Aiden moved to stand.
“You should stay in bed,” Anya fussed.
“Yes.”
“Yes.”
Mikal and I agreed. I wanted to be childish and call jinx, but didn’t think it would go over well, so I held my tongue. Hestared at me, his thick, bushy mustache twitching, then he said, “Jinx.”
I laughed. He looked down at his feet with his arms folded over his broad chest for several moments before he looked up, laughing. You could see he wasn’t happy about the mood lightening as he laughed begrudgingly, but I’d take it.
“Why don’t we go get some coffee now that you’ve seen the boy’s gonna be alright and let Anya fuss over the kid?”
Mikal’s gaze stayed focused on me until he finally wavered, nodded, then sighed. Relief filled my chest, but I forced it to remain put. No need to “poke The Bear,” as commentators used to say.
Turning to Aiden, I said, “I’ll be back once I’ve talked to Mikal.”
Aiden looked from me to Mikal and back, nodding as he said, “Okay. Hopefully, they’ll release me soon.”
“Don’t rush it. Let Dr. Ramadi decide without you rushing him to release you.”
“I will, D…” his eyes widened, and I smirked.
“Fucking hell,” Mikal swore, the door opened and closed shutting out more of his Croatian grumbling.
“Oops,” Aiden said.
“It would’ve hit him sooner or later. He just hadn’t put two and two together yet. We already knew what Sasha was into,” Anya said to Aiden then turned and to me, pushing me from the room, “Go make nice and apologize for being an asshole who cut off his best friend.”
“But not for dating his son?”
“Do you feel you need to apologize for that?”
“Fuck no. Aiden’s an adult.”
“There you go,” she said.
I leaned down, kissed her cheek, and called to Hawk. “C’mon, buddy, we’ve got a Croatian bear to tame.”
Hawk jumped from the bed, and I winked at Aiden when Anya turned to fuss over him. All I could think was better him than me. I hated that shit.
I walked toward the nursing station. The nurse who yelled at me pointed down the hall, past the bank of elevators. I thanked her and continued down the hall. Floor-to-ceiling windows stretched across the three walls of the empty waiting area. Mikal stood in the furthest corner with his back to the doorway, looking out at the campus of Manchester University. The football stadium and hockey rink easy to spot since the architects seemed to design the room to highlight the two very large, impressive buildings.
Hawk growled at the man when I stopped next to him.
“I paid a fucking fortune for that dog. The least he could do is not act like I’m a criminal.”
“Put away the mean ass demeanor and he will. Julie trains her service and guide dogs to provide security for their handlers when the person is threatened.”
“That’s a good idea,” he muttered.
We stood there, side by side, for ages, just sharing space. Istruggled with how to start this conversation. Mikal broke the silence before I worked out a solution.
“How… fuck… I don’t even know what to ask.”
“I met him before I met the team. We hooked up, and at breakfast the next morning, he was getting food, and people recognized me.”
Mikal’s head spun toward me, his eyes giving me a once-over as if to say, ‘How?’
