Page 176 of Bones
I hadn’t seen him since before Trey and I had left. He looked like a shadow of his former self, thin, still too pale, andpissed.
“Where the fuck have you been?” he snapped, striding toward me.
A sliver of guilt trickled in through the numbness. “I’m?—”
He pulled me forward into a hug, interrupting me. I could feel his heart pounding in his thin chest.
“You scared me,” he said, his voice rough. “Gods, I’m so sorry. I shoulda been here sooner. I just had a bad spell the last few days. Got laid up with a damn cold like an old man.”
My arms had instinctively wrapped around him, but he felt like a different person. I could feel all his ribs beneath my fingers, the muscle mass he’d been so vain about had vanished. He feltfragile. I almost asked him why he hadn’t come to the clinic, but then I remembered I couldn’t heal him.
“It’s ok,” I mumbled.
“Everybody’s out lookin’ for you.” He pulled back, studying my face. “Griz said you freaked out in the middle of bandaging someone.”
His scrutiny made me feel far too exposed. “I’m fine,” I said, pulling away and making my way to the sink under the pretense of washing my hands. “Sorry I scared you.”
The silence thickened, making me afraid to turn around. When I did, he stood by the exam table, his arms crossed, and eyes narrowed.
“So we’re back to that bullshit,” he bit out. “I didn’t believe Griz when he told me.”
“Sam—” I tried, but he interrupted.
"I'll go tell everyone you're back." He made his way to the door but paused for a moment. "I missed you, Shortcake," he said quietly before he stepped out the door.
* * *
The days slid by, thick and slippery as mud. Nemowasa better leader than Madame. He exiled any remaining assholes who liked the way Madame ran things. He opened the canteen up to everyone, regardless of whether they worked or not, but improving housing for everyone remained his top project. With about half the hold dead or gone, there wasn’t a housing shortage anymore, so he started moving the rusters out of the slums and into the empty houses.
A few of Madame’s top people were unaccounted for, including Sax and Zana. After a few days of combing through the hold, the general consensus was that they had fled during the fight.
Griz and Sam took over guard duties again. Raven came almost every day and bossed Sky and Apple around, but her eyes looked as hollow as mine. Jax still didn’t say much around me, but he came by the clinic every day and did odd jobs for me like chopping firewood or wrapping rolls of bandages. Mac worked closely with Nemo, but he made an effort to come by the clinic almost every day. I didn’t say much to any of them. I wasn’t trying to shut them all out, I was just so damntired.I had to use every ounce of my energy just to get through every day.
They were all more subdued too, but every once and a while they'd get into a stupid argument, and for a second things almost felt normal. In those moments, I found myself looking for Trey, expecting to see him teasing Griz, wrestling Sam, or throwing his arm around Jax. A thousand tiny moments of realizing he wasgonehadn’t done a damn thing to dull the pain.
* * *
The first time Mac showed up and announced that Nemo had summoned me, anxiety spiked so sharply through the numbness that I had to dart outside the clinic to be sick.
“You ok?” Mac asked, following me outside.
I stayed leaning over, my hands resting on my knees, and tried to convince myself I wasn’t about to hurl again.
“Bones?” Mac hovered at my side, sounding worried.
I sucked in another desperate breath through my nose. What would I do if Nemo wanted me to help him torture someone?
“Hey,” Mac crouched in front of me so he could look up at my face, “are you sick? I can tell Nemo you can’t make it tonight.”
“I’m fine,” I whispered.
His eyes narrowed into a glare. “Bones.”
I forced myself to straighten, smoothing the front of my shirt with trembling fingers. “Are we…are we going to the dungeon?”
He stood with me, and his brow furrowed in confusion for a second before realization dawned on his face. "Oh shit. No. He wants to talk at his place. He's not usin' the dungeon."
“Ever?”
