Chapter 35
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
SINCLAIR
T he ride to the hospital was short, but with every passing minute, Benedict looked more and more pale. By the time we pulled up, it wasn’t only Nico barking orders at the staff to help him. It took a fair amount of smoothing things over by Doc Em for them to even let us in to see him once he’d been admitted. Doc Em had only had him under observation for forty minutes when his labs came back and he was rushed into surgery.
Now we’re back in the same relatives' room we were a few short months ago while we waited for news on Enzo. While the major bleeding had been cauterised in the field, the bullet nicked Benny’s small intestine and needed to be repaired. Doc Em was confident she’d be able to fix it but was concerned about infection because of the delay in getting him here. Those weren’t her exact words though.
What she’d actually done was hit us over the heads with Benedict’s chart and called us ‘absolute fucking idiots’. I don’t disagree.
The door opens and Nico fills the frame, shaking his head when I ask if there’s any update. He hands out a selection of coffees to everyone, giving me the last one before dropping down next to me.
“Why are you so calm?” I grouse and then swear when the coffee burns my tongue as I take a sip.
Nico looks straight ahead and stares at the wall. “Because I have to be. I can’t lose that man, so I have to believe Doc Em when she says she’s going to bring him back to me. To us.” His hand lands on my knee and he squeezes reassuringly before resting it on his lap.
“Thank you,” I say as I nudge his shoulder a little, glad of his support and closeness. While I don’t find myself attracted to Nico, the bond that has grown between us is something I hold dear. He means more to me than I could ever have predicted. I join him, staring into the void and letting the sounds of the hospital wash over me while we wait.
It’s dark in the waiting room when I open my eyes, having felt a gentle jostling on my shoulder. Aurora is attempting to rouse me, while Enzo on the other side is poking Nico in the ribs. It would seem that I fell asleep on Nico. I blush as I stir, not because I’m ashamed of my choice of pillow but because I can feel the drool at the corner of my mouth and roll my eyes when I see a small wet patch on his shirt.
“Ew,” he says, scowling and brushing at the mark. “We’re going to need to address your terrible sleeping habits if you’re going to join the cuddles. What the fuck, man? ”
“It’s not my fault you're a terrible pillow. Fucking rock sol—” I throw back at him.
“Cut it out, the both of you. The nurse just came in. Benny’s out of surgery and Doc Em will be here in a minute to take us up to the ward,” Aurora interrupts.
We’re on our feet and pacing. We know the drill by now, but that doesn’t make it any easier to wait. The door opens and we all start talking at once, prompting Doc Em to raise her hand and shout, “I swear you will all shut the fuck up and let me speak right now or I’m evicting you from the hospital.” Her glare is absolute.
“Firstly, Benedict is fine. He’s in recovery. I’ve commandeered the same recovery suite as before and will take you there in a minute. Secondly, and I cannot stress enough how many fucks I don’t give who I’m talking to right now, but why the fuck am I only finding out now that Stefano was injured, and he hasn’t been seen yet?”
Aurora’s jaw sets in a hard line and she’s chewing the inside of her cheek. I’m not sure if it’s because she’s about to tear Doc Em a new one at the level of disrespect or because she feels bad that the focus was on Benedict and we didn’t think to force Stefano to come to the hospital. Not that I think he’d have listened to us if we had insisted.
Stefano is old school. If it’s not bleeding or close to falling off, that man is going nowhere near a doctor. There’s a strange sort of stand off happening between the two women and I don’t know whether to intervene or stay the fuck out of it. As the silence reaches mammoth levels of awkwardness, I see the moment Doc Em begins to crack, but before she has the opportunity to back-peddle Aurora asks us to leave the room.
There are several eyebrows raised between Nico, Enzo, and I, but we head out in the hallway and leave them to it. Much to my surprise, I don’t hear so much as a raised voice. There’s a low hum of calm conversation that I can’t make out and five minutes later, the door opens and they step out to join us.
“If you’d all like to follow me,” Doc Em says and sets off down the corridor at her typical ‘doctor coming through’ pace.
I dip my head down and whisper to Aurora, “You going to tell me what that was all about?”
“Anyone ever told you, you’re a terrible gossip, Sinclair?” Aurora replies with a look of amusement dancing across her features.
“Not to my face.”
“It’s nothing. And Stefano is on his way in to be checked out by Doc Em,” she adds.
“Oh, I bet he just loved being called back in for that,” Nico says with a chuckle.
“I don’t care whether he liked it or not. She can’t get to him and I want him checked out sooner rather than later. He can suck it up,” Aurora says, and then wiggles in between us and falls into step with Doc Em as we wind through the maze of corridors to the elevator.
Once we reach the VIP suite we find Benny is propped up against the pillows, pink-cheeked and looking a thousand times better than earlier. I feel like I can breathe easy again and I can’t help but laugh when he opens his mouth to talk. He’s still loopy from the anaesthesia.
“Oh, hey there, guys and gal.” His words are over elongated and pitched like he’s had one too many tequilas. Drunk Benny is usually a lot of fun, but when he tries to get out of bed to throw his arms around us, we all spring forwards and surround him, pushing him back and stopping his IV cable from ripping out.
Doc Em gives him a stern frown, and he mimics it, sticking out his pouty bottom lip and telling her one day the wind will change and her face will stay that way .
“No pissing off the surgeon that saved you, thank you very much,” Aurora scolds, but all Benny does is chuckle.
“Fuck, he’s a handful,” Doc Em huffs out, as she checks out his chart. Popping over to the wall behind the bed, she pushes the call buzzer. Within a few minutes a rather severe looking nurse pops her head in round the door and listens as Doc Em puts in an order for some sedatives and is gone before I know it.
“I won’t have him fucking up all the stitches I just spent hours working on,” she explains to us before turning back to him and trying to get him to lie back again. “Benedict Romano, you’re going to be a pain in my ass the whole time you’re here, aren’t you?”
“Damn skippy,” he replies with a broad and semi-delirious grin it’s impossible not to enjoy. The nurse reappears, and Doc Em makes short work of administering the sedative through his cannula. Nico strokes his hair while Benny starts a nonsensical commentary on why the colours of this room are all wrong together and taste funny on his tongue.
Even Enzo laughs at that.
He’s just started explaining how blue tastes of pickles when the sedative finally takes effect and his head flops to the side on his pillow.
“That’s quite enough of that, thank you,” says Katerina, before double checking the machine on the wall beside Benny’s bed. I had no idea what any of the numbers mean, but they seem to make her happy. “He’s going to need to rest up here for a few days and then, depending on how quickly he bounces back, there’s every possibility he could be discharged within five to seven days. However, and I cannot stress this enough, he will need to take physical therapy seriously. I’ve had to patch multiple tears and I’m going to be pissed if he undoes all my hard work by thinking he can shortcut his recovery.”
“I’ll make sure of it,” Nico replies.
“Be sure that you do. I know exactly what Benny Romano is like. He’s got more energy than a springer spaniel puppy and I need you to get him to channel his inner lazy house cat for at least three weeks.”
“We will,” Aurora adds, reaching out and squeezing her shoulder. “I promise we’ll chain him to the sofa if we have to.”
“He’d only enjoy that,” I add with a chuckle.
Rolling her eyes, Doc Em fusses with his sheets, tucking Benny back in before heading towards the door. She stops in the doorway to add, “Like before, there are cots if you want to sleep here, but I urge you to give the nurses space and don’t piss them off. After last time I had to pull in every favour I have with the board to get you this room.” Turning her glare to Nico, she arches a brow. “Apparently, Nico threatened to whip the orderly black and blue with the ECG electrodes when they woke Enzo up for observations last time.”
“What? He’d only just drifted off and they were being unreasonable,” Nico replies.
Aurora holds her hands up to silence their bickering. “We’ll be on our best behaviour. You have my word.”
That seems to satisfy Katerina. She’s about to take her leave when her pager erupts in a flurry of loud beeps and I hear her muttering under her breath. “About fucking time, stubborn asshole.” She doesn’t say anything more, just turns on her heel and storms out of the room and down the corridor.
I poke my head out after her and chuckle at her balled up fists and the way her surgical coat flaps behind her as she marches off in search of who I assume is Stefano Tiero. Popping back into the room, Enzo has sunk down on the cot in the corner. Rubbing his face, he reaches for Aurora’s hand and pulls her down with him, spooning her in front of him and propping both their heads up with a disappointedly flat pillow.
I open the adjoining room and get another one for them. “Sleep. I’ll wake you in a few hours.” Aurora is nodding while yawning, and they’re asleep in minutes.
I grab a chair for Nico, and he shuffles it to one side of the bed. He practically folds in on himself in a heap, crossing his arms on the mattress, and lays his chin on top of them as he stares at a restful Benny. It must be killing him not being able to wrap him up in his arms. I’ve seen firsthand the way he tangles himself around Benedict at night.
“He’s going to be fine,” I say softly, as I pull up a chair on the other side.
“I know. I just can’t stand seeing him like this. Any of us like this, really.” I nod along, letting his words take him wherever they lead him. Nico doesn’t often open up to me and the last thing I want to do is interrupt his flow. “I felt the same when we found Enzo. I’d never been so scared. I know that he’ll be okay, but that doesn’t make it any easier seeing someone you love in pain. And I swear I’m going to tan his hide raw for pulling that cauterising shit in the field. Here’s hoping you won’t have to pull me off him again when I administer that punishment,” he adds with a little smirk.
“We may need to dominate someone else as a safety precaution because I’m just as likely to lose my shit over that. I love the guy, but who the fuck does he think he is, pulling that type of action hero bullshit?” I bite out.
Nico quirks his head to the side, his expression softening. My choice of words not lost on him. He chooses to ignore them, simply saying, “He thinks he’s twenty-three and immortal.”
“You’re only twenty-four. I don’t think you get to play the age card as an excuse. ”
“Perhaps, but I’m an old soul,” he says with a smile I don’t often have the privilege of seeing. It’s soft and light-hearted and usually reserved only for Benny and Aurora.
“Perhaps,” I mumble, feeling my cheeks heat. “Anyway, you sleep. I’ll keep watch until I can sort a security detail out. I’ve got him for the time being.” I’m already flipping through my contacts calling in the people I want on rotation when he responds in between yawns.
“Only because it’s you.” I look up from my screen to see he’s laid his head down flat and has already lost the battle with his eyelids.
He’s dead to the world.
As I glance around the room at my family, it’s not lost on me how lucky we are. I don’t mean tonight. Tonight wasn’t luck. It was carefully researched, expertly planned, and executed with precision. But, I mean how lucky Enzo, Nico, Benny, and I are to have not only found Aurora, but that she’s brought us closer than I ever thought possible.
We were always a team. But now we’re so much more. For a time I thought it was a case of her being ours, and us being hers, but it’s so much more than that and as I let out a deep breath, I realise something.
They’re all mine. Each in different ways.
There’s nothing I wouldn’t do to protect them.
To keep them.
To love them.
That thought plays on my mind for hours, bringing me solace and comfort. When the security detail arrives, I mirror Nico and fold my arms at Benny’s side, loathed to pull myself away from him. I rest my head on them and drift off to sleep.