened after that.
Luca finally had Diego dump all the information we had on Bradley including his location to the Feds. Unfortunately he was no longer there when they got there, and was in the wind. For now, I’d leave him to law enforcement to deal with, but if they failed I had every intention of finding him. He went after my boy, destroyed his home, made him feel unsafe, and that was fucking unacceptable.
“I think we can come to an arrangement.” I finally responded to Luca, after being lost in my own thoughts.
He snorted, but he was happy.
“Thank fuck. I can’t do this without you anymore, Wes. I need you with me.”
A vulnerable Luca always went right to my heart. “I’m here. I’ll always be here.”
We drove the rest of the way home in silence, but holding hands. There was a whole bunch of bullshit left to deal with, but we’d be dealing with it together, all six of us.