I know I should be shocked by his audacity, but I wasn’t. There was an ache in my gut that stopped me from caring about the man in front of me; about everything he’d said to me, or about me.
“Lay a hand on him again, and I’ll forget my damn manners, asshole,” Taron cautioned.
“Taron,” I said his name with a bite as I found my balance. “Don’t.”
Miguel gritted his teeth at my brother. “How dare y–”
“Avô, stop,” Remi urged. “You’re not being rational right now.”
Miguel looked at him, looked at the agony on his face, and something in him shifted.
He nodded and straightened himself.
Ash walked over to me. “Hey.” She squeezed my hands. “Can you tell me what happened?” Her voice was thick with obvious emotions, and her eyes were misty.
I sighed and told her about the ridiculous fucking joke I’d made, which had ended up upsetting Rina, about the broken flooring in the storeroom, about how Rina had ended up tripping after she twisted her ankle against a broken tile, and then about how the bookshelf had fallen on her. I recollected everything loud enough so that the others could hear me as well, because I really didn’t have the strength to repeat myself over and over again.
Ash’s brows were pinched together by the time I was done, and she squeezed my hands again before saying, “It wasn’t your fault.”
“Wasn’t it?”
She shook her head. “No, Myles.”
“You couldn’t have known something like this would happen,” added Dave.
“But I could have stopped myself from making that comment,” I argued.
“You didn’t mean to offend her, Myles,” Ash added. “It was a damn joke, not an intentional jab.”
I wiped a hand over my jaw. “And what about the bookshelf?” I asked. “I knew it was trouble, but I still forced myself to keep working on it.”
“Maybe that’s true, but had you predicted that Rina would unknowingly put her foot on the tile that was severely broken?” asked Cruz. “Were you already aware that she’d end up falling, or that the bookshelf would decide to come down on her at the exact same moment she fell?”
I clenched and unclenched my hands as I glanced between the six of them.
“This shit was supposed to happen, Myles, and it did,” Simran said. “Blaming yourself for it is only going to gnaw at your conscience.”
“How long has she been in the OR for?” Daniel asked.
“An hour now,” I told him, then dragged my fingers through my already mused hair.
“Hey.” He placed his hands on my shoulders and looked me in the eyes. “You and I both know you’re stronger than this,” he told me, then gave me a reassuring smile before taking a step back. “So get that slouchy fucking look off your goddamn chiseled face and get your shit together, because once she’s out of surgery, Carina is going to need you – now more than ever.”
I gave him a grateful nod, just as Miguel hissed, “LikehellI’m letting him go anywhere near her ever again.”
I bunched my jaw as I sneered at him. “But it’s unfortunate for you, though, because it’s notyouwho gets to decide that,” I told him.
His face was red with anger as he took a step towards me. “You–”
“Careful.” Cruz put a hand on Miguel’s chest, then very gently pushed him back. “Do anything stupid, and you’ll lose me as an employee.” He raised a brow. “Andas a friend.”
“You’re siding withhim?”
“It’s never been about sides,Avô,” Simran said to him. “It’s about what –who– makes Carina happy. And we all knowMyles has done that in spades ever since the two of them have started dating.”
I just stood there like an idiot, watching all these people who’d become my friends in the past few months, defend me without hesitation, and my chest felt…full, I guess. Filled with gratitude and respect for each one of them.
Miguel appeared flustered as everyone agreed with Simran.
