Decoy:i will
Embry fell silent. I thought about texting Folk. But clinging to the minute hope that he was peacefully asleep on Orla’s couch, I pocketed my phone instead and settled in to wait.
And wait and wait and wait.
It was the early hours of the morning before a doctor saw Mateo, and near dawn by the time a surgeon agreed with him.
“We could leave it for the day team to assess.” The surgeon checked his watch. “But my feeling is I’d like to get it out sooner, before it ruptures and we’re looking at a bigger operation.”
“You want to operate tonight?” That was me. Mateo was in enough pain by now that he didn’t give much of a fuck.
“I’d like to operatenow,” the surgeon confirmed, with a subtle urgency than belied his demeanour. “There’s a slot in fifteen minutes.”
“How long will it take?”
“About an hour.”
I checked the time and the red dot on my phone screen, tracking the car Embry and Cam were speeding north in. Despite driving like they’d stolen it, they were still a few hours away.
They’re not going to make it.
I relayed this to Mateo, giving him the choice, even though my instinct aligned with the doctor’s. “You might be out and done before they get here.”
Mateo thought on it for less than a second. “Do it. I don’t want him to sit and wait.”
Because he knew how that felt.
Things started moving quickly. I reached for my phone to update Embry, but Mateo stopped me. “Wait till I’m gone.”
He didn’t elaborate why, and I tried not to think about it too hard, or to imagine that he was Folk and I was Embry, hurtling through the night to find I hadn’t been there when Folk had needed me most.
I wasn’t sure I’d survive where that thought pattern took me. Instead, I put on a mask and watched Mateo sign consent forms he didn’t bother to read, his hand a thousand times steadier than I felt. I said goodbye with a fist bump and a grin, and only when they’d rushed him out did that fucked-up breath escape me.
“He’ll be fine.” A nurse gave me a cheerful grin. “I know it looks bad when the surgeon wants to move that fast, but he’ll be back before you know it.”
She was right.
Of course she was.
But Embry... he wasn’t here, and now I had to tell him his husband had gone for surgery and my fucking face was the last family he’d seen.
I found a quiet corner and stared at my phone, missing Folk more than ever. He was the brother who was good at this kind of thing. What to say and how to say it. Me... I was good at just being there, day after day,gettingupanytime some fucker pushed me down.
Mateo was like that too. He didn’t always say the right thing, but he always showed up. Now I had to show up for him.
I made the call.
Embry absorbed the news with a slow breath, aforcedbreath, that scraped me to the bone. “Was he nervous about going under?”
“Not that he said. I think he just wanted it done.”
“So fucking efficient.”
“He loves you.”
“I know.”
“I’m sorry you’re not here, brother.”