"Hector, you need to be strong." Mike's voice reached him as he knelt in front of him, but Hector did not respond because his mind was somewhere else entirely, trapped in the memory of James lying in his arms while blood poured from his body no matter how hard he pressed against the wound, no matter how much he begged him to stay awake, and no matter how many times he told himself that everything would be fine, because for the first time since he had met James Bellini he had looked at him and seen something he never thought he would see.
The weakness of slowly giving up.
"Hector."
Mike placed both hands on his face and forced him to look up, and the moment their eyes met he saw a man who was barely holding himself together.
