Page 62 of Ballads of Lines Blurred

Slater stepped closer to Cody, and I followed him. I couldn’t fight, not really. I might get a solid punch in before I was knocked on my ass. At least I could pretend I could do some damage. The whole lover not a fighter thing Vail applied to Tahoe applied to me too.

“Vail,” Gil said, taking a step closer to him.

Cody’s arm shot out to put his hand on Gil’s chest.

That was when everything hit the fan. Gil grasped Cody’s wrist, twisting it in a way that had to hurt. I would have been on the ground in pain, but Cody turned, giving himself the advantage, and putting the heat on Gil by trying to get his arm around Gil’s neck.

There was no way for me to do anything, even if I wanted to. It was obvious Gil had training of some sort. He and Cody traded blows, each trying to outmaneuver the other while Vail pulled out his phone. Slater tried to jump into the middle of it but couldn’t find a clear opening to help.

Cody moved like a blur, doing shit right out of a movie. He finally got the opening he needed to deliver a hit to Gil, but immediately cried out in pain after he did so. Gil stumbled back, the punch getting him good on the cheek. He looked around, saw Slater coming for him, and took off running.

I rushed to Cody, who clutched his wrist to his chest. “I think I broke it,” he said. “Shit.”

“I’m sorry.” Vail’s voice shook when he spoke. I looked up to find him sitting on one of the steps leading to his back door. “I shouldn’t have left you to fight him like that. He knows what he’s doing, and I backed away.” Vail’s eyes welled with tears. He put his head in his hands. “I’m so sorry.”

Slater had his arm around Cody’s waist, but he faced Vail. “You didn’t do this. You didn’t do anything. Don’t apologize.”

“We need to get Cody to the hospital,” I said.

“Do you have him? I’ll stay with Vail. Is that okay?” He looked torn between what to do. Vail shouldn’t be alone, and Cody needed medical attention.

“Stay,” Cody said, his voice laced with pain.

It was only a minute later as I was getting behind the wheel of my car that the police showed up. We stayed for a few minutes to talk to them before Cody and I left. We gave them our information so they could follow up with us if needed.

Cody didn’t want to go to the closest hospital. Corbin was working today at East Dremest Hospital, and it was on the other side of the city. While Cody held his hand, I drove us in the afternoon city traffic. By the time we arrived at the emergency room, Cody looked like he was about to throw up.

The woman behind the reception desk left to get Corbin as soon as she saw it was Cody who came in.

“She was here that day when my aunt had Livy,” Cody said through clenched teeth.

“Cody,” Corbin said, pushing through the door from the back with scrubs on. “What happened?”

I took over, telling Corbin where we were and how Vail’s ex showed. How he got into a fight with Cody. Corbin took us into the back and got Cody on a bed in one of the rooms. A nurse came in to take his vitals and two doctors entered the room. It was a blur after that between Corbin talking with the other doctors, Cody going to get an X-ray, and being told he had a nondisplaced fifth metacarpal fracture, which went right over my head. What he had was a broken bone that didn’t need surgery, but he had to wear a splint to keep it in place. He also got a dose of pain meds. Cody had relaxed once they kicked in, his eyes fluttering closed.

Val arrived not long after we got the X-ray results. Xaiden was on his way and Olivia was at a friend’s house. I got to see another side to Val. The tough guy with the blunt mouth was gone, and in his place was a caring father who wanted to ease Cody’s pain.

Xaiden showed up with Slater. I wasn’t sure how that happened, not that it mattered. Slater had tears in his eyes as he bent down to kiss Cody’s forehead.

“It’s not your fault,” Xaiden told Slater. “None of yours,” he said to me too.

“There’s no need to soothe me,” I told him. “I literally did nothing. I know my strengths and trying to beat someone up is not one of them.”

Corbin smoothed the hair back from Cody’s face. Cody drifted in and out of sleep, the medication doing a number on him. At least he wasn’t in pain. “We’re not all meant to fight,” Corbin whispered. “Cody’s a lot like Xaiden. He wants to save everyone. It’s noble, but that doesn’t mean it’s for just anyone. If you don’t know what you’re doing, you can get hurt. Cody knew and even he got a fracture. I never wanted to see him in a bed in here. Not after what happened with his mom.” A tear tracked down his cheek.

Val wrapped his arms around Corbin from the side. “We’re not going there, Doc. Code’s fine. You got him taken care of. It’s just a break. The ortho helped him. Now he has to heal.”

“He’ll be okay,” Xaiden reaffirmed. “I’d tell you two to go home, but I have a feeling Cody’s going to ask for you when he wakes.” I thought he was talking about Val and Corbin but when I looked his way, Xaiden’s eyes were on Slater and me.

“Really?” I asked.

A smile teased the corners of his lips. “I’ve been in enough fights. When the meds wear off, and you’re lucid again, you want the people you love.” He said the word so easily. Love. It rolled off his tongue.

I swallowed hard. This was love, wasn’t it? This feeling in the center of my chest. Fear for Cody, worry over Slater. A deep well of emotions I didn’t know what the fuck to do with.

Slater’s hand found mine. We sat in chairs along the side of the bed while Val and Xaiden were on the other side. Corbin had paperwork to do so he could leave. Apparently, we came in as he was changing shifts. Twenty minutes later and he might not have been here.

“I know it’s just a break,” Slater said quietly. Xaiden and Val had stepped out to talk to Corbin. “But what if it was worse?” His hand squeezed mine.

---