Page 88 of Forty

“I carved that shit into my car.”

“I know.”

I chuckle. It comes out a cough. “And you came anyway?”

He frowns. His face is so strained. He looks old. Like someone’s dad.

“Of course, you did. You love me, don’t you?” I hope he’s someone’s dad one day. He’s going to be the very, very best at it.

“With everything I am.” He’s so solemn. It’s a vow.

“I love you, too.”

“Why did you do it, Nevaeh?” His voice disintegrates mid-sentence, cracks wide open.

I try to shrug, and there’s a piercing pain, but I don’t think my shoulder moves. “I saved your life. I didn’t let the bad guy win this time.”

“Goddamn, Nevaeh.” His eyes darken.

“I saved the day.”

Me. The girl too scared to open her mouth. The woman who ran every time the going got tough. Who could never figure out how to get things to work out her way.

In the end, I got the boy.

And I saved the day.

It’s a good story. The best.

I drift off, and there’s shouting, but the voice is deep and familiar, and it’s a beautiful sound to hear as I float away into the dark.

13

FORTY

There was a moment—a matter of seconds—in the helicopter when the rotor broke, right before we went into the tailspin. We had been going vertical, moving slightly southeast, and then we stopped. In midair. No more than a few seconds. Probably a fraction of a second.

Our momentum was arrested, gravity blinked, and we were floating.

That’s what it feels like when Nevaeh closes her eyes. The world is over.

Wall crouches at her head, fingers on her pulse.

“It’s weak but steady, man. She probably passed out from the pain. It’s better that way.”

“Fuck, man. We should divert to Petty’s Mill General.” I want to inspect the wound, but I know better than to ease up on the pressure.

Wall was a firefighter back in the day, and he has extensive trauma experience. He said go to the Dentist. He said if it was Mona, his old lady, he’d go to the Dentist.

We’re already past the gatehouse in Gracy’s Corner. The Dentist lives a few streets over from me. He’s got a setup in his basement. Most of us have spent time there, most recently Roosevelt recovering from the beatdown he got from the Raiders. Steel Bones buys the Dentist whatever he wants. Right now, he wants an assistant, so Angel here is going to nursing school on our dime.

“I wouldn’t do it, man. The bullet hit no major arteries. The bleeding is staunched. She’s showing signs of shock, and the Dentist can handle that. Time is of the essence. Petty’s Mill General is a glorified clinic now. If we take her somewhere, take her to Shady Gap. But I know those folks. The Dentist is better, man. He’s knows combat medicine.”

By the time Wall’s done, it’s a moot point. Gus is pulling up behind the Dentist’s house and into his attached garage.

Sunny throws open the van doors.

“On three?” Wall assumes position at her head. Grinder’s already by her feet, and Gus and Sunny are ready to receive.

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