Page 100 of Sundowners
“Yeah, how long do I have to stay here?” My mind was flooded with all of my responsibilities…Lola, teaching, my dissertation.
Where’s Creed?
“Hey, Junior. Glad you decided to join us.”
Rey came strolling in, decked out in his uniform and a grin on his face.
“That I can’t tell you until we’ve done a complete exam, Mr. San Angelo. I’ll leave you to talk to your family.” He and the nurses left with Bernadette and Emmanuel, which was good, because I intended to kick Rey’s ass.
I tried to push myself up and swing my leg over the side of the bed, but nothing cooperated.
“Whoa whoa whoa, Junior. You can’t get outta that bed, not for a bit.”
“No kidding,” I muttered, looking under the sheet. Catheter, monitors, IV…this was no joke. “Rey,” I said, my voice cracking. “What the fuck happened? Where’s Creed?”
Rey lost a bit of his grin, and he moved closer to the bed, leaning in a little closer. “I’m sorry, man. Here,” he said, pulling out his phone. He pushed a couple of buttons and pushed it into my hands, which were weak. So weak. “I was instructed to call as soon as you woke up.”
FaceTime rang and rang and finally the screen popped up…with Agent Barringer smiling at me.
“Mr. San Angelo! So good to see you up and around. How are you feeling?” He stood, and I could tell he was walking with the phone.
“Confused as hell. Where is—”
The phone shook as if someone snatched it out of his hand, and there he was.
“Roman—”
“Creed!”
His smile finally calmed my heart that had been pounding since I’d heard the word “coma.”
“Blessed be,” he breathed, and he touched the screen. “Are you really awake? Roman, I miss you. I’m so sorry.”
“Areyouokay?” I asked. “What happened?”
Rey cleared his throat. “I’ll give you two a minute.” He squeezed my shoulder and then patted it in a move very unlike him. He left my room, closing the door behind him.
I clutched the phone with both hands and waited for Creed to get settled. He’d moved outside, and I could see trees behind him. When he finally stopped walking, his eyes were full of tears.
“I feared I’d never hear your voice again. How are you feeling?”
“Like shit,” I said, then I laughed and wiped at my own eyes. “Did you really…give me your blood?”
Creed smiled sadly. “We’re a perfect match for each other, even on a molecular level, it seems.” His smile faded and he took on that haunted look. “But don’t worry, it’s not the same as, you know… You’re not like me. It takes more than that.”
“I don’t even care,” I said, although that opened a whole new can of worms. “Where are you?” I asked him.
He looked around and held the phone close to his face. “A non-government sanctioned safehouse. I’m not allowed to know where. After the situation at Loch Lomond, Barringer arranged for us to be whisked away to this location for…containment purposes.”
I frowned and felt my ear get fuzzy, like my tinnitus was coming back.
“I need to see you, Creed. I need to understand what happened to me.”
He licked his lips. “It’s not safe for you to travel yet, according to your doctor. Hopefully by the time it is, this situation will be…contained, and you can come here, or I can come to you.” He winced. “It’skillingme to be away from you right now.”
“What do you mean by contained…or can you tell me?”
“It’s not safe over the phone.” He wiped at his eyes and blew out a shaky breath. “If it were at all possible for me to be there, I would be holding you right now. I hope that when you learn what happened, that you’ll forgive me. I hope that you’ll wait for me…but I’ll understand if you can’t forgive me for letting you be hurt.”
