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I wasn’t surprised one of them was Enzo. He and Darius weren’t best friends, but they were friendly. Darius being the brother of his sister’s best friend and the woman he regularly hooked up with may have played some part, but Enzo was one of the best at what he did, and Alexander would expect nothing less.
The other man, slightly shorter, but still built like a linebacker, I didn’t recognize. Enzo had introduced him as Lloyd Burkhart when they’d arrived. He’d been the one who had come into the room with a tiny, hand-held device and set to work scanning every inch, including Darius and us.
I was and wasn’t surprised that the room wasn’t bugged. As far as whoever did this was concerned, the job was done and Darius wouldn’t need a bugged room, but I wasn’t going to say no to extra precautions.
I traced the back of Darius’s hand, the veins, the long lengths of his fingers, his rough palm, missing the feel of them on me. I scooted closer to the bed and laid my head on the mattress next to his hip.
The scene was the same.
Me and Darius in the parking garage.
Darius getting yanked away, getting stabbed.
I jerked upright. My fingers tightening around his, my heart pumping louder than the machine next to me.
“You okay?” Lavena watched me from Marcella’s seat. The other woman was nowhere in sight.
“Where’s your mom?” I croaked, rubbing my free hand over the stiff knot at the back of my neck.
Lavena shut off her phone and dropped it into her lap. “Was forced to go home, like I’m going to do to you.”
My fingers reflexively tightened around Darius’s hand. “I’m not leaving until he wakes up.”
Unmoved, Lavena leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees. “You stink. You are covered in dried blood. Your face alone right now will scare him to death. You’re going home. You’re going to shower, eat, poop, and take a nap. It doesn’t have to be in that order, but I will forcibly remove you if you test me.”
“I can’t leave!” I snapped, anger and fear working up to tighten around my throat.
Lavena never so much as blinked. “Go or I will make you.”
Battling hot tears, I glowered at my best friend. “What if he wakes up?”
“I will call you.” She waved her phone as if in indication.
“But—”
“Kam, there is nothing you can do right now. He’s resting and healing. You will make yourself sick. Go home.” She softened her tone to a degree. “I promise I will call you the second there is any change.”
I swallowed past the lump in my throat and studied the man I loved, trying to see him past the blur of tears threatening to spill. “I can’t sleep,” I told her quietly. “Every time I close my eyes … if I’m here, at least I know it was just a nightmare.”
Lavena watched me for a long moment as if trying to decide something. “Go home,” she said again. “I mean it.”
She wasn’t kidding.
Within seconds of my protest, she’d called Enzo into the room. Her blue eyes bore mercilessly into mine as she ordered him to get me into a cab.
“If I see you back here in less than three hours, I will ban you.”
I stared, horrified and hurt beyond measure. “Lavena…”
She put her hand up. “I love you. You can be mad at me, but you’re not in the right head space. It’s my job to look after you when you can’t look after yourself. Now, go home. You haven’t eaten or slept in two days. It’s only three hours.”
Enzo made as if to help me out of my chair. I jerked away, unable to take my eyes off my friend.
Deep down — deep, deep, deep down — I knew she was looking out for me. I knew I would have done the same but, in that moment, the betrayal felt too real, too solid. I couldn’t believe she would go so far but she didn’t back down. She watched in stony silence as Enzo escorted me out. He stayed strong and silent all the way to the lobby and still said nothing when he got me into the cab. My address was rattled off and the man was paid … generously to make sure I went inside the apartment.
I was livid the entire drive.
Despite it not being the driver’s fault, I muttered my thanks as I exited the cab at the Alexander. Lewis was already waiting for me with a kind smile.
