“Yeah.” He nodded understandingly “right.”
He pulled away and smiled “I’ll be asleep, I guess?”
“Hmm.”
Theo
Matthew had brought me a mug of tea and a bowl of chicken soup before leaving. It was sweet of him, and I choked downhalf of it just out of gratitude because in reality the last thing I’d wanted to do was eat.
The bed smelt of him: leather, coffee and sweat. It was comforting in a way only his actual presence could substitute, and soothed my aching body.
My chest was still attacked by sharp pains and my throat felt like sandpaper; the antibiotics made me drowsy enough to ignore it, thankfully, and drift into a deep sleep I was roused from only when Matthew entered the room accompanied by a strong smell ofdirt.I felt exhausted, my head fuzzy as I lifted it from the pillow to get a good look at him- full of mud.
“Hey.” He whispered upon noticing that I was awake “sleep well?”
“Yeah.” I croaked “you stink.”
“We got attacked.” He said softly. My heart-rate picked up slightly at the news, my head clearing enough to form a coherent thought “what?”
“Yeah, we slaughtered a load of soldiers. They slaughtered a load of us. It was a mess.”
“Jesus.” I mumbled huskily, sinking back down into the warmth of the bed.
“Indeed. I’m going to shower. You need anything?”
“No.” I smiled at him, eyes already forcing themselves shut again. His chuckles were the last thing I heard before unconsciousness claimed me once more.
CHAPTER 32
Theo
I was pretty sure that I was getting better. My chest ached less and my coughing had decreased considerably. In the meantime, Stryker had been brought back to the base. Nobody had told me what had happened to him in his time in the prison, though I doubt they’d toldanyone. All I knew was that he was a wreck.
I came downstairs for the tea that Matthew had taken upon himself to make for me every morning, only to find Jack cradling a trembling, sobbing Stryker to his chest, holding him like he was the most precious thing he owned and whispering softly in his ear- not that I thought he could hear anything at all over his own sobs.
“Jack?” I asked quietly.
Jack raised his gaze and gave a small nod to prompt me to continue “is he…is he going to be okay?”I hadn’t seen him much since we’d rescued him, much less spoken to him. I’d been worried, because I remembered the state of him when Dean had had him in his arms clear as day, but nobody had seemed willing to speak a word about him.
“Of course he is.” He replied, voice surprisingly soft “he just needs a minute.”
Oh, he needed more than just a minute, that was for sure.
I continued to hover in the doorway, reluctant to leave despite knowing that Stryker would despise me seeing him this way.
“Do you…know what happened? Did he tell you?”
Jack shushed Stryker gently before responding “I know. He…didn’t get much out, but Octavia gave me the medical rundown so…I know.”
“CanIknow?” I asked hesitantly, hopefully, and my heart sank despite having expected the head shake that followed my request. Jack rested his chin on the top of Stryker’s head and looked at me sadly “not my place, Theo. Sorry, pal. Listen, would you head upstairs for a few? I need to try and calm him down here.”
Ibit my lip. I didn’twantto.“I…”
“Theo.” Matt called from the kitchen “come on. Jack’s right.”
With one last glance back at Jack and Stryker, I sighed and joined Matthew by the door.
The kitchen was empty besides us and Nico, who was mostly keeping to himself.
