Nate
Tony woke two days later. For someone who had died temporarily, he’d sure bounced back quickly. That just showed his resilience. He was a dreg. My brother. My partner. My best friend. And damn was I glad he was awake.
“Welcome back, man.”
Tony blinked up at me, confusion in his eyes. “What happened?”
“You died, you idiot, but Alissa and I brought you back. Then she and I donated enough blood to keep you from dying again. You’re one lucky son-of-a-bitch.”
He let out a soft grunt and closed his eyes. “Alissa gave me blood? Damn.”
“Yeah. And she administered CPR on you, never giving up. She’s probably the one you should thank for saving your life.”
His chest rose and fell as he breathed in deeply, then out. He opened his eyes and met my gaze. “She’s a keeper, that one. Don’t let her get away. You should hurry and marry her before she decides to leave again.”
I chuckled softly. “It’s a little soon for marriage, but that’s certainly something we will consider in the future. Don’t worry. I won’t let her go.”
He nodded, looking pleased. “Good. You’re perfect for each other.”
I couldn’t deny it was nice to finally have his approval. He hadn’t liked her in the beginning, but he obviously did now. “You’re okay with me being with her?”
“Fuck, yeah. That girl’s amazing. As long as she makes you happy, then I’m good with it. She does make you happy, right?”
“Yeah.” My heart warmed just thinking about her. “I love her.”
His lips twitched. “You lucky bastard.”
I cleared my throat. I strongly believed Tony would find his own happiness someday, if he would only stop punishing himself and learn to open up enough to let someone in.
“So, do you remember what happened? Why did you go after the zoo owner on your own?”
He sighed. “Because I wasn’t in my right mind. I was pissed off at everyone and everything. I needed some violence. I needed to be punished.” He lowered his voice, then admitted, “I wanted to die.”
My heart pinched at his words. “Dammit, Tony, you’re not alone. You know that. You shouldn’t have gone off on your own like that. You did get your wish for a moment, though. You did die. But thank God we were able to bring you back.”
He flushed and lowered his gaze. “I fucked up,” he murmured. “I went to kill that shareholder. I snuck into his house. I had him in my sights when this little kid suddenly came around the corner and called him ‘Daddy’. I balked. I couldn’t kill the guy in front of his kid. I just couldn’t do it. It was that slight hesitation that allowed his men to disarm me and take me down.”
I nodded with complete understanding. Tony put on a good act of hating the world in general, of being a total hard ass, but underneath, he was actually a sensitive guy, though he would never admit it to anyone. It was my connection to him, my bond with him as his dreg partner that allowed me to know him better than anyone.
“So how did you end up with the Spartans?”
He closed his eyes again. “After The Company’s soldiers beat the shit out of me, and used about every torture technique in the book on me, trying to get me to talk and tell them where the rest of you were hiding, they handed me over to Romeo. They told Romeo to make sure I died before they disposed of me. I remember Romeo saying he had a plan for me before I blacked out.” He opened his eyes again, meeting my gaze.
“Well, that bastard’s dead now, so we won’t have to worry about him anymore.”
Tony quirked a brow. “You killed him?”
“Alissa stabbed him in the neck, and I finished him off with a bullet between the eyes.”
He was silent a moment. “That girl’s come a long way in a short amount of time. I’m impressed.”
I smiled. “Me, too.” I was so proud of her.
His expression turned serious. “The shareholders are going to be harder to get to now. I fucked it up for everyone. We may never get them now.”
“I’m sure we’ll get another chance. This war is far from over.”
Tony closed his eyes again and sighed. “Yeah.”
“I’ll go get the others, and you can tell them what you told me.”
Tony grabbed my arm as I was turning away from the bed. “I want to see Alissa first.”
I hesitated. “Okay, I’ll go get her.”
He lowered his gaze. “Thanks.”
I was curious about what he wanted to say to Alissa. Did he have an apology in mind, or something else?
I would find out soon enough.
Heading out into the corridor, I went to find her.