what, she didn’t deserve this, and regardless of the drama she caused for Ledger, she was his friend, and she was gone, and Ziggy was fighting for his life.
I had no idea how long we sat there, wrapped in each other, but at the gentle hand on my shoulder, I looked up. Atlas stood there with an empathetic expression.
“I told Max you were done for the night and the cop that we will arrange for Ledger to talk with the detectives as soon as possible. Right now, he’s exactly where he needs to be, and so are you.”
I appreciated what Atlas said, and when he nodded at me, I knew there were no words I needed to say.
“Thank you…Yes, okay…I really appreciate it.” I ended the call and turned toward Ledger. We’d gotten home late, and he’d passed out on the couch. I pretended to be Ledger and called the hospital to get information on Ziggy.
Ledger had just gotten out of the shower and stopped when he saw me staring at him. Neither one of us had discussed his breakdown, and I knew we never had to. Human beings do human things. The end.
“What?” he asked, no smile, just a vacant expression on his face, but I didn’t feel like it was because of me being here.
“I called the hospital.”
His eyes widened. “How is he?”
“I pretended to be you, otherwise they’d never talk to me. But I wanted to be able to tell you how he was doing and didn’t think you’d have patience to listen to anyone drone on and on about—”
“You’re droning, Shane.” That got me a smirk, and I didn’t realize until that second how even a spark of his happiness fueled my heart.
“Right. So, he’s out of surgery and in stable condition. They won’t know about his functions really until he’s awake.”
“Functions?” He sat next to me with wet hair and wearing only sweat pants. I felt like a perv thinking how sexy he was at a time like this.
“Yeah, um…talking, walking, memory.”
He nodded and stared off into nothingness or maybe a memory I couldn’t share.
“The nurse said if you wanted to go and see him, you could.”
“Yeah, okay…did you want to come with me?” Ledger’s vulnerability was immense, and there was no way I’d disappoint him.
“If you’d like. Atlas gave me the night off, and Sparkles got his friend Nolan and a few others to entertain the club tonight, so you could get a break.”
He released a breath, and I could tell he was relieved. “I’ll be sure to thank them all.”
I scooted closer and took his hand in mine. “Thank them by taking care of yourself.”
Lion flew down from one of the beams and perched himself on Ledger’s lap. “Don’t be sad,” he squawked.
“I’m okay, Lion.” Ledger gently rubbed along the side of the bird’s head.
“Liar,” Lion said, and I chuckled.
“When did you want to go to the hospital?” I asked Ledger.
“I have to talk to those detectives, right?” I nodded because he did have to call. Ciro had given me the card to make arrangements and said to tell him what we decided, and he’d be sure to be there.
“I was thinking,” I started to speak, but Ledger laughed. “Hey, don’t be mean. As I was saying. What if we call the detectives, tell them you’re going to the hospital to see your friend, and you’ll talk to them there. That way there’s no extra legwork?”
“Not a bad idea.” Ledger was smiling at Lion, who was now rubbing his head into Ledger’s palm.
“Great. So, I’ll get dressed. Toby dropped me off some clothes from my place, I hope that’s okay?”
Ledger looked up, his eyes shining with emotion. “Shane, of course it’s fine. I like that you’re here. I never really leaned on many people in my life, not even my grandparents. Atlas and Ziggy have been there, and maybe Ziggy saw a lot of my emotions. I don’t know what it is about you but when I’m with you, I feel so—”
“Incredible?” I tried for levity.
“Raw.”
I wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not. “And is that something you like?”
“It’s something that makes me feel out of control. But not in a blind way. Like I see it all and I’m falling, and I have no way of knowing what I’ll land on or where, but you’ll be there and that calms the chaos. It makes the rawness something not to fear.”
That was possibly the sweetest thing anyone had ever said