Page 34 of The Devil's Bargain
How adorable.
He had to admit, it was never a dull moment with a Third around. Not that they’d struggled in that department when it’d just been him and Mercy, but…Damn it. Mercy had chosen well.
There’d been some doubt when Calix had lured them to Alter and taken to them so openly. Aodhan had wondered if it weren’t just another trap in disguise, one he couldn’t see fully. But since they’d returned, Cal had been nothing but the picture of the perfect boyfriend. Even tonight, wandering off with a lowlife and allowing himself to become so inebriated he needed to be escorted home.
Take out the man who wasn’t him, and Aodhan liked it. Liked the hustle.
But only because he could see it for what it was.
If their little monster dared pull that stunt a second time, it would decidedly lose its appeal.
It was late, and he was distracted, but when asked later, Aodhan would still say the truck came out of nowhere.
One second, he was speeding down the lane, thinking about putting Cal over his knee while Mercy watched, and the next, there was a flash of blindingly bright lights and the blare of a horn.
There was barely enough time for him to turn the wheel to avoid direct impact before the truck hit the tail end of his car.
For the first time in his life, Aodhan experienced a real rush of fear. But it wasn’t because he was possibly about to die.
No.
It was over the fact that he might never get to see his First or Third again.
Might never get the chance to punish Calix for his bad behavior.
The sensation burst down the connection, sent straight to his pod in the second before his head whacked against the driver’s side window and the world went completely dark.
Chapter 14:
“We’ve placed him in a medically induced coma,” Dr. Rose, one of the top surgeons who worked with them at the hospital, explained solemnly, glancing between Calix and Mercy. “I assure you, Director, we’ll be monitoring him closely. While it’s too soon to say for certain he’s completely in the clear, the surgery went well. We’re all extremely hopeful.”
Mercy said something to her—or maybe he didn’t. Cal didn’t really know, wasn’t really paying attention.
He couldn’t tear his gaze off Aodhan, lying in bed, hooked up to several machines. If not for the bandages on his head and the slightly pale pallor to his skin, he might look like he was sleeping. But he wasn’t.
He’d almost died.
Had died, if the paramedics were to be believed, which of course they were.
Aodhan had been found unresponsive at the scene, but they’d managed to resuscitate him in the ambulance on the way to the hospital. There was no telling how long he’d gone without breathing, but an onlooker who’d witnessed the crash had called it in almost immediately, and the ambulance had arrived within five minutes.
“What about the truck?” Calix registered that he was talking, but his voice sounded foreign and distant to his ears.
The witness claimed a freight truck ran a red light, crashed into Aodhan’s car, and then drove off without even stopping to check if the driver they’d just hit was all right. Since it had been late in the evening, there weren’t any other eyewitnesses, but Calix had somehow had the foresight to order an investigation and have his team collect any CCTV footage they could find in the area.
He didn’t know why he was bringing that up now, though, when it was just Mercy, him, and the doctor. As if Rose may have somehow heard something he hadn’t on her way from cleaning up after surgery to here.
“Detective,” Mercy called to him, and that one word was weighted. He was seated on the couch, tense, and clearly just as concerned as Cal was, but he’d barely spoken this whole time.
“I’ll find out who did this,” Calix swore, hands clenching into tight fists at his sides as he watched the steady rhythm of Aodhan’s chest moving. “They won’t get away with it. I’ll find them and—”
The sound of the door to the private room opening cut him off, which was a good thing, because he’d most likely been about to say something incriminating in front of Dr. Rose.
Saz entered with Reed hot on his heels, giving a curt nod to the doctor as she excused herself.
“How’s he holding up?” Reed asked. “We’ve got someone at the station talking with the witness. The CCTV footage we’ve gathered so far is also being looked over.”
“Should we hand this case to someone else?” Saz ignored Reed’s surprised look. “There’s a conflict of interest here, Calix, and besides, won’t you be busy staying by his side?”
