Page 59 of Waiting Game

Happy enough.

18

Chapter 18

Ren

Iwoke up to the feeling of someone stroking my hair.

With a smile, I rolled over and opened my eyes to see Antoni standing above me with a stupid smirk on his face. I slapped his hand away with a grunt.

“Fuck off, idiot,” I snapped.

“How you doing, sleeping beauty?” he asked, plopping into the seat by my bed.

“I feel fine,” I said, swinging my legs to the side of the bed. My torso was still tender and bruised, but at least I could move a bit more now.

The Doctor said that I was lucky, and I believed him. The bullet only lodged itself into my side, instead of my abdomen where a lot of important organs lived. It would be a while before I was back to normal, but at least I could still move, and I wasn’t dead.

I started to believe more and more that Valerie was my lucky charm.

“Well, you look like shit,” he teased.

“I could say the same for you.”

He chuckled, and then sighed. It was meant as a teasing stab but it was also true. Antoni, who was usually the king of having his shit together, looked as if he hadn’t showered or slept in days. Dark circles framed his eyes, and his stubble was more grown out than usual.

I narrowed my eyes at him.

“What?”

Toni only looked at me, but he didn’t need to say a word.

I laughed, shaking my head, “she left, didn’t she?”

He nodded, giving me a sympathetic smile with his eyes full of pity.

I looked away, towards the window and shook my head again. I should’ve known that she would leave, I was naive to think that she would keep her promise to stay.

Antoni told me from the start not to get my hopes up, but I was an idiot and did it anyway. Why couldn’t I let go of this girl?

“Whatever,” I mumbled, clearing my throat and trying to stand.

Antoni stood quickly, and steadied me as I fumbled.

“What are we doing today?” I asked.

He laughed at me, “you’renot doing anything. Doc said you need a week at least of resting. I’m just here to walk you.”

“Walk me? Like a dog?” I raised an eyebrow.

“Like a whittle puppy dog,” he slapped his knees, “come on boy,” he whistled.

I raised an arm to slap him across the head, and a pain shot through my torso, making my keel over and grab my side. I groaned, leaning forward and Antoni caught me, holding me up.

After a few deep breaths, the pain resided and I could stand again. Holding on to Antoni’s shoulder, we walked slowly down the hall and into the main part of the house. The pride in me wanted to hide away instead of hobble around, but I couldn’t avoid anyone in this house. Antoni’s home was always full of activity and people, even though he was at heart, a loner. It came with the position he was in, and his house would never be a home, only another point of operation for The Family.

Dimitri, Angel, and Robert were in the kitchen, sorting through a shipment of guns. They looked up from their weapons as we entered the room.

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