the doors opened with a loud click, and a nurse’s dark eyes glanced around until they fell on him. Jude was on his feet before the man was at his side, and he wrapped his arms around his middle in a vague attempt to hide how disheveled he was.
“You’re here with Mr. Vasquez?”
Jude blinked and realized he hadn’t heard Emilio’s surname before. “Ah. Yes. Yes, is he…”
“The surgery went well. It only took a couple of minutes, and he’s awake now if you’d like to come and see him.”
Jude’s eyes went wide. “I can see him?”
“He was asking for you,” the guy said, then his lip twitched. “Well, he was asking for his rabbi—but I assumed it was you.”
Jude’s cheeks went pink, and he glanced to the side. “Ah. Yes, thank you.”
The nurse led the way back through the doors, and he felt filthy and wrecked in the sea of pale, sterile walls and floors. He kept his gaze down as they went through a few twists and turns in the hallway, and then he was brought through another set of doors where several beds stretched out, most of them hidden by light blue curtains on ceiling rods.
“He’s just through there. He’s still a little out of it, but he’s going to be fine,” the nurse said, then stopped and looked Jude up and down. “Did they offer you a change of clothes when you were triaged?”
Jude shook his head. “No. Ah, it only lasted a moment anyway. I was only scraped up from the crash.” In reality, the doctor had given him a cursory glance, then checked his pupil response before declaring him fine. He hadn’t been triaged or admitted, and he’d been relegated to the waiting room right after.
“Let me at least get you a t-shirt,” the nurse said gently.
Jude nodded, then pushed past the curtain, and his gaze fell on Emilio who was partially reclined in the bed. His right eye was open, but the other was still lying closed, and it only took Jude a second to realize what that meant.
His feet were moving before he could stop himself, and his hands gripped the bed rails. “Your eye,” he breathed.
Emilio’s brows dipped in a frown, his lips curled downward in confusion. “My…oh. Jesus, no.” His hand lifted, the tubes from his IV dangling off the side, and he brushed his fingers over his closed lid. “I lost this years ago. The fucking prosthetic popped out when my face hit the ground.”
Jude’s stomach plummeted with something like relief and a little humiliation because he hadn’t noticed before. “So, just shot, then?”
Emilio snorted a laugh. “Just shot.” His words were still a little slurred, but he sounded more coherent than he had when he was lying on the side of the road. “You got my phone?”
Jude patted his pocket, then handed it over. The screen was shattered, but it still lit up, and it cast a glow over Emilio’s grimace. “Your friend Forge rang me, said he was on his way.”
Emilio’s gaze snapped up, and there was something sharp in his expression. “Did he mention the cops?”
“He said it was taken care of, and I think at this point, I don’t want to know.”
Emilio snorted again, then let his head fall back against the pillow. “Yeah, you probably don’t.” He was quiet a moment, then he turned his head toward Jude and stared at him. “They get you looked at?”
“Quick once over,” he said, and when Emilio’s mouth dropped open to argue, he lifted his hand. “I was fine other than being drenched from landing in a creek. And your very kind nurse went to find me a new t-shirt. Honestly,” he added when it looked like the man wasn’t going to drop it, “just bumps and bruises.”
After a beat, Emilio nodded, then he closed his eye and dragged a hand down his face. He winced a little when his fingers brushed the scrape that was now shining with some sort of cream, and he dropped his hand back to the bed. “I can’t believe the fucker ambushed me. I should have known he was coming.”
“Really? How?” Jude pressed. “It was pitch-black, and your focus was on the road.”
Emilio looked over at him again. “It’s my goddamn job to know.” His stormy expression told Jude everything he needed to know—this was only going to get worse if they couldn’t get out of there.
“Do you think they’ll send someone here to look for you?” he asked.
Emilio shrugged one shoulder.