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something for the pain?”
    “Gadget,” she works out in her head. “You saved my brother’s life.” Not a question, a statement.
    “It’s what I do.”
    Then leaning in she kisses my forehead which fucked with me for some reason. Maybe because it was sweet, and I didn’t have many girlfriends, so sweet messed me up. “Thank you,” she says reaching in her pocket. “I’ve got the best cocktail on the market; you’ll be pain-free and alert for a bit. How does that sound?”
    “Heavenly,” I tell her then feel the poke which was followed by a small burn and then ah….
    “He’s been impatiently waiting for you, let me get him okay?” nodding at her, I pull the sheet up to see I’ve got two bandages, one on my shoulder, and one on the right side of my gut bordering my hip. Within seconds, he was there looking at me like he’s never seen me before, and really I guess he hadn’t. I wore makeup to our meeting on purpose. He had horrible, superficial taste in women, they all looked like cheap hookers. All this buildup for the reveal had me wanting to test him. Could he be attracted to me if I wasn’t so aesthetically pleasing?
    The glaring answer was no and even though I expected it, it still hurt.
    I’ve waited a long time for Gage to see me . To look beyond the skin at the woman underneath.
    But he hadn’t done that. Sadly, he was all about the surface.
     

That was a close one, had it not been for her, my family would be planning my funeral. As it was, I limped away with a superficial wound. It stung, but it wouldn’t keep me down long. Not only did she save me, she completed the contract too. When my phone rang, I smile when I see it’s her. I knew the drill. First, she’d tell me I was lazy followed by not being a team player and ending with being a pussy.
    I no longer dread these calls but look forward to them, because despite what she says, she cares.
    “I’m dying,” I groan. “What do you want?” Her silence worries me. “Camo? Talk to me.”
    “I’m glad you’re okay,” was all she said.
    “No, lecture?”
    “No.”
    “What’s wrong?”
    Another pause before letting out a breath. “One day I won’t make it in time,” she whispers. “Rest up, Gadget.”
    She was my guardian angel; she would always make it on time. Wouldn’t she?
     
    Kandace worked on her with total focus. Then again, she always has. Growing up, she practiced on me a lot, and it didn’t shock anyone when she went to medical school. All these years later, her man, Rome, gets out of prison and when my sister won’t give him the time of day, what does he do? Gets his ass kicked, face beat in and himself tased so Kandace would treat him. The story goes he intended to keep doing it until she caved. Obviously, she caved. Kandace couldn’t stand the thought of him being hurt.
    She’s helped me out a lot over the years. Especially in my line of work when a trip to the ER causes more questions than I had answers for. Now that she’s done, and Camo was in the clear she started demanding answers. She wasn’t getting them, not yet, not until Camo was awake.
    Her moaning fucked with me, made me edgy, feeling caged and wanting retribution. She had tried to warn me and saved my fucking life, again . Sending me out of the room to do her doctor thing and sensing I was close to losing it, I took Kandace’s order but I didn’t like it. Rome was cooking so I pretended to give a fuck that he was and watched him. The guy didn’t say much, never has and I was cool with that. But what he did say was exactly what I was thinking. Two bullet wounds and the woman didn’t make a sound. Un-fucking-real.
    Like I said before, Camo was… more .
    She was a soldier, a leader, my best friend.
    My other half …
    When Kandace gave me the green light to come in, I all but ran. I needed to see her, touch her, just know she was okay. Since I peeled that shit from her face, I couldn’t lose the image. It was forever branded there, embedded