“Aww honey, I’m so sorry. Why don’t you come sit over here close to my station and you’ll know something the minute I do.” I got up and followed her over to the desk where she went back to work and I started shooting out texts to Bigfoot, the rest of the club’s officers, and eventually to Cassidy’s friends and business partners. I had to wait on that part until someone got me their numbers, but I put them all in a group chat, so I could tell themall at once because I figured that’s the way Cass would do it if she were able.
18.SURGERY
CASSIDY
It hurt to breathe.
There was no denying that I was in the hospital when I woke up. The steady beep of a heart monitor was the soundtrack when I came to. My hand felt warm and slightly squishy while the other one felt too cold. When I managed to move my head enough so I could look down at my body, I noted that there was a cannula in one hand leading to an IV drip and the other was encompassed in the much larger hand of a man who was slumped over on the side of the bed. He was in a chair and his body leaned forward and seemed to crash into my leg at some point. It was clear he was asleep and I worried that it would hurt him to move when he finally woke up. That was an awful position to sleep in.
I twitched the hand that he held onto and tried to flex those fingers. They moved just fine, but it startled Knuckles awake. “Oh, thank fuck! Cass,” He whispered my name in sheer reverence. “I was so fucking worried about you.”
“What happened?” It was the only question that needed to be answered.
“You were shot?”
“How? Why?” I asked in rapid succession and regretted it when I immediately started into a coughing fit that felt like it was going to rip me apart from the inside out.
Knuckles reached over and pressed a button.
“What can we do for you?” A woman’s voice asked through a crackly speaker near the head of my bed. Before either of us could answer, she heard me coughing and got down to business. “Be right there, use the extra pillow against your chest. It will help.”
When she got to my room, the lovely nurse coached me on how to get my breathing under control before she informed me of the way in which I was supposed to breathe. “The lower right lobe of your lung was perforated by a bullet. You’re lucky that they were able to patch you back up with minimal loss of lung tissue.” Whatever else she said was lost as my mind tried to comprehend that I was missing a piece of my lung.
“Who… shot… me?” I finally asked again once I caught my breath and sat back against the pillow again.
Knuckles glanced at the nurse and gave the tiniest shakes of his head to let me know we couldn’t talk about it just then. It had to be someone we know, or were associated with somehow. Why else would it be a secret?
“My stepmother?”
“No,” he said and then a memory flashed in my mind. I was hit and fell into him only for him to call out another woman’s name. I didn’t bother to repeat it with the nurse there, but I wanted to wish her away faster, so I could get the answers I needed. Eventually, she left with a promise to bring my doctor back with her.
“Simone shot you.”
“Don’t understand,” I told him drowsily. Damn, the nurse must have hit my pain meds. Either that or getting shot made you very, very tired.
“Me either. Don’t know what the hell she was doing in Phoenix or why she shot you. I honestly don’t think she aimed for you. I think I was her target, but you turned at the last minute.”
“Took a bullet for you,” I muttered before my eyes drifted shut. There was no way of knowing if he could see the way I tried to smile.
The next timeI woke was even more painful than the last. It must have been the pain meds wearing off that triggered my back to consciousness. I glanced around to find Knuckles on the edge of his seat and he looked as though he was in deep discussion with a man who was probably my doctor.
I must have moved enough for them to realize I was awake because they both turned to face me at the same time. “Ah, good, you’re awake. I missed you last time. I just checked in on your wounds and everything still looks good.”
“How long?” I managed to ask.
“I’d say about an inch long scar at most on your chest and slightly smaller on your back, maybe half inch.”
I wanted to laugh at the miscommunication, but knew it would hurt.
“How long until I go home?”
“In a rush?” He asked teasingly before he saw the look in my eyes and shook his head. “I don’t know if anyone was able to explain yet, but you were shot in the back and the bullet came out through the chest wall. That’s the easy part. Normally, through and through shots are what we like to see becausethere’s less mess to clean up. That wasn’t the case for you. Not only did you lose a small portion of the lower lobe of your right lung due to the damage, but several pieces of your lower rib were splintered off. We retrieved all the bone fragments, but I am afraid due to the nature of your lung injury, you will be with us for a few weeks and then you will probably have months of respiratory therapy to go through to get your lung in fighting shape again.”
“Weeks? Months?” Both words came out as questions. I sent a panicked look to James who slid closer and gave my hand a squeeze.
“Don’t worry, your crew has your back. They already worked out a schedule. That’s why none of them are here with you right now. Finch has been working the ranch with Mitch because the last hand he hired got spooked by something. The girls are taking care of the catering and whatnot.”
“They don’t bake,” I said.
