Pain slashes across my face and dark eyes fill my vision as I jerk out of the fog that was threatening to pull me under.
“There she is,” Ana smiles tightly, before wrapping her hand around my bicep and dragging me back to my seat with a vice like grip. “You had a freak out girl, had to slap you to breathe. If it leaves a bruise tell Switch that it wasn’t me.”
I blink slowly at Ana, before doing it again. “Why would Reid care?”
“Because Ana has powerful man hands and probably slapped six colors of shit outta ya,” Nat says leaning on the doorjamb.
“Right, now that you’re sufficiently calm, you’re out here with us. Leave the Nerd Squad to deal with this,” Ana waves in the direction of the screens. “Aint nothing good ever happened from watching that stuff in real time.”
Marx’s dark eyes meet mine and he dips his chin so I give him a watery smile and head out to find my baby. If this is all the time I have left with her, then I need to make it count.
Sage
“What are you doing, Stinky?” Elio rolls his eyes at the nickname he earned as a baby. I don’t even care that he’s close to nine years old. He’ll forever be my Stinky until he’s old and grey.
I smile a little at that thought, as I watch him, calm as always. I wish I felt that way naturally, but calm has always eluded me. Which is why I’m here, bugging my little brother instead of with the rest of the women. I may be two years into my nurse training but I can't work on Niko. Not even if I tried. He’s my big brother, my protector, and I can’t stand to see him in pain, writhing on the table as Vi and Joe work to close his wounds. I blink quickly to hide the tears, Elio won’t like to see them. I side eye him as his mouth forms a grim line and he side eyes me back. I know in time he will tell me what he’s working on. He always does. He and I are cut from a similar cloth. I may not be ridiculously clever like Elio, but I prefer the quiet, much like he does. Cove is her own person, and Niko has somehow become a mini version of our uncles which means they do what they want and never ask for forgiveness. But Elio and me? We feel things differently.
“I’m creating traps in case the bad guys break through the basement perimeter.”
I nod at Elio’s answer, knowing exactly who he’s talking about. The men who are coming for our cousins. The men who want to take them away. Elio may not fully understand what these men intend to do with his cousins, but it doesn’t matter to him. All he knows is that he needs to protect them.
“Need any help?” He stares at me with his black as night eyes before dipping his chin once.
I watch him for a moment, then follow his lead as we twist red and green wires together. The glass jars he has lined up have gnarly contents, and if he was any other kid I’d be concerned, but he’s not any other kid. He’s spent time with Aunt Chewy and Pops and he knows what he’s doing.
“Sage?”
“Hmm?”
“Will you be sad if Chef gets hurt?”
The question takes me aback. I’ve been so mad at Chef, for months now, that it’s easy enough for me to pretend he doesn't exist. At least that’s what I tell myself. It was harder to pretend when he turned up here, looking all handsome, even more rugged than I remember. The lingering looks he gives me don’t help either. But he hurt me in a way I had never let anyone hurt me before. He not only broke my heart, but he took away my voice. My choices. He didn’t want to hear what I had to say about our relationship. Instead he decided I was too young and needed to live a little before tying myself to him. Well, now we both get to be miserable. Him more than me because I am trying my damnedest to move on.
“Sage?”
Swallowing, I look at my little brother who sees too much. “Yes, Stinky, I’d be sad if Chef got hurt.”
His brows pull together a moment and he doesn't look at me as he works through my words. “But he hurt you. I saw you crying. You should want him to hurt too.”
Tilting my head I take in Elio and what he’s asking. His world is black and white. He sees people hurting his family and he wants them to hurt too. But this thing between Chef and me? It’s not something Elio can categorise in his nine year old mind because he doesn’t know what it’s like to think you’ve found your person.
“There is a difference between people coming in here and physically hurting us, and people who we love who hurt our hearts. Chef hurt my heart, and I was sad and angry, but that doesn't mean I want him to get hurt.”
Elio frowns deeper still, his little fingers working hard at the wires he has in his hand. “There’s a difference between physical hurt and heart hurt?”
“Yup. When you cut yourself it hurts but you know that the blood will clot and your body will start to heal. When your heart hurts? That can take a long time to get better, but you’ll be a stronger person for it.”
Elio looks up at me, taking in my face, so much like his and Niko’s and Cove’s and he nods once. “Chef made a shitty choice because he’s an idiot and you are stronger than him.”
I burst out laughing and wrap my arm around Elio, giving him a little squeeze then releasing him before it makes him uncomfortable. “Yes, Stinky, he is an idiot, and thank you for thinking I’m stronger now.”
He nods once then places the last of his gnarly bombs at the end of the neat row he’s made of them.
“Now what?” I ask, intrigued to see what’s next and happy he’s taken my mind off of things.
“Now, we plant them.”
“Sage!” Vi’s voice bellows from the other room, “We’ve got more down, I need hands on.”
