Page 120 of Falcon

My hands are shaking when I toss my cell phone to the foot of the bed, happy I stopped myself from chucking it into the fucking wall.

I hear a soft knock on my door and my nurse, Sherry, sticks her head in.

I put my finger up to my lips to tell her to be quiet because Faith is still asleep on my chest.

She nods and walks closer to whisper.

“Your sister has called the nurses’ station a dozen times. We’ve tried to tell her you’re resting, but she has threatened me directly. If you’re up to it, I’ve told her you’d call from your room.”

Sherry has been a joy the entire time I’ve been here, which feels like a fucking eternity, even though it’s only been six hours. She’s very soft spoken and kind, and the fact that my pit bull of a sister is raging at her is insane but incredibly typical of Nora.

“I’ll call off the goons, Sherry. I’m sorry about that. She’s very…protective. She’s a nurse too, so she has the need to know any and everything that happens to me medically.”

“Oh, I know. She informed me many times that she was a nurse.” She giggles then passes the phone over to me from the rolling tray. “Let me know if you need anything. Either of you.” She nods down to Faith then heads out to let me call Nora in private.

I dial out her number and wait for her to answer. I check the time while the phone rings.

It is six in the morning. Which means it’s nine in Georgia. Which means she’s slept about as much as I have. None.

“Hello?” she says after answering.

“Can you not threaten my nurses, please?”

“Jesus fucking Christ, Marco! I’ve been worried sick! Why haven’t you called me? Why haven’t you updated me? I haven’t heard a thing since Faith called to tell me what happened! But she was too late because that shit was all over the internet the minute it happened. What in the world is going on? Are you okay? Are you safe? What happened? Is it your head? Are you hurt? Are they keeping you? Can you feel your legs? What about your head? Does it hurt?”

Her words come out in one long, rapid tirade.

“Whoa, whoa. Relax. Slow down. Breathe before you pass out.”

“I’m not worried about me right now. Marco, you need to tell me what happened and you need to tell me right now.”

She has that tone I know so well, and in this moment, she sounds just like someone I haven’t heard in a very long time.

“You sound just like Mom right now. It’s kind of scary actually,” I admit to her.

“Then be scared enough to talk.”

“Christ’s sake.” I sigh. “There was this pain in my head. I guess it was a migraine, but I’ve never felt it like this before.” I look down at Faith to see if she’s still sleeping soundly. She is. “It was radiating from my neck and going up behind my eyes.”

“That’s definitely a migraine. Have they done a CT scan?”

“They have. Same shit as always.”

“So you’re being told this is dangerous and you need to stop before you get hurt?”

“Don’t start, Nora.”

“What do you mean? Has this not scared you enough? What will it take? Will it take you getting so hurt you can’t walk anymore? Or that you can’t remember me? Or Mom and Dad? Or Faith?”

The last name stung more than I anticipated.

Faith. This strong, beautiful woman in my arms was so scared for me. So scared something happened to me. So worried that as soon as she was able to finally relax, she instantly fell asleep, too exhausted to keep her eyes open a moment longer.

“You know I need to finish what I’ve started, Nor. One more fight won’t kill me. I won’t go out on a damn loss.”

“One more fight could kill you. That’s my point. That’s everyone’s point, Marco. You’re smarter than this. Don’t do something stupid for your pride, or even in my defense.”

“Nora, I love you, no matter what, and I hope you can respect any decision I make. Faith is sleeping next to me right now, so I’m going to go so I don’t wake her.”

“But…”

“Goodnight, Little Sister.”

I kill the call before she can even respond.

Am I being a dick? Maybe a little, but this fight, likely my final one…against a man who wronged my sister, has a reputation for abusing women, and is an all-around piece of shit, needs to be done. And he needs to be put in his place. Knocked down a few pegs, and even if it kills me. I’ll be the one to get it done.

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