After they finished up the endless slew of questions the police lobbed at them, both alone and together, Teddy wanted to collapse, but as they entered the hospital, she knew she’d never sleep until she witnessed Nina was okay. There’d been plenty of questions, too. Like how four women and a man had overpowered Stas and his crew of gun-packers.
Somehow, they’d both managed to satisfy the police who seemed more interested in Carmine Ragusi and his wild tale of werewolves and bears.
Cormac pulled her close when she’d answered the last inquiry and the police wrapped things up and let her go—for now, according to them. There would be later questions she’d have to answer—questions they’d all have to answer.
“I can’t believe he killed his partner like it was no big deal,” Teddy mumbled. It had, in fact, been Mauricio who was murdered that night in the dealership, and Carmine had, in fact, led the police to believe it was his partner who was dabbling in the mob. Which led the police to keep things as quiet as possible.
During the course of the night, Carmine Ragusi confessed to the murder of his partner and the cover-up and his connections to Stas Vasilyev. He’d also revealed where his partner’s body was buried, and that meant Mauricio’s family would finally have some closure.
Teddy had heard a lot of mumbled chatter from his fellow police officers about Carmine and the story he told of bears and werewolves, all of which his now former colleagues were sure to talk about for years to come.
Cormac pressed a kiss to the top of her head. “That son of a bitch had some racket going on. It was a lot of cash.”
To say the least. But Teddy didn’t give a rat’s ass about Carmine or Stas or anything else but Nina.
The nurses directed them to the waiting room on the third floor of the ICU and as they rode the elevator, Teddy sucked in gulps of air for courage. Covered in blood and smeared with black soot, she refused to give in to tears.
Nina needed all the strength she could gather, and she’d hate everyone crying over her.
Straightening her shoulders, Teddy saw the desk at the ICU was empty, so she and Cormac made a break for Nina’s room unnoticed.
As they slipped inside, Teddy clung to Cormac’s hand as he led her to an empty chair.
Marty sat next to her friend, and who Teddy assumed was Nina’s husband, Greg, sat across from her. He was beautifully handsome, classically perfect in so many ways, just like Nina said. But his eyes…his eyes were haunted, riddled with agony, raw with emotion as he held his wife’s hand next to his cheek.
Marty laid her head on Nina’s belly, closing her eyes and gripping her friend’s hand. “Damn you, Statleon. You should have just let me turn you when I offered. But no. Nooo. You were far too busy with buckets of chicken wings and brewskies to worry about the fact that you’re not like us anymore. Too busy pretending to be a badass to realize there won’t be any self-healing this time. You won’t look at that fucking hole in your chest like all you need is a Band-Aid and a pint of O neg…”
Marty paused, her breath shuddering in and out of her lungs, her head lifting to reveal blue eyes filled with sorrow so deep, Teddy had to look away before she shattered in a million pieces.
Marty hadn’t left Nina’s side since they’d performed what Wanda had said was a tedious surgery. She had a broken arm from the fall, a break so ugly, she’d need pins and physical therapy to regain solid use of it. But worse was what that damn bullet had done. Stas’s bullet had screamed through Nina’s chest, just missing her heart, but the doctor warned their ragged crew, covered in blood and dirt, wet from the snow, that it could be touch and go.
If Nina made it through tonight, she had a fighting chance.
And then Marty shook her head as though she’d made a decision of some kind. “You’ll need physical therapy and bed rest and it’ll be a long road to recovery. So you can’t do this anymore, Mistress of The Dark. As much as it hurts me to say that, you can’t keep up with us and OOPS. Look at what happens when you try to keep up! You get your deaf ass shot. Didn’t you hear me howl? Don’t you know I can take a bullet in the chest but you can’t? How could you be so damn stupid?” she hissed at her friend.
But then her voice softened, her words gentled. “You’re not quick enough, strong enough, yet you’re still the same stubborn pain in the ass you always were. But when you get your cheeseburger-eating, ice-cream-hording ass out of this bed, it stops. No more, because I can’t…I can’t take it, Nina. I won’t take it! I’ll never survive losing you…”