Page 86 of Free Fire Zone
Shoot. Me. Now.
26
LAURA
His job wasn’t supposedto be dangerous. He worked construction for God’s sake! He put up walls and painted and shit. That was not dangerous. And now I had to worry about him every time he went out because apparently, his coworker shot him with a nail gun!
I was fuming, pacing the waiting room as I waited for him to be released. I couldn’t stay in there with him any longer, thinking about how I might have lost him. And the worst part was that his friend, this IRIS guy, didn’t even seem to care that he had shot his own friend with a nail gun! Wasn’t that something you’d at least feel sorry about?
I ignored the looks of the other people around me. They were all staring at me like I was crazy. Every one of them was from the construction company, which I found slightly odd. They all came for a guy who got shot in the leg with a nail gun? Seriously, that was loyalty on their part. Even Juliette and Anna showed up, trying to make me feel better. Instead, I wanted to yell at them for not clueing me as to how dangerous it could really be. I mean, they’d hinted at it, but at the time, I hadn’t believed them. Who would?
“You have to relax,” Rae said, walking over to me, holding out a cup of coffee for me. “It’s Dash. He’s going to be fine.”
I snatched the cup from her, downing it in one horrible gulp. It was by far the worst coffee of my life. “How do you know that?”
“Because as much as I don’t believe Dash is better than me, he can still hold his own.”
I narrowed my eyes at the woman. “You’re Rae, right? From outside my house after the tornado.”
“That would be me,” she sent me a cocky smirk. “Did he tell you about our rivalry?”
“No, but Juliette did. Or Anna. I’m not sure at this point.”
“Well, in case it comes up, just remember that I will always beat him.”
I tossed the cup in the garbage, angry that her stupid competition was all she could think about. “Seriously? He’s laying in a hospital bed, and you’re more concerned with whether or not I know who will win the stupid competition?”
“Whoa,” she held up her hand. “There’s no wondering. It’s clearly me.”
I tossed up my hands and walked away. This was all too much for me. Thankfully, Dash was wheeled out minutes later and I rushed over to him, wrapping my arms around his neck. Involuntary tears streamed down my face. I didn’t understand why they were flowing, but holding him made me feel a little better.
“Hey, it was just a small wound. It’s okay.”
“A small wound?” I jerked back, staring at him in horror. “You were shot!”
“With a nail gun,” he pointed out. “And I’ll be fine in no time. It doesn’t even hurt.”
“Yeah, it doesn’t even hurt,” IRIS grinned, poking him a little too close to the wound.
I slapped his hand away, pissed that his friend would treat him like this. “You know, everyone says you guys are so close. Apparently, there’s some bond among construction workers, which I really don’t understand, but none of you are actually concerned about your friend! He could have died!”
I stared at all of them one by one, boring holes into each of their pea-sized brains. But there was one that cracked. Rae—she justcouldn’t hold back. And the minute she started laughing, they were all acting like someone told a joke. Having had enough, I grabbed the handles of Dash’s wheelchair and pushed him to the exit. Dash held up his middle finger, which only elicited more laughter out of them.
“Seriously, I don’t know why you’re friends with any of them.”
“You gotta relax a little. They’re just teasing.”
“They’re assholes. You could have died.”
“Highly unlikely. I’m hard to kill.”
I stopped pushing him and walked around to face him. “Oh, and you’ve tested this?”
His face blanched and he instantly shook his head. “Of course not. I was just…lightening the mood.”
“Do it a different way. I don’t need to think about you almost dying again.”
“Sure, sure,” he nodded. He glanced around the entrance. “Did you have a vehicle or were you going to wheel me home?”