"Not the way I did it," she said.
I saw her point. It's not like she was drag-racing. She'd left the car in neutral at the top of her parent's steep driveway. She'd also forgotten about the parking brake. The car rolled down the drive, drifted onto the street, and got T-boned by a dump truck.
She wouldn't have been injured at all if she hadn't tripped on the driveway chasing after it.
"You know what?" I said. "Come to think of it, your story's way more interesting
"Stupid's more like it," she said. "Hey, I just got a text. They're in the cafeteria. They wanna know if you can meet them there."
I glanced at the guy in the bed. He hadn't moved. "Tell them I'm on the way." When I disconnected the call, I reached out for the mystery guy's hand and gave it a quick squeeze. "I'll be back in a few minutes." I made myself smile. "Don't go anywhere, alright?"
The joke was lame, but it wasn't any lamer than the story of Josh's imaginary friend. Humor heals, right? Even bad humor? Shaking my head, I left the room and headed three floors down to the cafeteria.
I returned with a ruby pendant, way too extravagant, but impossible to refuse – and not because I hadn't tried. But I couldn’t help but smile as I felt the ruby resting against my skin.
But as I returned to that hospital room, I felt my smile fade.
He was gone.
Chapter 65
As I sat in a totally different hospital, under a totally different scenario, I thought again of that mystery guy, trying to assemble the pieces in some way that made sense. That was how long ago? Five years?
That had to be just a month or two before Lawton had rocketed to fame and eventual fortune, all starting with some Internet video of a gritty back-alley fight. I'd seen that fight myself, with Lawton in all his tattooed glory, beating the living crap out of some guy who'd supposedly been unbeatable.
Unbeatable. The thought made me frown. Supposedly, Lawton had never lost a fight either. But on that very first night, something terrible had happened. The injuries, I might've chalked up to a fight gone wrong, but the cigarette burns made no sense at all.
So what had happened?
Thinking about it, I must've dozed off, because I jumped in my chair when I felt a touch on my shoulder. I whipped around to see Bishop, standing just behind me.
"Oh," I said. "It's you."
He glanced toward Lawton. "Is he alright?"
I nodded. "Mostly."
Bishop shook his head. "What a dumb-ass."
"Hey!" I said. "That's not very nice."
He gave me a look. "Just so you know, I talked with the nurse."
"Oh." I cleared my throat. "So, uh, she told on me, huh?"
"Pretty much."
"How'd you find out he was here?" I asked. "I would've called, but I didn't know how to reach you."
"Eh, heard it through the grapevine," he said.
"What grapevine?"
He shrugged. "So he gorged on seafood, huh?"
I nodded, feeling my eyes water just a little. "Here, I just thought he hated it," I said.
"Of course he hates it." Bishop flicked his gaze toward Lawton. "Look what it does to him."
