“You’re jealous.”
“Damn right I am.”
“I don’t think anyone’s been jealous over me before.”
Ava rolled her eyes. “Sometimes I think you should rethink your chosen career field.”
“That’s something Gunner would say.” Tabon laughed out loud and then winced again, holding a pillow to his side.
Ava stood and tucked another pillow under his head. “Be careful,” she murmured. “He was so worried about you.”
“He called me Tabon last night.”
“Maybe everyone will start calling you Tabon.”
“Nah, I told him I only let you do that.”
She sat in the chair again and held his hand in hers. “I love you so much. When you were…you know…on life support, I came and talked to you.” She felt her eyes fill with tears, but there was nothing she could do to stop them from falling. “I told you I couldn’t live without you, Tabon. I told you not to leave me.”
“Does it sound crazy that I think I knew that?”
“One of the nurses told your mom, Saylor, and me to keep talking to you.”
Razor nodded and closed his eyes. “It wasn’t any different for me.”
“What do you mean?”
“When Petrov had you…”
“My dad.”
“I can’t think of him that way.”
Ava nodded. It was hard for her too. Merrigan warned her that what she’d gone through truly hadn’t hit her yet, and it would be hard to know when it would.
“I’m here for you,” she’d told her. “And if you don’t feel comfortable talking to me, we’ll find someone else.”
Ava remembered thinking at the time that Merrigan was going to make a great mother. The comfort she felt with her was something she’d never experienced with her own mom.
“Hey,” Tabon said, pulling her arm so she came closer to him.
She sat on the side of the bed and rested her head on his chest. “I don’t want to hurt you,” she murmured.
“I don’t want you to hurt,” he said, stroking her hair.
—:—
“They’re moving you to a regular room, Bro,” said Saylor. “The doc said you’re a damn superhero.”
“I’ve been telling you that since we were kids.”
Saylor slugged him, and then sat in the chair by his bed. “How’s Ava?”
“Fragile.”
Saylor nodded. “Understandably.”
“How much do you know?”