Oh god.
I clutched at the blankets, breathing hard through my nose. This couldn’t be happening. “Cardiff, for the conference.”
Frank cursed. “I thought you were back yesterday.”
I closed my eyes. “Tomorrow. Just tell me, Frank. Is he…?”
He couldn’t be. Dom might not have been a part of my life in eight years, but to conceive of a world he didn’t exist in? A sun he didn’t lift his face towards? Stars that didn’t watch over him?
That wasn’t possible.
“No,” Frank said, and all my breath left me in a whoosh. “He’s injured, but alive.”
The relief left as swiftly as it had arrived. “It’s not good if they’ve notified you.”
“No, kid, it’s not.”
I squeezed my eyes shut. “Tell me.”
“He caught a bullet in the neck during a mission. He went into emergency surgery an hour ago.”
I was out of bed in a second, striding for the small wardrobe and yanking out my case. I moved fast, throwing everything in haphazardly. “I’ll be in my car in under five minutes, Frank. Two hours and I’ll be there, okay?”
“Don’t be stupid,” he said, but his voice was so weak that I knew he didn’t mean it. “You don’t need to come rushing back here. It’s not going to change anything.”
I gripped my phone so hard I heard the case crack. “What do you think I’m going to do, Frank? Go back to sleep and head to my morning meeting later? Fucking give over.”
“Fine,” Frank grumbled. “Drive safely though, okay? Can’t take worrying about you too. It’ll put me in an early grave.”
“You’ll outlive us all. Stubborn gits always do.”
Frank was quiet for a moment. “Let’s hope that’s enough for Dominic to pull through.”
“It will be.”
It had to be.
I refused to accept any alternative.
There wasn’t a lot of traffic on the M4 at two in the morning, which was good, given I was attempting to break land speed records. I’d likely have more than one ticket drop through my letterbox in the coming weeks, but I didn’t give a fuck.
I had to get home.
Not to my place, but Dominic’s. The closest place I got to be to him. With his dad.
Frank and I were the two men he’d cut from his life with the same brutal efficiency he’d done everything else. I understood why he’d given Frank that treatment. But me? What had I done to deserve it? That question often kept me up at night.
Dawn was still hours off when I screeched to a stop outside Frank’s. I didn’t remember turning the car off or running up to the front door, but somehow I was there, scrabbling with my keys, my hands shaking as I tried to find the right one. I swore as they slipped through my fingers and hit the ground.
The door swung open as I picked them up. Frank was ashen, half-dressed, like he’d been getting ready for bed when he’d got the call. Or perhaps he’d thrown his clothes on like he could rush to his son’s side.
But he couldn’t. Neither of us could. Dominic was thousands of miles away.
The best we could do was wait for news together.
“Anything?” I whispered, searching Frank’s bloodshot eyes for a clue.
“Nothing.” He grabbed me in a rough hug. There was no lingering scent of alcohol, and my shoulders relaxed slightly. Guessed his red eyes were down to lack of sleep. Or tears.
