Chapter 2

CHAPTER 2

Frankie

I awoke to the sound of arguing and instantly recognized both of the brothers' voices along with Gabe.

"Really, guys. Isn't there enough conflict in our lives already? Do you have to turn everything into a battle?"

I yawned so hard I feared my jaw would dislocate and scratched at my scalp. My braids felt dry and too loose at the root. They would have to be re-done soon.

"What are you even arguing about? Surely nothing bad has happened so soon. We just got here."

Three different sets of eyes turned toward me in unison. All of them dark. All of them angry. It would have been a terrifying sight to wake up to, except for the fact that they obviously weren't angry at me.

"Yeah, we just got here," Sebastian agreed with me, yet it sounded like he was saying something else.

Next to me, Newt stirred but didn't fully wake up. I moved his head off my shoulder and laid him flat on the floor. There was at least carpet, but it still didn't look very comfortable.

"Okay, what's going on?"

Sebastian, who was obviously still groggy and in pain from the pinched look on his face, glared at his brother. "Someone is being a hypocrite."

Damien sighed and ran a tired hand over his eyes. "I'm not being a hypocrite. It's a good idea and you know it."

"I know that for literal months you've been telling me to stay put. Stay inside. Don't go anywhere to do anything. But now that you're confined to one place, you can't even last a few hours before you're trying to leave."

I'd obviously slept through a significant conversation, but there was no opportunity to ask as the brothers kept arguing.

"Sebastian, you had to stay in the apartment for the sake of your injuries. That has nothing to do with why I'm leaving now."

"Bullshit. Did you already forget how I got injured in the first place? There are people out there who tried to kill me. People who are just as much your enemies as mine. We fled to stay safe, again, so why are you trying to throw yourself right back into danger?"

Damien placed a hand on his brother's shoulder in what should have been a comforting gesture.

Sebastian tried to shove the other man away, but the sudden motion made him gasp with pain.

"Idiot, you need to calm down," Gabe scolded as he checked on Sebastian's injuries. He seemed to know exactly what to look for, indicating that Gabe probably had medical training.

It was a blatant reminder that I didn't really know anything about the man or his experiences before this whole fiasco.

Sebastian at least had enough common sense not to try and smack Gabe away as well. Instead, he just stared stubbornly at the wall. "Sure. Calm down. Easy for you to say. It's not your family that's trying to get themselves killed."

Neither brother could see it since they weren't looking at Gabe, but I had a perfect view of the pained expression that flickered over his face.

It was brief. Almost as soon as the emotion came, Gabe schooled himself back into his usual stoicism.

"Damien isn't trying to get himself killed. He's doing this so you can both live."

Damien reached out like he was about to touch Sebastian again, but then changed his mind.

"We'll never be free until Russo and his entire empire falls. The FBI is cracking down harder on the Mariano family. Several of their warehouses have been raided and a few of their important allies have recently been arrested. This is our chance to make a definitive move against the man who killed our parents."

On the floor, Newt finally woke up. Blue eyes peeked out from under orange bangs and looked around with a puzzled expression.

"What's going on?" he asked me. Even though he was confused, he at least picked up on enough of the tension around us to realize that he should keep his voice to a whisper.

I also whispered back. "Sibling quarrel. I think it'll be over soon."

Sebastian no longer looked as angry as he had before. Now he was just resigned and sad. "Russo will never be stopped so long as he's got people within the FBI. Even getting him arrested wasn't enough. Nothing but death will ever stop that man."

Damien's answering smile was as sharp as the knife he probably had hidden away in his clothing somewhere. "That's why we need to take care of it ourselves. The FBI is just a distraction. I've got Mason and a few other people helping me, but I need to go back so we can keep pressing our advantage while we have it."

For a moment, Sebastian's dark gaze flicked in his brother's direction, but then immediately returned to his vigil of the wall. "Whatever. Don't know why you're bothering to tell me all this. You're going to do what you want anyway."

Sighing again, Damien grit his teeth like he was chewing on whatever he wanted to say, before turning to leave the room. He was almost out the door when Gabe grabbed his arm.

"Don't leave it like this."

Damien removed the other man's hand from his arm, but he stopped to listen to what Gabe had to say.

"What do you mean? Leave what like this?"

"Your brother. Don't leave with bad feelings between you. There's no guarantee when you'll see each other again."

It was the most I'd ever heard Gabe say at one time, and almost distracted me from the true meaning of his words.

When Damien left, there was no guarantee the brothers would ever see each other again.

With that painful reminder of our situation, Damien had no choice but to try and speak with his brother one more time. He stepped up beside the bed again, this time keeping his voice calm and choosing his words with care.

"Sebastian, I promise we will be free of that monster someday, but that freedom won't come unless we find a way to take it for ourselves. For now, I need to leave, but I will come back. I always have, and I always will."

Sebastian's gaze hardened, like he was trying to hold onto his anger, but it didn't last. His face crumpled, and even though he was lying down, I could see the defeated slump to his shoulders.

"Yeah. I get it. Go save the day. I'll stay out of your way like a good little cripple."

"Hey, you aren't crippled." Damien raised his fist like he meant to punch Sebastian in the shoulder. It was a familiar show of affection I'd seen the brothers exchange before, but right now even such a simple gesture could be disastrous.

Newt and I both jumped up, ready to pull the man away before he could accidentally cause his brother more harm, but Gabe beat us to it. He grabbed Damien's wrist and forcibly lowered the man's fist with a shake of his head.

A look of sorrow twisted Damien's face when he realized his mistake.

Sebastian scoffed. "Not crippled? Right. Say that once I can walk again."

Standing tall and straightening his shoulders, Damien tugged the cuffs of his jacket back into place. "I will."

Sebastian scowled, but Damien only smiled.

"I'll say it again once you can walk." He looked over toward Newt and me. "With such a dedicated crew taking care of you, how can you expect anything other than a full recovery?"

Sebastian followed his brother's gaze, and his eyes softened the moment they landed on Newt.

I was happy for my friend. He deserved to have someone who looked at him with such obvious love, even if they hadn't said the words yet.

However, jealousy also gnawed at my heart. No one had ever looked at me that way. Not even my parents. They hadn't been abusive or neglectful, but they hadn't been very demonstrative in their affection either. A quiet nod or a quick word was usually all I got from them, and even that had stopped when I chose my college major.

Apparently physical therapist wasn't a glamorous enough career for them to acknowledge. They still seemed to think that this was some sort of weird hobby, and that I was just wasting time before eventually starting a real career.

This was not the time for such negative emotions. So, like usual, I folded them up and tucked them away in a far corner of my mind where they would remain forgotten.

A smile came to Sebastian's face. It was still strained, but at least he was putting in some effort to stay positive.

"Yeah. Don't take too long, Damien, or I'll be running circles around you when you come back."

When the brothers eventually parted a few minutes later, it was on much better terms. Newt stayed back with Sebastian, climbing into the bed beside him, but I followed Gabe and Damien out of the house.

The sleet had stopped for a moment, but the ground was still nothing but muddy slush. It was night, but even in the dark of the deep woods, I could tell how miserable the environment was.

I stayed safely on the front porch where the mud couldn't reach me.

The RV was still sitting by the front door, right where I'd parked it, and the sight of the vehicle reminded me of something.

"Wait. How are you leaving, Damien? Are you taking the RV?"

"No, you'll keep that in case Sebastian needs to be moved again. There's a town about ten miles away. I'll walk and find transportation there."

I scanned the dark trees again, then eyed Damien who was still dressed in the casual clothes and coat he'd been wearing when we made our quick escape from the hospital. His shoes at least looked sturdy, but the rest of his clothing didn't seem appropriate for the weather.

"You're going to hike ten miles through the woods? At night? In the rain?"

The sharp grin returned to his face. "I've made harder journeys. Take care of my brother. I'm counting on you and Newt to look after him."

Then, after adjusting his collar to shield his neck from the water dripping off the trees, Damien stepped off the porch and disappeared into the forest.

Gabe stood beside me as the two of us stared into the dark long after Damien had left.

"You have medical training, don't you?" I said, just to break the silence. "I could tell from the way you looked over Sebastian's wounds."

In an oddly absent gesture, like he didn't even realize he was doing it, Gabe stroked a hand over his left arm. "I was a medic in the Army Rangers."

A normal person would have elaborated more, perhaps by describing what being a medic in the Army was like or what led him to such a position. However, Gabe was a man of few words. After speaking so much earlier, he was already beyond his normal limit.

A one sentence explanation was all I was going to get.

"Well, then I'll be relying on you along with Newt. We're going to need as much help as possible to get Sebastian back on his feet."

It was cold and my breath formed clouds in front of my face. I'd already started shivering just from standing outside for a few minutes.

How could Damien treat a ten mile hike in this weather like it was just a casual stroll?

I turned to go back inside where it was warm, but Gabe's voice stopped me.

"Do you really think he'll walk again?"

Images of Sebastian's x-rays and medical charts flashed through my mind. He'd been given a fifty percent chance of walking again, although after the difficult journey we'd put him through so soon after surgery, that number had probably lowered.

"That's up to him. All the medical care in the world won't matter if a patient doesn't put in the effort to get better."

Gabe stared back at the house like he could see Sebastian and Newt despite several closed doors standing between us and them.

"He'll get better. He's got too much to live for."

Remembering the warm look between Sebastian and Newt, and the obvious care the brothers had for each other even when fighting, I couldn't agree more.

Having reached my limit for cold temperatures, I trudged back inside. Newt was with Sebastian, so I didn't have to worry about my latest patient for the moment.

It was time to get some sleep. Dozing off while leaning against the wall had done nothing for my exhaustion, so I searched the house for an available bed.

Almost immediately, I found one.

Just one.

"Son of a bitch," I exclaimed. I searched the house again, just to make sure I hadn't missed a hidden door somewhere.

Nope. There was only one other bedroom, with only one bed.

Newt and Sebastian would be staying in the first bedroom, which meant Gabe and I would have to share the one remaining bed.

I'd already been sharing a bed with Gabe for weeks. Finally having my own place to sleep was the one thing I'd been looking forward to, but the house somehow seemed to be even smaller than Sebastian's apartment.

Maybe I could convince Gabe to sleep on the couch?

Checking the front room, the biggest couch I found was a loveseat meant for two. It would never fit a man of Gabe's height. I might be able to fit if I propped my feet up on the armrest, but that didn't sound very comfortable and there was no telling how long we'd be calling this place home.

Grumbling under my breath, I started collecting pillows and blankets to build a barrier wall down the center of the bed.

At least it was a queen-size bed so we wouldn't have to sleep on top of each other.