“Looks like shock,” Dad said quietly and held out a hand for Emil. “Do you want me to take your arm?”
“Y-yeah,” Emil said and let Dad lead him after all the other people.
It was the first time they’d touched in weeks, and Emil couldn’t even try to think about it on a deeper level.
HE MUST’VEblanked out again. They were at the hospital all the way in Woodruff, which was an hour away from Acker. Jason opened the car door for him, so he could get out of the back.
“Thanks.”
“No problem.”
The three of them went inside, and Jason immediately sought out Lotte, while Dad took Emil to where they were tending to Makai. Nobody cared about where Emil went because he was with the sheriff.
He sat down in a chair by the room where they were examining Makai and tried not to panic.
Dad came to sit with him, and Emil leaned closer until their shoulders were touching. Dad tensed for a moment but then relaxed again.
“He’s going to be okay. He needs to be stitched up and given fluids for the shock, but he’ll be fine.”
It was oddly telling how Dad talked about Makai first. “He doesn’t have anyone here, Dad. Nobody.”
“I think Mr. Miller is a friend of his. Remembers him from when he and his brother came here as kids. They were Benjamin Elfman’s grandsons.”
“Right, I think he mentioned that.” Emil couldn’t be sure, but right then, he wasn’t sure about anything. “He’s not a bad guy, Dad.”
Dad sighed deeply, then after a long while of silence said, “I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt. He dove into the building after Joie. If he was selfish, that wouldn’t have been his first instinct. But still, everything I said earlier stands. Be careful, but you’ll obviously be fine around him.”
Emil realized that Dad thought Makai himself might not be that dangerous. He seemed more afraid of things and people that might come with having a former convict in town. Not that Makai had that kind of company or was that kind of man. Emil didn’t believe that for a moment.
“Nothing’s gonna happen to me, Dad.”
“I know.” His tone belied the fact that he didn’t believe himself.
Emil leaned to him harder. They sat there until Jason came to them from wherever they’d taken Joey.
“He’ll be fine.” The first words out of Jason’s mouth made Emil slump in his seat. “Concussion, a few scrapes, but he doesn’t even need stitches. The EMTs said that if Makai hadn’t done what he did, there’s no chance Joie would’ve gotten out of it with that little.”
“Yeah, it looked bad. I think it could’ve gone really bad without Stone there,” Dad said in a serious tone. “He took the brunt of it all.”
Emil trembled for a moment, but then a nurse came to them from Makai’s room.
“He needs IV fluids, and we’ll keep him for a couple of hours just in case, but he has been stitched up. With some TLC, he’ll be fine in a few days,” she said brightly, and Emil flushed red.
“Thank you,” Dad told her and got to his feet. “I’ll go talk to him, get his statement, more or less. More officially. I mean he told what he could while he was trapped, but you know.”
“Yeah.” Emil stayed behind, and to his surprise, Jason sat down too with one seat between them.
They didn’t speak, but somehow having someone he knew being nearby calmed him a bit. His anxiety was lessening right up until Dad stepped out of the room and looked at Emil. “He’s asking for you.”
Emil got to his feet and swayed a little. “Whoa….”
“I’ll get you something to e—” Dad stopped himself and looked away awkwardly.
Having had his son kidnapped because of his job was one thing. Having his son kidnapped and tortured and starved because what you did for a living, trying to provide to that son was a whole other ball game. Especially when you couldn’t do much to help with the healing. It had been years, but everyone who had ever been close to Emil carried parts of his trauma, and sometimes they could forget about it for a moment. Other times, something as mundane as food came up and brought it all up once again.
“Get me a protein bar or two and a soda with caffeine?” Emil asked, hoping he could get them down. “I can go get something for myself later, see what looks good.”
“Okay. My shift is supposed to end within an hour, so I’ve called Mom to come pick us up. Jason is going to take the cruiser, and if they let Joie out, he’s taking them home.”
“Sure.” Emil took a deep breath and tried not to concentrate on the fact that he’d have an hour in a car with his parents and Makai, because there was no way Dad would leave Makai to fend on his own here, no matter what he thought of the guy.
“I’ll be right back,” Dad said and walked off toward the cafeteria.
Emil went to the door and put his hand on it. He didn’t care that Jason might see him being nervous. Hell, in some ways,Jason was a friend. He’d seen Emil right… after.
He pushed the door open.
