I dredged up the energy to look upward. Slater stared down at me, much like someone studying an exotic—and possibly poisonous—plant.
All of a sudden I couldn’t sit there in Tray’s blood one second longer.
I slapped a hand on the wall and jerked to my feet, staying still until the dizziness receded. I didn’t do well in hospitals. Didn’t do well anywhere, obviously.
“Any news?” He steadied me with a casual hand on my elbow.
“No. Nothing.” As subtly as possible, I shook him off. I’d always stood on my own two feet. Tonight wouldn’t be any different. “Maybe they’ll tell you something.”
Slater nodded and turned away to head toward the admissions desk, but I reached forward and grabbed his arm.
He stopped and slanted me a wary look. “Yeah?”
“Do you have a key to Tray’s place?”
“Huh?” Shaking his head, he started walking again. I didn’t blame him. He probably figured I wanted to send him on another errand.
In this case, he was wrong. I wanted to go. Had to, in fact. I wasn’t doing Tray any favors by hanging out in this waiting room, getting dizzier and sicker and less able to deal with the reality of our lives in the cage. Professional fights were one thing, the unsanctioned ones quite another. I’d been lucky so far and had never been seriously hurt.
I couldn’t stick around to see if Tray’s luck had run out.
“Slater.”
“Jesus, Mia, let me find out if he’s okay, would you?”
“His parents are coming. I called them.” I clutched my phone to my chest, not even loosening my grip when the case buckled in my grip. “Someone needs to feed his dog. If you can get me a key—”
Without another w
ord, he dug in his pocket and produced a key ring with enough keys to classify it as a deadly weapon. He pried off one and pushed it into my palm without meeting my gaze. “Go take care of Vey. I’ll deal with the parents of doom.”
Running away would be cowardly. I wasn’t a coward. At least on the outside.
So why did I find myself nodding while I stumbled backward? That horrible hospital smell of antiseptic and pervasive sickness would give me nightmares for weeks.
“You’ll call me when you hear?”
“Yeah.” He tossed me his phone.
I caught it easily and programmed my number before throwing it back. He grabbed it above his head, his eyes finally connecting with mine. The shadows in them made me want to weep.
He was truly frightened for his best friend. And that scared me even more.
“I’ll call, Mia.”
Nodding, I turned. And ran, just like two weeks before when I’d met Tray. Except this time I didn’t have his coat to keep me warm.
I also still didn’t have any money to hail a cab.
Biting my lip, I jogged back into the hospital waiting room. The same faces peered at me with puzzlement and suspicion. I had always been popular at parties.
Slater rose halfway out of his seat as I approached. “Now what?” His weariness might’ve made me laugh if I hadn’t been worn so thin.
“I need money for a cab. I’ll pay you back, with interest. For the jacket too.”
He’d already pried out his wallet and bent his head. The streaks of blond in his brown hair caught the light and reminded me of caramel ice cream.
That fro yo stand I’d passed with Carly last weekend at the mall seemed like a memory from a million years ago.