Page 221 of Call the Shots
I was worn down.Exhausted. Only running on the fumes of adrenaline. The hospital was busy in the morning, and I hurried down the hallway, only breathing right when I saw King in the hospital bed. The stitches looked horrible, but I threw my arms around him, so grateful to see him.
“Hey, Junie,” he whispered.
Bear stayed in the hallway while I talked quietly with King. The nurses redid his stitches, and I held his hand during it. He didn’t need it, but I couldn’t let him go. I rambled about Willow and the places I wanted us to go on double dates, brushing away tears.
“Bear drove me all over Houston,” I whispered. “He helped me look for you, stayed up all night. And—I think I’mreallyin love with him.”
“He told me you two were dating.”
“King,Itold you that at lunch together.”
He paused. “No.”
“Uh-huh.” My laugh was blubbering and embarrassing. Sniffling, I hugged him. “Don’t ever do that to me again. If you leave, you’re supposed to tell me where you’re going.”
Voices in the hallway stopped our conversation. Ryan and Adam took Jasmine to grab breakfast and King’s mom headed to the pharmacy to pick up everything King needed.
What was going on?
“I’ll be right back,” I whispered and closed the door behind me.
Bear was standing close to the door, in obvious opposition to Fridge and Montoya. Montoya was doing everything he could to avoid looking me in the eye.
“I came to check in on King, Montoya wanted to come along,” Fridge said, his voice firm.
“You really think that’s a good idea right now?” Bear snapped. “Bringing Montoya?”
Honestly, King and I talked about the party and King had no idea who Montoya was. He didn’t consider Montoya part of the equation. If anything, King was angry at himself for not telling Willow about his past. To him, Elijah and Montoya weren’t part of what happened.
New footsteps approached, Denali and Elijah coming down the hallway, Elijah with a bouquet of flowers in hand.
“Is this a fucking joke?” Bear demanded.
Elijah glanced into the window of King’s room. “Are those stitches…from the party?”
“What else would they be from?” Bear stalked to Elijah, jabbing a finger to his chest. “I want you gone. If you come back to the hospital, I’ll put you in one of these rooms myself.”
King’s little sister approached, flanked by Ryan and Adam. She was too little and stared up at the standoff with wide eyes. There was way too much going on and Jasmine already had to see her brother hurt, she didn’t need to see this.
“I need you guys to leave,” I said quietly, reaching for Jasmine’s hand. “It’s been a long twelve hours, I don’t want to do this right now, I know King doesn’t.”
We’d have a real conversation later, but I wanted to make sure King was okay. That was it. Everything else was background noise.
Bear gazed down at me while the rest of the Gladiators left. “Do…do you want me to wait in the car?”
“No, Bear, you weren’t included in that.”
His face cleared. “Oh.”
Gently, I picked up Jasmine and hugged her tight. With a nod to the door, I motioned for Bear to follow me into King’s room.
CHAPTER 82
BEAR
I HOPE YOU’RE HAPPY
The following day,there was a notice insnap shot sluts!from Denali. It was an emergency team meeting—the first one June skipped. She tossed and turned for hours, it’d taken her forever to fall asleep. I wouldn’t wake her up for this. I wrote her a note and unplugged her alarm. I’d swing back to wake her for classes.
