Chapter 56
OCTOBER 26 – SUNDAY 4:22 AM
R en
Liam, Theo, and I hurried down the hallway to meet up with the guys. It was convenient not having to knock before walking into the room. Nash sat on his bed with a white bandage on his bicep, and I quickly scanned Myles and Blake for any injuries.
“Are you all okay?”
“Aye, Snowflake just feckin’ pissed. That piece of shite is still out there breathing,” Myles said, greeting me with a hug and a kiss on the top of my head.
“What the hell happened,” Liam asked before anyone else could.
“Owen made us before it even started. I think he got twitchy when Myles wanted to take him to the location rather than meet him there or just give him the address,” Nash said, glaring at his arm.
“Then my fucking father, and his impeccable timing, decided in all his infinite wisdom to talk to Owen. No idea when that convo happened, but he told him that Myles had news about Devin. I don’t know if he was selling the lie or setting us up. I never know with him.”
“Well, I don’t need to say it, but this isn’t good. Owen is a wildcard at the best of times, and now he knows he has no one to help him. He’ll be looking for ways to lash out,” Theo said as he sat down.
“He had help,” Myles said, and we all looked at him. “I was thinkin’ at first that he ran after a random pickup that just happened to pull out of the alley.” He shook his head. “But the more I think about it…why didn’t the guy stop when Owen was standing there mocking me? He had to have known that there was a strange man in his truck bed. It woulda been pretty fuckin’ hard to miss him. I unloaded my clip at them, so I could see the driver wanting to get away, but it still seemed like a planned escape route.”
“That makes this a bigger shitshow,” Liam growled. “Who the fuck would help the likes of Owen? Has to be someone with nothing to lose because Owen has nothing to offer but chaos. No way to access money, no connections, no family to call on…he’s alone.”
Nash ran his hands through his hair.
“I don’t fucking know. Maybe we should’ve put more effort into learning who his associates were before this. But there are only so many of us and not enough goddamn hours in a day. And now this,” Nash said, pointing to his arm. “Our rematch with Hawking Shores is Wednesday, and I can’t get in a pool. Fuck!”
Standing up, he walked over to the window and stared outside.
“I think our rematch is the least of our worries at the moment,” Blake said.
Nash spun around, glaring at Blake, and his rage finally had a target.
“You don’t care because it’s not your dream that hangs in the balance,” Nash growled, and the tension rose in the room as if we’d just turned up the dial on the thermostat.
“I get that this is your big dream. But I think living or dying is still more important than if you get to swim. If you’re dead, you can’t exactly swim. Then again, I guess it doesn’t really matter if it’s one of us. I’m sure you’d find a replacement,” Blake shot back, standing from Liam’s bed where he’d been sitting.
I’d never heard Blake talk back to Nash like that.
“What the fuck is your problem? I saved your fucking, ungrateful life tonight, asshole,” Nash snarled, taking a step closer to Blake.
“I didn’t need your help. I had him, and you got in the way,” Blake said, pointing at Nash.
“Like hell. You didn’t have him. He would’ve sliced your fucking neck open. Maybe I should’ve let that happen. You always wanted to be a martyr.”
“Whoa! Enough,” I said, marching forward between the two of them with my arms out. “Before you say something you can’t take back.”
They didn’t back down but stayed quiet.
“Look this is a horrible situation for all of us, but fighting amongst ourselves isn’t going to help anything. You can go back to blaming one another after Owen is caught.”
Blake was the first to walk away, but I could tell by the look on Nash’s face that he wouldn’t be satisfied until he fought with someone.
“Guys, I know it’s late, but can I get five minutes alone with Nash?”
I didn’t take my eyes off Nash like that would somehow keep him in place and quiet long enough to let things remain calm. Myles touched my shoulder on his way out.
“I’ll be fine, promise.”
“Okay, I’ll be waiting in the hall,” Myles said. As the door clicked closed Nash’s eyes locked with mine.
“You have a really dangerous habit of locking yourself in the lion’s cage when it’s pissed off,” Nash said.
“Maybe because I know the lion is actually a pussy cat who wouldn’t hurt me,” I teased and walked toward him. His lip twitched.
“I’m not a pussy cat,” he grumbled. “Besides, you said I always hurt you.”
Nash crossed his arms and then swore as he pressed on his injury.
“Always, may be an exaggeration. But I’ll deny it if anyone asks.” He smirked. “Tell me what happened,” I said, grabbing his hand.
“I saw the blade. It almost got Blake across the face while he was reaching for his gun. I reacted. I don’t know if I got in the way, but Blake hasn’t taken a life, not in cold blood. Axel and a few others don’t count. He didn’t strike the final blow.”
Sitting down on the bed, I tugged on his hand, and he parked it beside me.
“So, were you worried he might get stabbed or that he’d lose his innocence?”
Nash looked at me.
“Blake is the only one of you who still has that aura. The rest of you have a shadow of death following you around.”
“Well, thanks for that fucked up imagery,” Nash said.
He looked away from me and sighed.
“Maybe both. Maybe I still worry that something like that could push him too far. Killing someone point blank…I don’t know…I just reacted.” He pointed at the door. “Not that he gives a fuck about that or what it just cost me.”
“Wrong and wrong. Blake is pissed because he feels lesser than all of you and that you treat him with kid gloves. Whether you mean to or not, it doesn’t change how he feels.”
“I don’t have time to coddle him,” Nash growled.
“Nash…all he wants is for you to say he did a good job. He wants to feel like a part of the group. He doesn’t want to be judged on what happened with the drugs or his overdose. At some point, you need to show him that he has your complete trust again. Otherwise, he’ll continue to lash out at you, and you’ll lash out at him until it’s unfixable.”
He shook his head at me.
“You know, you sound like Liam…a fucking cuter version, but still.”
I smiled. “Well, since you trust Liam, and I sound like him, then trust me. Throw Blake a lifeline.”
“Like what?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know. That’s something you need to figure out.” I pointed at his arm. “As for this. Can you get them to reschedule?”
“The meet isn’t the issue. It’s the cutoff deadline for sending in my times. If I beat Sabastian then I have enough qualifying scores to submit. I can still send more, but handing them in early looks really good.”
I tapped my chin and thought. “Is it just that one race?” He nodded. “As long as you don’t care about the pain, pulling open your stitches and needing it closed back up again, then I have an idea.”
“Okay, you’ve got my attention.”
“You can use this special spray to keep it dry.”
“What spray?”
“I’d have to look up the name for you, but when my mum had surgery, she got some to put on her incision so she could shower. It took her a really long time to heal, and she got sick of covering the wound with plastic because she reacted to the adhesive. She started using this spray instead.”
“Okay, get me the name, and I’ll buy some boxes.”
I giggled at the thought of him having an entire room full of it, just in case.
“There are also some sports thingies that you can put on to help hold the area together.”
Nash smirked.
“Sport thingies? How very descriptive of you. I’m not sure how I’ve never heard of it before,” he teased, and I would’ve hit him if he didn’t have a wound.
“Funny. I’m trying to help you here. I’ll find that, too. How is it that I know about this stuff, and I’m not the athlete,” I said, lifting an accusatory brow at him.
“Because you and Theo are obsessed with knowing every piece of useful and useless information there is.”
I laughed. “That’s true.”
“Also, when you’re a specimen like me, you don’t worry about that stuff.”
“Oh my god, how do you ever fit through a door?”
Nash smiled and grabbed my hand, sending dangerous little sparks traveling up my arm from his touch.
“You won’t be able to train between now and Wednesday. Will you be ready?”
“I can think of a few ways to keep my stamina up,” he said, his tone shifting into something far more sexual.
He leaned in close to my neck. It should’ve felt weird when he breathed in like he was sniffing me, but I’d gotten so used to Myles doing the same thing that it felt normal.
I quickly stood, but Nash didn’t let go of my hand.
“No, Nash. We’ve been over this,” I said.
“Yes, but that was before I was brutally injured in battle and needed comforting.”
He gave me his sad eyes, and I shook my head at him.
“Okay, you need to lay off the Game of Thrones. The answer is still no, but….” I bent over and kissed his lips softly. “I’m glad you’re going to be okay,” I whispered. “Don’t let it go to your head.”
Nash shifted on the bed. “Oh, it’s going to a head, just not the one you meant.”
“You are impossible,” I said, just as the door opened and Liam poked his head in to look at us.
“Is it safe to enter?”
“Yeah, I was just leaving,” I said, tugging on my hand. Nash reluctantly let go. “I’ll get you the names of those thingies.”
Nash rolled his eyes but smiled.
“Night, Princess and don’t worry, we’ll keep you safe.”
“I know.”