“Don’t worry about that either. She might not be up to par on the latest version of your recipes, but Grandma stepped up and told them she would bake whatever they needed until you’re able to get back in to do it yourself.”
“She did?” I asked as a tear fell from where it was hung up on my eyelash for a minute. My heart ached in a good way while my lung felt like it was going to come apart every time I breathed.
“Hurts,” I grunted. The doctor leaned over and adjusted something. Moments later, my eyes blinked shut and didn’t open again.
After about a week,I managed to stay awake for longer periods of time. It helped that they started to wean me down off the super strong pain meds. Not that I was free of those anytime soon, they just dropped the dose enough that I could function a little bit.
“What happened to Simone?” I asked one day as Knuckles sat next to me and wrote something in a notebook.
“She’s on ice for now.”
“Dead in a freezer?” I whispered.
Knuckles grinned and shook his head. “Alive and in a cell beneath the clubhouse.”
“You guys have cells down there?” I asked. “Kinky,” I added and then regretted the minute I started to laugh as it sent pain ripping through my chest. “Fuck, that was dumb.”
“Come on Cass. I know you’re bored and easily amused by yourself, but you need to hold off on the laughter until you’re healed more. It kills me every time I see you in that much pain.”
“Imagine how it feels to be me.”
“I wish that I could trade places with you.”
“No, you really don’t, and before you say something heroic, I wouldn’t wish this shit on my worst enemy. Next time you get shot at, you’re going to have to take the bullet for yourself like a big boy.” It was a joke, but it fell flat.
“Not funny. I would never want you to take a bullet for me. I thought I was going to lose my fucking mind during that ambulance ride and after when they took you away to surgery.”
“I’m sorry I worried you,” I managed to get out.
“Cassidy, I know this isn’t the time, and one day we’ll have a lengthy conversation about everything, but I need you to know that you’re my fucking person. Despite everything contrary to that, you are the one person on this earth that I don’t want to lose.”
“Why, James?”
“I’ve felt that way for a really long time, only when I was younger I was too dumb to take what I wanted. Didn’t think I deserved something good back then. Don’t think I do now, either, but I know that losing you is a far worse fate than trying to convince you that I’ll be worth it.”
We sat quietly for a long while after that. I didn’t know how to respond. It felt incongruous with how I’d been treated by James for him to then say that he wanted me all along. My conversation with Jasper came back to me then. He had said something similar me and I didn’t believe him either.
My mind and body were simply too exhausted to deal with all the implications that came with that bit of a confession, so I turned my thoughts elsewhere.
“Why hasn’t anyone else come to see me?”
“Collette was here the first night. She went back home to get a bag packed with stuff for you and wasn’t able to leave again.”
“What do you mean she wasn’t able to leave again?”
James reached up and pulled his hair loose from whatever crazy bun-like way he had it tied up. Then he took hold of my hand again. “We kept it from the police that Simone was the person who shot you. It was done so that we could get some answers we needed along with revenge for you, if that’s what you wanted.”
“I understand that. Figured as much when you said she was in a cell under the clubhouse and not in a real jail.”
“Okay, miss smartypants,” he teased. “The thing is, two separate police reports were filed about Tiffany Baker Billupsand Juan Miguel Ruiz showing up on your property and making threats.”
“Who filed the reports? I never called the cops when they showed up the first time.”
“Some security company guys that were installing cameras and shit on your property called when the Ruiz guy tried to play tough guy with them.”
I moved to sit up a little taller. “I’m pretty sure he had gang or cartel ties,” I said. “They showed up to try to strong-arm me into giving Tiffany water rights so she could get more money when she sold the land. Something about there already being a bidding war for her useless five-acre lot and she couldn’t rake in a mint if there wasn’t water in the deal.”
“No, she couldn’t. It’s still a relatively small plot for the area. Plus, there’s no bidding war. There were two bids. One from a buyer the club tried to trace and one from my club because that land happens to back up to the land we developed for family housing. It was too close for comfort. Now tell me why you thought he was cartel.”
