“How can you hear that?”
“Your sneakers squeak. Can’t you get non-squeaky sneakers? It’s annoying as fuck.”
“They’re lucky the soles are still in one piece after how much walking I’ve done this double shift. They only squeak when we’re on the home stretch. Anyway, my footwear is none of your business. I have something to tell you.”
“I figured as much. What with the call. AtfiveAM.”
“Oops. I didn’t realize it was so early. Sorry.”
“Liar.”
Smirking, I settled beside the wall of the private room allocated to Custanzu. A couple of the nurses shot me confused looks over my presence, but I just waved at them in greeting.
I’d learned that if you pretended to own a room, the room thoughtyouownedit. It helped that I'd visited this fancyschmancy part of the hospital long enough for them to grow used to the sight of me.
When their attention drifted, I looked through the window and at the man in the bed.
He was too thin yet also,somehow, stacked. His beard neared ZZ Top levels. Salt and pepper sprinkled through raggedy waves that spoke of a desperate need of a haircut.
Lines bracketed his mouth and marred his forehead…
Honestly, it was a crime against nature for a man this hot to lookthisshit.
I bit my lip as I studied his countenance, uneasily aware that he reminded me of Cade after we’d lost Vinny.
Undereating, overtraining, living off protein shakes and air…
He’d lost someone. A woman, if memory served.
“Kitty? You do know I could be sleeping, right?”
I lied, “Sorry, Lucas.”Go big or go home…“Did you know Custanzu Valentini had been admitted to the ICU?”
“What?!”
Despite the situation, my lips curved at his bellow.
I couldn’t deny that it was fun to flap my unflappable brother.
“Yup. He looks like death warmed over too.”
“Which hospital? Gunshot wounds?”
“Which hospital?” I complained. “Myhospital, dumbass. I’m on shift, remember?” As he continued sputtering in my ear, I slipped into the room to check the Capo’s file once the other nurses had left.
“Are you listening?” I half-heard him grouse.
A quick scan had me grimacing. “Overdose.”
Common sense told me that a transfer to the ICU meant his situation must have been dire, but I still winced reading what he’d gone through.
“What?!” came Lucas’s second bellow.
Custanzu’s particulars filled me with the strangest sense of distress. I glanced at the man who technically meant nothing to me then placed a hand to my chest, where an ache had settled.
Even as I stood there watching him, I pictured him standing naked in bay four of my ER, back bowed, whispering, “I miss her.”
My throat felt ridiculously thick. “No family’s with him, Lucas.”
