Chapter 4 #2
I grab her wrist, admiring her soft skin. Then pull away her plastic breathing thing.
“I’m a better student with private tutoring. I pay in dick and orgasms.”
Hollister sputters. Dom huffs. Mas stays silent, hovering between them. A roll of her eyes and a muttering under her breath answer before words do.
“Behave.”
She turns away, uncaps a marker, and writes on the whiteboard. Block letters go up. SOFIA SANTIAGO, RN. Under it, red letters. CALL ME BEFORE HE DOES ANYTHING. She spins to point her marker at my brother. He snaps to attention.
“Papito, you remember what I say?”
“Yes.”
What did she say? What happened since I passed the fuck out?
“Good boy.” She turns to me, pointing that red tip in the air. “Bath later. From the tech. Not me. You behave and keep your dignity. You mouth off, and I make you a teaching slide.”
Again, no idea what she’s talking about. But if it’s anything like Slip’ N’ Slide, I know it will be a good time. I settle deeper into the pillow.
“Call my slide, ‘My angel is a thick snack’.”
She mutters in Spanish again. Sounding sexy as fuck. A voice in the hall calls her name. She checks the monitor, checks me, and gives Mas a look that promises she’s not having any of my nonsense. When she passes him, she pats his chest.
Intimate.
Like they’ve shared shit.
Now I’m curious what’s gone down between them. Holli and Dom part like white lining a semi truck. All of us are quiet for a second.
“Damn, Em. You can’t talk to the nurse like that.” Holli’s the first to call me on my shit. I don’t care. The shit they have me on is good. Makes me horny.
“When she looks like that, I can. She wants me. I know it.”
Darko Dommy walks further into the room, looking angry. Assessing everything like he always fucking does. As if it’s worth his time or not. Holli probably dragged his ass here like he always does. Dom never does anything without Holli involved.
“Your accident didn’t shut that fucking mouth of yours,” he comments, eyes glued to the numbers bouncing up and down on the machine next to me.
“And it didn’t make you less of an uncaring asshole, so here we are.”
He huffs, amused. It’s more than I usually get. I’m feeling pretty good about myself. Mas looks even more nervous than before. What’s up with that?
“You guys good now?” Mas mutters, moving between them again.
It’s not just weird to watch, there’s a weird feeling in the room.
Like bad fucking juju up in this place. The look they exchange tells me something’s definitely up.
My brother’s eyes linger on Dom more than Hollister, who’s already taken a weird interest in some card stuck in some flowers.
“Dude, why are you guys acting all weird?” I shift in my bed. It groans, and all eyes are on me. Holli steps forward. Mas does too. “Yeah, fucking weird.”
My twin grips the rails of my bed. Dom stands behind him, pulling his vape out of his pocket.
“Hey asshole, you want to tell him, or should I?” Darko Dommy barks out, glaring at Hollister.
His bestie, which is really blowing my drugged-up mind since Holli Balls waits on his grumpy ass hand and foot. For his part, he looks guilty as hell. A look that matches the one my brother has been giving me for the past half hour.
“I-I’m sort of seeing—”
“He’s fucking my mom,” Dom blurts out, cutting him off and then dragging on his vape like he didn’t just suck the air out of the place.
Holli stiffens. Mas looks down at my bedsheets. My ears must be gone from that incessant beeping or from the hot nurse screaming at me like I’m deaf. Or the pain meds are kicking into overdrive because I think I heard—
“Don’t be crass, man. Have some respect,” Holli defends, but doesn’t deny. My eyeballs fall out of my head, roll down the sheets, and stand on my elevated leg to get a closer look.
“You’re banging his mom? Like his mom.”
I point at Dom, looking ready to kill all of us, except maybe my brother. He’s moved closer to Dom. Probably out of caution. Hollister moves to the other side of the room, keeping the bed and me between them.
“Yeah, numb nuts. My fucking mom,” Dom mutters, staring at me like I’m the fucking problem.
“DUDE! WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK?” I start laughing, loud and maniacal. It’s the craziest shit I’ve ever heard. “That’s so fucked up. Wait, wait, wait. Is she hot or does she look like Darko Dommy?”
“Shut the fuck up. Don’t you dare talk about her like that. Both of you,” Holli yells, then bows up. First on me, but I’m still laughing my ass off. Then, on Darko Dommy, who steps forward ready to go a round or two.
“Not again. Not in here,” Mas warns in his deep voice, only used for threatening drunk assholes at bars that won’t stop harassing innocent chicks.
“Holy shit. You guys already duked it out. Fuck, I’m missing all the good shit.
” The laughing hurts my fucking ribs even through the drugs, but I don’t give a shit.
“This is too good to pass up. Something finally put a wedge between these two dudes. And it was his fucking mom. Literally fucking his mom.”
No one moves.
Everyone holds their positions. Tense and rigid as shit. Silent as fuck.
“Hey, can I get in on that? You know how Mas and I roll. Damn bro, did you already hit it and quit it? Tag team her without me. Fuck, that’s not fair.”
Hollister’s face goes red. Dom goes dead calm, which is worse. They both lunge for the bed, about to baptize me with their hands.
“HELP! MAS! THEY’RE GOING TO KILL ME BEFORE I CAN FEEL THOSE DSLS ON MY COCK!”
Mas slams his forearms across the rail, takes a hit to his shoulder, and pushes Dom back while shoving Holli away.
“Enough!” he yells, but it’s not enough.
They come for me again. Holli grabs the footboard. Dom reaches for my sheet like he is going to rip me out of the bed and carry me to the parking lot to beat my ass. Pain spikes sharply under my ribs. The monitor squeals. My hand finds the call button, and I mash it like a damn game controller.
“brOTHER! SAVE ME!”
“Shut the fuck up, Em!”
Mas plants his feet. One palm in Dom’s chest. One on Holli’s bicep.
“He didn’t mean anything by it. Back off.”
“Say that shit again, Em, and you’ll really need to be in the ICU!” Holli snaps, eyes wild.
“Yeah, fucking dickhead,” Dom growls, ganging up on me. Nothing keeps these two apart. Not even Holli fucking his best friend’s mom.
“Make me,” I shoot back, scared and laughing even though everything hurts.
Dom feints right, tries to slip past Mas.
The whole bed jerks. The IV line tugs. The pump bleats.
I hiss and grab for the tubing, but then remember that hottie told me not to touch anything.
The door bangs open. That sweet and spicy Latina storms in like a hurricane.
Her gold hoops are swinging. Her hair is bouncing, and her sneakers squeak.
“Ay!” Her yell rings through the room. “Stop it. Estupido!”
Everyone freezes. She’s stomping across the room, stabbing at the alarm and killing it immediately. Her glare is deadly, and I’m sort of scared.
“Mas, she’s scaring me.”
“Shut up, Em!”
Her hands plant on her hips, that small waist pulses in and out with her hot breath that I want on me. Not directed at them. “Grown men acting like ninos. In the ICU. Are you stupid or just selfish?”
Holli points at me. “He—”
“Shh.” She slices a hand through the space like a blade. “No talking. You.”
A jab at Hollister.
“Wall. Now.”
“You.” A jab at Dom. “Other wall.”
“You.” A jab at Mas. “Hands off both boys. Help me fix this bed railing.”
They actually listen.
Holli backs up, jaw clenched. Dom peels away, nostrils flaring. Mas shifts to the far side and drops the rail so she can check the line I almost ripped out. Her fingers fly over the tubing. She scans the bag. She smooths the IV in my arm.
“Breathe,” she orders without looking at me. “In for four, out for six.”
I breathe because she said so. The ache backs off half a notch. She wheels on the three of them, pen in her fist like a knife.
“One more stunt like that and I’ll call security and have you kicked out. Bunch of bratty Bay Back boys. You scare my patient, you leave.”
Her eyes pin Dom.
“You understand?”
Dom nods once, jaw stone. Her stare burns into Hollister. “You?”
Holli grinds a yes through his teeth. She turns to Mas last, patting the side of his arm.
“You keep order, or I keep you out too. I am not playing. This is a hospital, not a bar for fighting.” She’s softer to him but doesn’t bend.
“We don’t fight in bars but outside them because—”
“Nene, hush.” I clamp my mouth shut. Not because she told me to, but because I was done talking. Mas drops his gaze, nods.
“Papito?”
“No fighting. Got it.”
She steps back to me, checks the traction bar, checks my pulse, and adjusts a sensor on my finger, which she swears I touched. I grin at her like a sinner who just saw God.
“My angel. You’re so pretty when you get angry. Makes me love you more.”
Her eyes cut to mine. “Stop causing trouble. Now sip.”
She lifts the cup to my mouth. I obey. Her hand is steady. Mine is not. She looks over her shoulder without taking the straw away.
“Five minutes. Say your piece and get out.” She points to the board where CALL ME BEFORE ANYTHING is circled in stars. “No more drama. You bring that to my room again, and you can FaceTime your friend from the parking lot.”
Hollister clears his throat and drags his palms down his jeans.
“I am sorry,” he says to me, not looking away from Dom. “It’s a little raw between us. And Dom did say he didn’t care.”
“Sounds like he does,” Mas mumbles, looking at no one.
“I don’t.” Dom stuffs his hands in his pockets. “But this fucking idiot running his mouth about my mom in a threesome . . . who wouldn’t jump his dumb ass.”
“It’s your fault for having a hot as fuck mom,” I say, licking the last drop off the straw because I want my hot nurse to watch me do it. “Holli Balls must think so, or else he wouldn’t be buried deep in her every night.”
Holli surges, as if he has forgotten the rules. Mas steps into him and shuts him down. Dom’s head snaps up, murder in his eyes. The monitor chirps a warning when my heart rate drops. Sofia does not even turn. Her palm lands on my sternum with firm pressure, and the beat listens.
“Enough, Nene. You’re causing trouble. Stop it.”
Holli blows out a breath and backs off two steps, palms up. “I’m out of here.”
Dom follows, flashing double birds. “We’re both out of here.”
Mas glances at my hottie. She nods at the door. He herds them with a look, acting all bouncer and big brother. They move. At the threshold, Holli finally looks at me. “Heal up, man.”
Dom gives me nothing. He stares past me to my leg suspended in traction, then at my nurse.
As if insulted, then he’s gone. The door shuts.
The room shrinks back to the three of us.
Exactly how it should be. I lie there, breathing like she told me.
Staring at her DSLs, waiting for her to tell me I’m a good boy for not touching anything.
“You are chaos,” she says, not looking at me. Insults rather than praise. I don’t like it. I pout, crossing my arms over my chest. “You attract more chaos. Do not do that in here.”
“I want to attract you. That is the only chaos I want.”
Her mouth threatens a smile and betrays her for half a second. She tucks the blanket at my hip, walks to the board, and writes STOP CAUSING TROUBLE in red with another little star. She turns, caps her marker, and plants her knuckles on her small waist to look at me again.
“You will nap. You will not touch anything. You will let your brother go eat, leave, or take a break. If you feel pain, you use the button. I’ll come back to check on you.”
“But I’ll be lonely by myself. If Massimo leaves and you leave, then who will keep me company?”
I pull at the sheets, hating the idea of being in this place by myself. Mas steps forward, his hand on my railing. She joins him.
“Perrito,” she warns, but her eyes are warm now. “Sleep. Your brother needs rest like you.”
Her hand slides to my temple, a touch light as breath. The world dulls at the edges. My ribs ache less. Mas eases back, but his eyes are glued on me.
“Close your eyes. Practice your breathing, and we’ll be here when you awake.”
So I closed my eyes because she asked. I keep them closed because I can feel her still there. Waiting for the swish of her too-tight scrubs.
“Good boy.”