Two Kings

Chapter 30

No sooner does Nonna walk out the door, the emotional turmoil going on inside me bursts forth and I cry again. It's not several things, it's one thing—it's Rico; he's at the Centre of everything, my focus, my primary concern, and I can't even control it. He just is.

And since waking from surgery, the intensity of my feelings for him has changed. I knew I was getting attached to him, but I had no idea my feelings would lead to this. I shouldn't have allowed things to get so real between us. But I thought I could contain my emotions and keep our encounters to the sexual kind. But what I'm feeling has gone beyond anything I could have expected.

Why did this have to happen? It's not like one night of fucking equals a relationship.

The door opens and two men wheel Trav into the room on a stretcher. I wipe my tears away as I watch them transfer him onto the main bed. Trav cries out in pain as they set him down. "Fuck, man, watch what you're doing. That hurts!"

The men leave and the nurse moves Trav to the center of the bed and then proceeds to pull his sheet and blankets up to his chest. "Any chance of a smoke?" He asks her.

The nurse huffs as she adjusts his pillows. "None, I'm afraid."

Trav throws the blankets back in a tantrum. But the nurse ignores him, continuing with her duties as she pulls his chart from the tray at the end of his bed.

"Excuse me," I say, "but when will I be able to take a shower?"

The nurse doesn't look at me as she stares at the chart writing. "Not until you're well enough."

"Shit, Lex, I didn't even see you over there," Trav says though grit teeth. "Fuck, it's good to see you alive. You look better than when I last saw you."

"Yeah, well, I'm glad to be breathing, too. And yes, I'm doing much better." I stare at his bulging knee under the blankets, almost certain he didn't have that wound in the car. Unless I was just too preoccupied with my bullet wounds to notice. "What happened to you?"

Trav presses his finger to his lips and shakes his head, pointing to the nurse. Yes, it's easy to forget that she's doesn't know the details of what really happened here, other than us being shot. I watch her dump the chart back into the tray and then tuck his linen in.

"I'll get you a jug of water and a glass." She tells Trav as she pulls his linen up to his chest again. "Do you need anything else?"

"Yeah, like I already said, sweetheart, I'm hangin for a smoke."

"No smoking. I'll be right back."

"Hey, I have a family waiting for me," he tells her. "Get Phil in here. I need to speak with him about what to tell 'em."

The nurse pulls a face. "I'm afraid you're asking the wrong person. I'm part of the medical team. You'll have to speak to someone else about that."

As she walks for the door, Trav gives her the finger. "Fucking Bitch!"

"She's only doing her job." I tell him. "Are you ok?"

"Yeah and nah. Better if I had a smoke... what about you?"

"Suffering through," I tell him.

"Have you seen Rico?" he asks.

I shake my head and stare at my blank T.V screen. "No... I haven't seen him since Nonna twisted that towel and I blacked out. Could you tell me what happened after that?"

Trav huffs. "The question is, what didn't happen? You passed out. And for a real long fucking intense moment, everyone assumed you'd died because of how much blood you'd lost. The back of the car was covered in it. Rico put his fist through the window and then pulled his pistol out. He was ready to kill me while I sat in the back of the car with your head still in my lap. I thought I was done for. I heard the click and then Nonna pushed her finger in the barrel and told him to settle down, that you were still alive with a pulse."