I noticed the bag of rainbow tablets next to his bed. “What does your prescription say?”
Rocco laughed, with difficulty. “Dr. Lorne isn’t the type of doctor who gives prescriptions.
Who knows what these pills are, I just know they make me feel a lot better … once they work.”
“Can I get you anything?” Like a drug dictionary or a stomach pump …
“You can come keep me company,” he suggested, still focused on the ceiling. “I’m getting
really bored lying here by myself.”
I scooted next to Rocco, and we watched the ceiling together.
“You didn’t have to shoot yourself in the foot just to get out of doing homework.”
He chuckled, and then loudly inhaled as the pain hit him again. I took his hand and he squeezed
it hard.
“I think I told you some stuff about Cameron that I wasn’t supposed to tell you last night,”
he said.
“You weren’t making much sense. I didn’t pay any attention.”
“Just don’t tell Cameron I told you, okay?” he pleaded. “He’ll be really upset if he finds
out.”
I hated being the bearer of bad news. “Actually, you weren’t exactly discreet about it.” I
played it down a bit, “I think Cameron might have overheard you.”
He swore under his breath. “Was he mad?”
“I don’t think so.” I struggled to keep the burning localized to the back of my ears.
“What did he say?”
My cheeks were getting hot. I was trying to find something to answer without telling Rocco
anything. “Not much.”
A full-toothed grin formed on his face. “I guess he had a hard time talking when he was
sticking his tongue down your throat.”
“You saw?” I gasped in horror. “I thought you were sleeping!”
“Actually, I thought I had dreamt the whole thing,” he narrowed his eyes, “which would have
been really weird if I did dream about my brother kissing some girl … Yuck! But you just
confirmed that I’m not going nuts. Thanks.”
I reached over and punched him hard in the arm. “How much did you watch, pervert?”
“Don’t worry,” he said lightly, “I just saw a couple of arms thrashing around in the dark.
And then, of course, there were the kissy sounds.” He puckered his lips together and made
exaggerated kissing noises near my face to remind me that he was definitely just fifteen years
old.
I pushed his face away. “You got Griff in a lot of trouble yesterday for shooting yourself.”
Rocco’s grin was replaced with a pout. I was a little smug.
“Cameron promised me a rank position. I was the only one who didn’t have a gun. How am I
supposed to get any respect from the guys if he keeps treating me like I’m a kid?”
I was going to remind him that he was a kid, but changed my mind. “I think Cameron was just
trying to keep you safe.”
“I can take care of myself.”
“Maybe. But you obviously can’t take care of yourself when you have a gun in your hands,” I
pointed out.
He sulked for a bit … And then he wondered, “How much trouble is Griff in?”
“I don’t know. Cameron was pretty upset last night. He still looked really angry this morning.
” My voice quaked a bit.
“I bet Griff is pretty upset with me too.”
“I don’t think so. But he’s definitely scared.”
“Scared? Why?” He looked as incredulous as I had been.
“I don’t know. He came into my room last night and kept saying that they were going to kill
him,” I edited, deciding it was better to not tell Rocco everything that Griff said. It was too
painful.
“He went into your room!”
“He climbed up the deck in the middle of the night,” I said.
“Wow! He must have been really freaked. Have you talked to Cameron about it? I mean, Griff is
being pretty ridiculous about this. He’s not going to get killed just because I shot myself in
the foot.”
I was glad to hear that I wasn’t the only one who thought that Griff was being ridiculous—but
at the same time I didn’t want to tell Rocco about Griff’s notion that he was going to get
killed … because of me. Had I led Griff to think that there had been something more than
friendship between us?
“I haven’t said anything to Cameron about this yet … he wasn’t in a very good mood this
morning.”
“I’ll talk to Cameron,” he stepped up. “This is my fault. Griff shouldn’t get in trouble
because of me.”
The moment of maturity was short-lived … Rocco started giggling.
“So you finally sucked face with my big brother. Hallelujah! I think I deserve a prize for that
one.”
“I wouldn’t go advertise the fact that you can’t keep your mouth shut, Rocco,” I snapped.
“Looks like we have something in common then,” he said, disgustingly flicking his tongue at
me.
I punched him in the arm, even harder this time but he was quite numb now and didn’t feel a
thing.
“You’re gross,” I muttered. Irritated, I got up and stepped on something sticky on the floor.
“And your room is gross.”
I thought about it and announced, “I think I’m actually going to clean it today.”