Cam heard it all the same and pressed a fist to my shoulder. “Tell me if you need to pull over.”
“I’m good.”
“I’m here if you’re not.”
“I know.”
I tipped my head back and shut my eyes, wishing I could sleep the next six hours away. But my brain didn’t work like that, not when it came to Mateo, and I was wide awake when my phone buzzed a few minutes later.
Cam chanced a glance from the road. “What is it?”
“They gave him a bed.”
“They admitted him? What for?”
“Appendix. Waiting for a doctor to confirm it.”
“Okay.” Cam blew out a breath. “So they’ll whip it out and he’ll be fine. Nash’s burst and they still got it out with that keyhole thing.”
“Keyhole thing?”
“It was a big fucking word. I didn’t write it down. You all right if I smoke?”
“Couldn’t give less of a fuck.”
Cam eyed Folk for a moment, then cracked a window and lit up, blowing as much smoke as he could outside for three drags before he tossed the whole thing.
“Was that really worth it?”
“Probably not. You need water or anything?”
“No.”
“All right. Just let me know.”
The only thing I needed was to lay eyes on Mateo, and Cam knew it. We lapsed into silence. Cam smoked a bit more. I stewed in my thoughts, willing my phone to light up. But Decoy had nothing else to tell me, and eventually, I shut my eyes to it all. Not asleep, but not awake either. Just freaking the fuck out a little more with every mile that passed, gaining a new appreciation for what I’d put Mateo through every time I’d nearly died on him.
He’s not dying.
My eyes flew open, a gasp caught in my chest.
Cam rubbed my shoulder again, eyes on the road as we passed a string of HGVs on the motorway. “Bad dream?”
“I wasn’t asleep.”
“Drink some water.”
I obeyed on autopilot, checking my phone as I did. A message had come through while I’d lost myself, but it was from Locke.
Locke:little miss is asleep, lili’s drawing my feet again. everything’s fine
He’d sent evidence—two photos. One of Liliana hunched over a sketchbook while she studied Locke’s oddly elegant feet, another of Hope sprawled on Nash’s chest, both of them crashed out on the sofa.
I flashed Cam the photo of Nash. “He’s got this shit down.”
Cam almost smiled, but trouble lurked in his dark gaze, the kind of trouble that kept him up at night when the rest of us had settled enough to sleep like babies.
“Something on your mind?”