"What did he say?" Pete Morelli said to Nico. "Are they gonna make it?"
Nico bobbed his head. "Sounds like it. Angelo and Stefan are out of surgery and awake."
Tony rose from the chair by the window. "How about Dante?"
"They don't know if he'll wake up," Nico explained. "We have to wait and see."
"Fuck." Tony tugged at the ends of his hair. "First, Salvatore. Now, Dante. We can't lose them both."
The guys in the room grunted or nodded in agreement.
They didn't want Nico as their leader.
"We're going to see the twins," Nico told them. "You can go home if you want. I'll call if there's any news about Dante."
"Nah, I'm good.” Tony waved him off and sat in the chair beside Pete. "We'll wait it out. I want to see Stefan."
Nico grabbed my hand and led me out of the room. We followed the nurse down a long tiled hallway that stunk of antiseptic. I hated the smell of hospitals.
As we walked, my heart raced with each step, beating so loudly I could hear it in my ears. I reached into my pocket for my inhaler just in case. Keeping it in my sweaty palm, I tried to control my breathing. Nico had enough shit on his plate. He didn't need me collapsing on him.
When we stopped at Dante's room, I halted in the entryway. My mouth hung open at seeing him hooked up to beeping monitors.
Nico tapped my back. "It's okay,passerotta. Go ahead."
I took slow, deliberate steps into the room, my pulse pounding as I looked at my sleeping boyfriend.
Could I even call Dante that?
We hadn't defined our relationship.
His eyes were closed, his chest rising and falling. At least he was breathing. I stood at his bedside and leaned down to brush the black hair off his tanned forehead.
"I'm here, Dante. Whenever you're ready, come back to us."
Nico slid his hands to my shoulders.
We didn't need words.
I loved that about him.
He curled his arms around me as I leaned back against his chest. "Do you want to see Angelo and Stefan?"
I nodded.
The twins were in a double occupancy room beside Dante's. Stefan slept soundly with sensors attached to his arms to monitor his vitals, his head turned away from us.
I approached Angelo's bed, which was closer to the door. His eyelids fluttered.
"Angelo," I whispered, placing my hand over his. "Can you hear me?"
One golden-brown eye snapped open, then the other. "Loud and clear, baby."
I ran my fingers down the length of his arm, massaging his skin. "How are you feeling?"
"I've had better days," he quipped, the right corner of his mouth turned up into a smirk. "Nothing I can't handle."
Nico put his hand on my shoulder. "What happened?"
