Marty stirs, and I jolt upright in my seat. Most everyone is still in the waiting room; they’ll only let a few people back in the room at a time, so it’s just me, Laurel, Tyler, and Marianna at the moment. We’ve been taking shifts. I got to admit, I’m glad I’m one of the ones here when he finally starts waking up.

“What the fuck,” I hear Marty grumble, and I laugh slightly.

“Hey, man,” Tyler says, lingering over him with this big grin on his face. “That morphine’s not cutting it, huh?”

“Fuuuuuck,” Marty says, attempting to readjust himself.

“Easy,” Marianna says, helping him to fluff the pillows to help him lean up slightly.

“You’ve been out of surgery for about two hours,” Tyler says. “They told us you’d be out a lot longer than this. Glad to see you up.”

“Where’s that son of a bitch, Donte? Did he fucking shoot me?” Marty asks.

“Yeah,” I say. “And he’s in custody along with Vivian and their thugs.”

“Damn, that was a serious fall,” Marty says. “Where’s my doctor? What the hell is broken? Damn, my fucking back…”

“You have a fractured spine,” I say. “Two broken legs and a shattered elbow. And the bullet has pretty much wrecked your shoulder.”

“Are you serious?” Marty looks devastated. “I had a big match that was going to skyrocket my career coming up!” he pauses. “Wait, my spine? My fucking spine? Fuck!”

“Easy,” Tyler says. “Man, you’re alive. We thought we’d be burying another friend this year, all right? Your wife is out of her mind right now, and-”

“Amy! God, where is she?” Marty asks, suddenly becoming pale.

“She went down to the cafeteria,” I say. “Her nerves are shot. She’s going to be glad to see you up.”

“I’m not going to be able to box ever again, am I?” Marty asks.

“You’re not the only one,” Laurel says and nods my way.

Marty frowns. “Man, what happened?” He noticed my arm in the sling for the first time.

“Donte shot me right in my damn elbow, and the bullet traveled down my arm,” I say.

“Fuck, man,” Marty says. He leans his head back into the pillow that Marianna had fluffed for him. “Hey, Jonathan, think you can get me a job at that damn gym?” Marty asks; I can tell he’s trying to joke around, but there is still a hint of devastation in his voice. I’ve been too busy worrying about Ambriel to have even thought about whether or not I’m ever going to be able to box again; boxing suddenly seems a lot less important. It’s much more present on Marty’s mind.

“You’re alive,” Laurel says as though he needs to be reminded.

“Yeah, I know,” Marty says. “I’m alive, and I’m looking forward to Donte having to spend his life in prison for this shit.”

“For this, and for Gabe and Caleb,” I say. “Donte was the one who hired that dipshit to kill Gabe.”

“Then it’s finally over,” Marty says.

The door opens, and sweet little Mary enters. Her parents, Gabe’s parents, are right behind her. Mary sees that Marty is awake and comes running up to the side of his bed to give him a kiss on the cheek. “You and Jonathan and Laurel saved me,” she says. “You’re my prince’s and my princess just like at my birthday party.”

Marty smiles at her. Her father smiles. “Glad to see you up,” he says, “she wanted to come see you before we had to leave.”

“Thank you, Mary,” Marty says with a painful looking grin.

They say their farewells before departing. “You know,” Marianna says, “there’s a lot of other people in the waiting room who are waiting to see you.”

“Could you guys get Amy for me?” Marty asks; I can tell he is a bit scared still. It was a lot to take in –the man needs his wife.

“I’ll go get her, man,” I say. “Honestly, I’m starving and wouldn’t mind heading down to the cafeteria.”

“Thanks,” he says.

Laurel stands. “I’ll go with you,” she says. “I need to stretch my legs.”

The two of us leave the room and head to the ground floor to locate Amy. It doesn’t take long. She spots us and the moment we tell her that Marty is up, she ditches her lunch and heads up the elevator. Laurel and I wind up going through the line in the cafeteria and sitting together at a table in the corner; she is kind enough to carry my tray for me.

“So,” she says awkwardly as we find ourselves a seat, “exciting day, right?”

“That’s not funny,” I say.

“I kind of overheard your conversation with Brandi,” she says, ruining my appetite.

“Overheard or eavesdropped?” I ask.

“Probably the second of the two,” she admits. “I’m sorry.”

“About Ambriel or about eavesdropping?”

“Both,” she says. “So she has no idea who the father might be?”

“None,” I say and force myself to eat.

“And you and Brandi?” she asks.

I shoot her a slight glare. Is she serious right now? I literally just dumped her upstairs and found out she’s been cheating on me, and she’s already trying to move in? “Laurel, look,” I start to say, but she interrupts me.

“Not like that, Jonathan,” she says. “I just wanted to see if you are okay.”

She is looking at me with these sympathetic eyes. She really cares about me. Honestly cares. “I think I’ll be okay,” I sigh. “Looks like I’ll be staying at Tyler’s again. God, I don’t know if I can live there again. Do you have any idea how mentally scaring it is when he forgets I’m sleeping on his couch and he wakes up in the middle of the night ass naked to piss in that weird ass toilet in his kitchen?”

Laurel chuckles slightly. “Not to mention that people were apparently starting to talk about your relationship.”

I point my fork in her face. “No one hears about what Vivian thought –ever.”

“I don’t know. That’s going to be kind of a difficult one to keep under wraps. Plus, the police are going to want to know why they kidnapped Tyler,” she teases.

“I’m serious,” I say, and we both laugh.

“You know,” she says with a slight smile, “you could come stay with me to avoid any more rumors like that.”

“So it is like that then, huh?” I ask, but I smile.

“Don’t make me feel like I’m insensitive, all right?” she says. “I can retract the offer, if you’d like.”

“No, I think I’d like that. I miss sharing a bed with you,” I say.

“Bed?” she laughs. “I was going to make your ass sleep on the couch.”

“Oh,” I say.

“You have to earn the right to the bed, hon,” she says and winks at me.

I have really missed this. God, I’ve missed her.