Perhaps notably, it wasn’t Brock that had spoken, but Steele.
“You can call yourself the Dark Beatles for all I care; you guys need to leave right now so I can look at the patient and decide if we need to do surgery or not.”
“He’s our mentor; we’re not leaving—”
“Let’s go,” I said.
Steele looked like he wanted to hit me.
“We want what’s best for Cole? We should leave.”
“Zack’s right,” Brock added. “Come on.”
Brock’s voice signaled no awkwardness, no hesitation. Steele and Connor muttered something about how this was bullshit, but no one disobeyed. We followed him to a nearby waiting room.
By the way Brock was acting, I wasn’t even sure that he remembered that he had hooked up with her. That, or he was even more natural and focused leader than I had ever imagined him to be.
“We will stay here,” Brock said. “But if the doctor wants to have space, we give her space.”
“Can we trust her?” Connor grunted.
Brock snorted.
“We’re in downtown Albuquerque, not in Santa Maria or somewhere nearby. I’d be more worried about a guest than I would be any of the medical staff.”
Connor didn’t say anything back. Brock was absolutely right. Justine may have hated us, but she would not hate us enough to risk her career to make a point to us.
And even if she was, I really didn’t think Cole was in any danger.
“We should at least have someone go and watch, much as we can,” Garrett said. “Would be good to have eyes on Cole.”
“Fair point,” Brock said.
He looked right at me after. He didn’t even consider anyone else.
“Zack,” he said. “You’re the most normal one here.”
I snorted.
“Is that a compliment?”
“Of course it is, Professor Smartass,” Garrett said. “You don’t have tattoos or look like you want to fight everyone you meet.”
“Zack, you’re our best line of communication,” Brock said.
Did he know? Did he know how I felt about her? He wasn’t wrong, as I could best fit into the professional world, but Brock also always had a sixth sense for putting things in the place they needed to be, for making sure things aligned perfectly.
“We’ll take turns guarding this hospital as need be. But I want you to be the one to communicate with the doctor and relay updates. We’re counting on you.”
I nodded without hesitation. I wasn’t going to use the chance to flirt with Justine. Too much was on the line with the bombing, and I couldn’t distract myself.
But I wasn’t going to say I would not flirt with Justine under any circumstances. There was a difference between taking her out for dinner, drinks, and playing around versus throwing an innocuous line in here and there for a drink at a later, calmer time.
“I won’t fail,” I said.
“Good,” Brock said. “Your first task is to find out Cole’s condition. We need to know if his life is in danger.”
I nodded, rose, and walked back to the hospital room. I didn’t need permission to go. Once Brock gave an order, we moved.
