Chapter 14
CHAPTER 14
TANK
You know what’s humbling?
A wheelchair ride through the hospital.
I tried to tell them I could walk out. They smiled at me like I was a silly little kid, then pointed sternly at the seat.
Chance smirked from the doorway, my bag of clothes in hand. He’d gone to his place to get my ID and stuff. It had all still been on the nightstand since I didn’t really think to grab it during my abduction.
I rolled my eyes at the stupid thought. The more the medicine wore off, the grumpier I’d become.
Thankfully, everyone around me didn’t seem to mind. They’d all been happy to tease me and make sure I knew I wasn’t in charge with all this.
Granted, it was rather obvious. The damage to my body wasn’t life threatening, but I sure wasn’t in the position to do much. Not until I took more time to heal.
Once I got over the embarrassment of the ride to the car, I started to think in terms of logistics. There were so many parts to everything. I’d always been the one to lead the charge. Being bedridden wouldn’t change that responsibility.
“Stop thinking about work,” Chance said when he climbed in behind the wheel.
I was kind of shocked he bothered to drive me. I figured Takeshi would be the one to get us back to the office. Instead, my friend got in the backseat and buckled himself in like this was nothing.
“You can’t tell me not to think about it.”
“Yes, I can. You need to rest. It’s not good for you to stress over it. The team has everything handled. They’ll come to you if they have something to discuss.”
Turning from his penetrating gaze, I looked out the window. I watched as we left the hospital and made our way to the NightShade offices.
The city looked the same as it always did, yet it felt different. In a matter of days, everything I knew flipped on its head.
Chance told his father and my team about us. He resisted his father’s efforts to break us up. I’d been abducted, beaten, and discarded outside of the hospital. My team now knew more about my past than they ever had.
I felt as if someone had broken me open, then poured out all the fractured pierces of my soul for all to see.
As if he could read my mind, Chance’s hand wrapped around mine. He didn’t look my way. There was no need to though. Just his touch helped.
It grounded me enough to stop the thoughts that wouldn’t let up.
When we reached the office, Archie was waiting downstairs with a grin. He greeted his husband, then waved casually to me. It was as if this was any other day. Like I wasn’t hobbling out of the car towards the elevator to take me to the recovery room.
“Everything is all ready,” he said as we all climbed in the small space. Takeshi held my bag as Chance supported my weight with his arm around my back.
I loved the way it felt to be in his arms, yet I also hated he had to do so much just to get me inside. It felt like things weren’t balanced. Like I’d somehow let him down.
When the elevator doors opened, the first thing I saw brought a grin to my face. Jared was there with a box of doughnuts and a smile. It felt normal. As if nothing was amiss.
I appreciated the little guy for that more than I could say.
“Tell me you’re hungry. These are still hot, and I might have strained my groin trying to get back here in time when the guys said you’d be here today,” he rushed to say when I stepped forward.
Chance barked out a laugh. “Oh yeah. You’re definitely the one and only Jared. He’s as adorable as you said he was.”
Jared blushed at the compliment. “Thanks, I think. Nice to know the boss man has talked about me, though adorable might be a reach.”
I shook my head. “Not a reach at all. You’re definitely adorable, Jared. And yes, I’m actually starving. Doughnuts sound perfect.”
He closed the distance between us, popped open the box, and held a pastry my way. I bit into it, taking a massive bite and groaning as the sugar hit my tongue.
Chance cleared his throat, though he was obviously amused. Takeshi and Archie quietly chuckled behind us.
“Maybe we should move this party down the hall. He needs to get off his feet,” Archie suggested.
While I was thankful for someone noticing, it burst the bubble I’d been wrapped in. The five of us shuffled down the hall until we reached the recovery room.
Inside, the rest of the team waited with various expressions. Most seemed happy, though a face or two were apprehensive. I knew my guys well enough to sense it even if others might not have noticed.
I got situated in the bed, then extended my hands for the box Jared still held. Everyone laughed as I went to work shoveling food in my mouth.
It wasn’t the healthiest choice of food. I also couldn’t be bothered to wait for whatever food they might try to throw my way next.
My appetite was back at full force.
“It’s kind of hilarious to see him like this, I admit,” Memphis said.
“Yeah. It’s like he’s Tank in an alternate universe or something. I’m waiting for the next weird thing to happen.” Cohen laughed at his own joke, to which I raised both hands and flipped him off.
He laughed even harder. Probably because I had a doughnut hanging from my mouth when I did it.
“Anyway,” Ronan called out, “we need to discuss a few things before you get some rest.”
I nodded as I dusted the crumbs from my chest. “Hit me with it.”
Chance frowned. “No more hitting, baby. You’re bruised enough as it is.”
The room went silent at his endearment.
“Yeah, that will definitely take some getting used to.” Orion mock whispered the words to Arick, who had the decency to bite his lip rather than chuckle like I’m sure the other man intended.
“You’re all being mean,” I said with a fake pout.
Godric spoke up next, telling me, “Don’t pretend you’re innocent in this. And you’re not one of the princesses. Stop acting like one.”
My pout turned to a grin at the mention of them. They were a handful, but well worth knowing. Life was brighter with that group around.
“Where’s my phone?” I asked, suddenly remembering the calls I’d put out before things went to shit. “I need to see if Ricardo got back in touch with me. And if…”
Chance handed over the device before I could finish my words. He knew I had secrets, but he didn’t know about my brother. I’d avoided telling him before. Now it felt like I was confessing yet another sin. I’d only just told the team about him.
Fuck.
Ok, so this was all a mess. I had to fix it.
Before powering up my device, I sat up a little straighter and made eye contact with everyone in the room.
“I need to tell you all some things. Things that aren’t a lot of fun to hear, but I’d rather get it all out in the open now rather than wait to do this over and over again later.”
Jared raised his hand. “Is it ok if someone gives me the TLDR later? I can hear the phones ringing.”
“Sure,” I said, waving him out of the room. This wasn’t going to be something that affected him all that much anyway. It was everyone else I was worried about.
Jared’s primary role was to watch over the front to keep the business side of NightShade away from the security division. His ability to distract people worked great. They’d often leave the area with a bit of gossip, maybe a snack, and a smile having forgotten they were even trying to snoop on us.
Once he was gone, I took a deep breath and let it out. Chance took my hand, smiling at me and giving me the courage to forge ahead.
“I was born Bruno Conti. My mother and father never had a good marriage. Somewhere along the way, he decided beating her was his favorite pastime. She stayed with him despite this. I’m not sure why, though after years of helping people like her, I’ve realized it’s somewhat the norm. When he eventually tried to come after me, she fought him off and killed him. We went on the run after that, her fear of getting caught and us being separated making her take off.
“After a bit of time, she slowed our travels down. We wound up settling in a small town, where she found herself entangled with another abuser. This time around, she didn’t make it out alive. Left with that man alone, I did what I had to. Once he was out of the picture — an accident if you will — I got swept into foster care.
“As you can imagine, that went about as well as it could go. The family was nice enough, but my grief at losing Mom and the desire I had to find justice for others had me running. I stayed on the streets, making connections until I had enough resources to create NightShade. Along the way, I met Chance. What was supposed to be one night turned into several. We kept things secret because it made more sense. As time went on, it didn’t make sense to confess what we were.
“But now we’re here. And secrets that big take time to deal with. I understand if you’re all upset. On top of lying about Chance through omission, I didn’t tell you about my brother either.”
“Brother?” Chance interrupted.
“Oh, good. We’re not the only ones out of the loop.” Cohen’s tone was bitter. I’d seen the look in his eyes earlier. The hurt there would take time to heal. I hoped he let what I had to say next help.
“Yes, my brother. I found out my mother had donated her eggs at one point to get some extra money. She was young enough to do so, and the payout kept us afloat longer than a traditional job. My half sibling lives in Bellport and is a better hacker than Memphis.”
“HEY! Take that back right now!”
I ignored Memphis’s protests. “He’s also an adorable Little without any form of self-control. I kept him a secret because if I didn’t and any of you reached out, he’d be a tornado tearing through the office the first chance he got. I’ve told him it’s for his safety, which is also true. He’s defenseless in a way we aren’t.”
“A brother,” Chance whispers again. “When can I meet him? I need to make sure he likes me if we’re going to be related.”
“You’re getting married?!” Cohen shouted.
“Not yet. I did propose though,” Chance replied, oblivious to the tension in the room.
Before any of us could say anything, Cohen stormed out of the office. Godric followed him with a resigned expression on his face.
Chance squeezed my fingers. “Did I do something to upset him? I can wait until they’ve met him first if that helps. I won’t cut the line.”
His easygoing attitude about this made me love him even more. I couldn’t go another second without telling him so.
“I love you, Chance Sheppard.”
“I love you too,” he replied with a wide grin.
“As much as I’m loving the love here, I think we should talk about what Arick and I were working on earlier. Your story fills in some of the gaps we’d seen. Hopefully you can tell us the rest.”
“What do you mean?”
“We’re digging into your past. If Lune called you Bruno, then he has to be from that time, right? No one in your current life knows that. And even your driver’s license and such has been updated.”
I blinked at him, not realizing how right he was until the words settled in my brain.
“Yeah, that’s true. I guess it’s a good thing I decided to confess everything.”
“Now it’s time to break things down a bit more,” Memphis said, grabbing a chair and pulling it over. “Arick, can you grab our laptops? I have a feeling we’ll be here for a while.”
“Someone order some real food then, please. He’s going to crash if all he’s had to eat were doughnuts.” Chance’s plea was met by several agreements.
They went about planning out food while Memphis and Arick came to my bedside, their gazes alert. It was time to dig into the heart of this Diestro Lune problem, which meant dropping into the past.
Well, shit.