Kade’s eyes softened as she looked at her. “I’m not the monster that you think I am.”
Before he could continue, Buddha called her name and scooped her up into his arms.
“It’s going to be okay. Shhh,” I heard him whisper into her ear. He placed her back on the ground and cupped her cheeks before looking behind her at Kade and me with a confused expression. “Where’s Arrow?”
“He’s… he’s gone…” Evelyn said softly.
My heart sank into my stomach at her words as I looked at Kade. His hands were in fists, and his jaw was set. That was all the confirmation that I needed. Buddha stormed around Evelyn and cracked his fist into Kade’s jaw.
“What the fuck did you do?!” he yelled as he swung again.
This time, Kade dodged the swing before punching Buddha in the gut. Evelyn and I lunged forward, pulling the two apart.
“I want to know what the fuck is going on, Romano!” Buddha roared.
I glared at him, my own anger flaring to life, but I could understand his rage. I hadn’t known Arrow very long, but I did know he was the glue of the broken team before me. I looked at Kade, who was fuming, and I knew I needed to get him to calm down before something even worse happened.
“You need to calm down,campagno. They need to know what we are doing here,” I whispered to him.
Kade’s chest heaved, his expression animalistic. “If I wasn’t fucking getting sucker-punched every five seconds, I would explain what the fuck happened!”
But as Evelyn turned to face us, she swayed on her feet and began to pass out. Buddha leaped forward to catch her and hurried her to the empty hospital bay. As nurses started working on Evelyn, I gestured for Buhdda to follow me out of the bay.
“I need to know what happened,” Buddha demanded, rage crossing his face.
“I know you do.” I placed a hand on his shoulder. “Give Kade a moment, and we will find out what happened.”
“He was my best fucking friend!” Buddha shoved his fingers along his buzzed hair, tears filling his eyes.
My heart broke for him. I knew far too well how it felt to lose not only a teammate, but also a best friend. But I couldn’t allow the visions that threatened to torture me to break through. Kade needed me. The Elite Team needed me. And most of all,sheneeded me.
Kade walked over to us with a panicked expression. He let out a curse in Italian under his breath before standing in front of Buddha.
His expression was pained as told us what had happened. My jaw clamped so tight my teeth started to hurt. Fucking Anthony Ricci. This wasn’t how things were supposed to go. Aaron wasn’t supposed to get caught in the crossfire. He wasn’t supposed to go after Evelyn. He knew the plan; he knew Kade was on top of it.
I took in my best friend, and for the first time, I saw fear in his eyes. He wasn’t scared of anything usually, but what happened today had gotten to him. Buddha stormed away. I gave Kade a knowing look, and he nodded at me. I could tell by the way his eyes kept wandering to Evelyn that he needed to be beside her. I felt the same urge to be with Badger.
We parted ways, and I resumed my vigil next to Jessica’s bed, resting my head on her hand. I needed her to be okay, because if she wasn’t, I wouldn’t be either.
SIXTEEN
BADGER
I woke up with an oxygen mask over my face, an IV in my arm, and, to my surprise, Machine asleep in the chair next to my bed. Where the fuck was I? I looked around and saw Evelyn lying deathly still in a hospital bed two bays over from me. She was covered in bruises and cuts, but she hadn’t been at Dominos, so what the fuck happened to her?
Machine stirred in his chair and opened his eyes. They were the softest I had ever seen them, as if he were trying to tell me something through that one look. Despite my opinion of Machine, I felt better knowing that he was here with me. I had almost died, and somehow the one person I least expected to care was here. From what I could remember, he was also the reason I got out of the burning building.
“Hey, you,” Machine said, placing a large hand on mine. His touch felt warm and comforting.
I closed my eyes for a moment, then opened them slowly. I removed the oxygen mask and let out a cough.
“You need to leave that on,” he instructed, moving the mask back over my mouth and nose before resting his hand on top of mine again. “You inhaled a lot of smoke. Do you remember anything?”
I made the “so-so” motion.
“That’s to be expected.”
Machine glanced down at the floor and then back up at me. An expression I could almost label as sympathy crossed his face. I tilted my head in confusion.
