Chapter 87

“Are you alright?” he asked quietly.

Danny shrugged. “Nurse looked me over.”

“Not what I meant.”

Danny gave him a look that said it was all Eli was going to get.

Eli snorted.

“God, you’re both emotionally constipated,” he mumbled.

“How d’you think I am?” Danny grunted. “Imagine…like, fucking imagine having the one person in the world who ever gave a fuck about you, going down. Imagine that. Even when he were in prison, he were alright.” He said arreet again, his accent thickened by fear and exhaustion. “But the doctor said he’ll be fine, so I’m fine. S’easy.”

Eli knew it wasn’t quite so easy as all that, but let it go.

“How’s your sister?”

Eli shrugged. “Upstairs having a baby,” he said. “She was due in, like, three weeks anyway so I don’t think there’ll be a problem, but I don’t know shit about babies.”

“Aw, I’m not gonna be an uncle?”

“Me and Rob, with a baby? Are you kidding me?”