Page 14 of Faron
Faron
Itried. God, I tried.
I drank three cups of her bitter-ass coffee. Sat on the floor with Bear. Listened to the silence echoing around her little house.
Lasted fifteen minutes.
Bear tilted his head like,Be useful, dumbass.
So I locked the front door, gave him my last strip of jerky, and walked back to the clinic.
It looked worse in daylight — like a broken promise. Graffiti on the walls, rust on the railing, a kid crying somewhere nearby.
Inside, chaos.
A pregnant teen sobbing in her boyfriend’s hoodie. An old man coughing so hard I thought he’d drop dead right there. Two little boys trying to kill each other over a plastic truck missing a wheel.
And Blue — in the eye of the storm. Calm. Fierce. Bloody to the wrists.
She didn’t pause when she saw me. Just lifted her eyes above her mask and lit me on fire.
Not now.
Too late.
I leaned on the wall, arms crossed, pretending I wasn’t already planning ways to get the roof fixed and the locks changed.
A nurse whispered to another near the counter. “That’s him — Dr. Davis’s old flame from the Army…”
I winked. She squeaked and vanished.
Fifteen minutes later, Blue stripped off her gloves and marched toward me like a hurricane in scrubs.
“Are you following me now?” she hissed.
“Technically, I came to see a doctor. I’ve got this terrible ache—”
“Don’t.” She jabbed my chest. “Don’t finish that sentence.”
Then the door slammed open.
Three men stepped in like they owned the place. I knew their type — twitchy eyes, mean smiles, strung out on something darker than meth. One of them, Rico, had a fresh bandage on his cheek. I recognized my work.
He grinned at Blue. “You patched up my brother yesterday. Free of charge. Now you’re gonna fix me too.”
Her hand slid toward her hip, where I knew she kept a blade hidden in her waistband.
“I said no charge because I felt generous,” she said, voice like a scalpel. “Come back tomorrow.”
“You busy with this white boy, huh?” His eyes landed on me. “Bringing soldiers into our neighborhood now, doc?”
He made one mistake.
He looked at her like she was prey.
I didn’t let him finish the sentence. Grabbed his collar, slammed his face into the wall hard enough to make Jesus flinch. His buddy lunged. I elbowed him in the nose — he dropped like a puppet with cut strings.
Screams. Scrambling. Blue’s voice, sharp and terrified: “Faron!”
