Toy Soldier {ManxManxMan}

CHAPTER 20

I sat in the passenger seat of the car while the two cripples were in the back. The drive home was even quieter than before, Carina was leaning heavily against Orion, his face white and his hand clutching onto his right elbow. It was just bad luck that the Fer-de-Lance had fucked up his gun arm, he would be out of commission for a while.

Orion still seemed to be loopy from shock, though the blood was off his hands and he was raking his fingers through Carina's hair, there were still smudges of red on his face and staining his shirt. He didn't seem to notice the blood though, as he was too preoccupied smothering his brother protectively.

When we reached the rebellion, Cass had to take Carina, Orion was still too out of it and probably would have dropped him. Considering shock could also be severe, we had to drag his ass to Arthur along with Carina. Unfortunately for me, Arthur tasked me with calming the oaf down and getting him to lie on one of the cots.

It was mainly annoying because I wanted to sleep, getting Orion on the bed wasn't that difficult, I kind of just shoved him and made him sit down before pushing him onto his back so his head was on the pillow.

"Now stay there," I said, holding my hands up like I was trying to keep an animal from moving, "I'm going to leave, and you're going to stay right the fuck here."

"Why?" he grabbed my sleeve when I took a step back, eyes wide, "Stay."

"I literally don't want to," I said, but he didn't let go, just pouted at me.

"What if I say please?"

"God you're fucking weird right now," I sighed in exasperation as Orion rolled onto his side and hung off my arm, staring off to the side with a blank look in his eyes, "Should I get Beckett? I'm sure he can take care of you."

Orion seemed to consider it, his eyes foggy as they shifted up to my face, where he stared at me a long time, not speaking, "I want you to stay," he said softly.

I groaned, rubbing my eyes, and looking over my shoulder to where Arthur and Cass were at Carina's bed, all three of them preoccupied and not paying attention to us. Honestly, if Orion was this fucked just from shock, then I didn't want to be near him if he was badly injured and hopped on morphine or other pain medication.

"Dakota," Orion poked my side, making me jump and jerk away, unable to get far with how tightly he clung to my sleeve, "What's your star sign?"

"Huh?"

"Your zodiac," Orion grinned a little, rolling onto his back and dragging me with him so I was falling over him, holding in a yelp, and propping myself up with one hand on the other side of Orion, our faces inches apart.

Somehow, he didn't seem to notice, and my face burned in embarrassment and shock as he played with the pendant around my neck, "I'm a Pisces. What are you?"

I tried to pull away, but he wouldn't let go of my necklace, so I just scowled, "Capricorn. Does it matter? Let go already before I scream."

Orion just smiled, his fingers releasing the cord around my neck so he could slide them up my face and into my hair, "Capricorn. You know what that means?"

I considered not responding, but decided to humor him, rolling my eyes in irritation and shivering at the warmth of his fingers. Why was he always so warm?

"We're compatible," he chuckled, and my face burned even brighter as my eyes bugged open.

That's not what I was expecting him to say. Like, at all.

"I don't believe in that stuff," I decided to say, keeping my voice as monotone as I could, trying not to react to the way Orion's fingers were soothing me as they stroked through my hair.