Unspoken(74)

“So Bo got in a fight tonight? Or got hit by a car? And you guys like to play doctor, so he’s here in my apartment and not in an emergency room?”

Noah eyed me contemplatively, probably deciding how much truth and how much fiction I should be given. I cleared it up for him.

“I want the whole story. You owe it to me.”

Noah grimaced. “Right. Look, I only know that Bo wanted to come here so badly that he practically wrecked us in the car, fighting to get me to bring him here. So here I am.”

“That doesn’t tell me why Bo looks like he was an extra in Rocky.”

“Bo went to the Casino looking for a fight. He took one, and then challenged the crowd, asking for anyone with a set of balls to stand up. He knocked the next guy down and then the next, but with each bout he took a ton of hits. Finally, and I don’t know why but I suspect it’s because of something to do with you,” Noah accused, “he picked the biggest fucker in the room, someone who blew out his knee or he would have played professional football as a lineman. A pro athlete. And then Bo didn’t even try. He poked at him, taunted him, basically drove the lineman into a rage and then suffered a beatdown like none other. I kept yelling for him to tap out, to wave the white flag, but he kept going back in. Now we’re here. What’s your side of the story?”

“My side?” I was furious that Noah wanted to blame this debacle on me. Furious and feeling terribly guilty.

Noah sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. “Sorry. I’m just frustrated. I don’t know what happened tonight, and I wish to fuck I did.”

I wasn’t going to tell Noah that Bo and I had fought over the frat party debacle or my refusal to transfer. I ached that my own wrongheadedness was what had driven Bo crazy. If only he’d waited just a few minutes longer, I could’ve told him I was going to confront all those things he rightly pointed out that I’d been avoiding.

“Oh, Beauregard, always trying to make things harder on yourself.”

“You know why Bo isn’t a professional fighter even though he’s far more naturally skilled than me?” Noah asked out of the blue. This seemed like a random question. Maybe they’d both suffered a knock on the head. When I shook my head, Noah continued, “Bo lacks discipline. He was constantly getting in trouble, just little things, when we were enlisted, but he’s so strong and capable and so damn brave that his little infractions were smoothed over. We needed every able-bodied person willing to step up, and Bo was willing to do all the things that were dangerous and scary and unwise. We all covered for him because every guy in the unit loved Bo. How could you not?

“But the rigidity of the unit helped him. Out here, he’s just a crazy-ass motherfucker waiting for the right person to piss him off. You need to get as far away from him as possible, so you aren’t hurt by the shrapnel when he takes one for the team.”

I struggled to understand all this military speak and how this applied to me. All I knew was that Bo was hurt and that made me hurt too. One argument shouldn’t have led to this. “You don’t have to stay. I can wake him up.”

“I can’t. Bo would never leave me.” Noah shook his head adamantly.

“What’s going on in his head, Noah?”

“Dunno.” Noah dropped his own head in his hands. He spoke to the floor. “Why don’t you get some sleep?. I’ll watch him for the next couple of hours, and you can take the next shift.”

I looked at Bo reluctantly. I didn’t want to leave him, but Noah was right. I eased myself carefully off the bed, went into Ellie’s room, set the alarm on my phone, and fell asleep on her bed almost immediately, emotionally tapped out.

When I woke, dawn was breaking through the windows. I looked at my phone to check the time. I’d slept for five hours. I jumped out of bed and ran into my bedroom. Noah was in the same position as I’d left him. Sitting in the chair and contemplating an unmoving Bo.

“You didn’t wake me up,” I hissed at Noah. He seemed unsurprised by my presence. I guess he heard me get out of bed.

“You didn’t wake up to the alarm. I’ve stayed up for far more consecutive hours than this.”

“How is he?”

“Fine. I don’t think he has a concussion. He responds normally whenever I wake him.”

“He can hear you just fine, too,” I heard from the bed.

BO

“GODDAMMIT, BO.” AM EXPLODED WHEN she heard me speak. My entire body ached like it hadn’t ached since Basic. I wanted to get up to take a leak, but every time I tried to sit up, the pain in my ribs made me dizzy.