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The fist that slammed into my jaw had me seeing stars. Jimmy’s foul breath and little bits of spit hit my face as he continued to rant at me. I couldn’t even make out most of the words, but it wouldn’t have mattered anyway. There was no appeasing Jimmy when he got like this. The next punch hit me just below my ribs and stole my breath. I collapsed to my knees. I could feel blood trickling down the side of my mouth and watched in horror as it hit my mother’s white carpet. Rough fingers grabbed me by the hair and yanked me to my feet. I cried out in pain, but even if I’d somehow managed to remain silent, it wouldn’t have mattered. Jimmy was beyond enraged.
“You better hope there’s some fucking money in your room,” he snarled.
As he dragged me towards the stairs that led to the basement where my room was, I cringed at what would happen if Jimmy didn’t find any money in my room.
Or worse, what he’d do if he did.
Either way I was fucked.
And this time there’d be no interruption… no warning from my mother not to roughhouse so much, no call from Walter to report suspicious noises at the Sullivan house… and no Cam showing up to make it all go away for a little while.
I’d managed to close that particular door permanently tonight.
I should have been glad about that, but I wasn’t. I also realized another sad truth as Jimmy shoved me down the last few steps of the basement stairs… I needed to put Cam in my little box and patch up all the big-ass holes he’d managed to punch into the damn thing.
But as Jimmy began tearing my room apart, I didn’t vanquish Cam from my mind like I should have. Instead, I escaped to that place where it was just me and him and when Jimmy’s next blow came, I barely even felt it.
Because I was where I was supposed to be.
With Cam.
Chapter Thirteen
Cam
“Your girl is kind of a hussy, Walter,” I said as I straightened the old man’s pillow and handed him the cup of water on the little table next to his bed.
Walter was still groggy from the pain meds he was on, but he smiled. “That she is, my boy…. she’ll go with any man who catches her fancy.”
“Well, her new man has four legs and a big white fluffy tail. And he follows your girl everywhere. She flicks that little tail of hers at him and he’s putty in her paws.”
Walter laughed. “You tell this suitor that he better not be leading my little princess on.”
“You’re lucky Loki is fixed or you’d be stuck with some really strange-looking pups come spring. Is wolf-mutt even a thing?”
Walter drank a sip of the water and then handed it back to me. “So you’re still taking her to the sanctuary while you’re at work?” Walter asked.
I nodded. “I figured she’s already missing her daddy so it wasn’t fair to keep her from her boy toy too.” I winked at him, then sobered. “Dallas and the other guys all take turns watching Puddles. She’s not alone much, Walter. But she’s definitely ready for you to come home.”
“She’s not the only one,” the old man muttered.
“PT’s going well, right? So it shouldn’t be much longer. And I’ve got your room all set. I talked to the agency and they’ve found you a new nurse since Bernice has decided to move back to Kansas.”
“Good riddance,” Walter said with a wave of his hand. “All that woman was good for was running up my phone bill and eating my Ding Dongs.”
I chuckled. “Why Walter, you old dog you, I didn’t know a man your age had any ding left in his dong.”
Walter laughed heartily. The crusty old veteran and I had bonded pretty quickly in the past week as I’d spent more and more time at the hospital in the evenings after I was done at work. I’d already been fond of the spunky senior, but he’d always seemed a little on the reserved side, as if he wasn’t used to talking about himself much. And, of course, the damage to his house and being stuck in a hospital hadn’t done much to improve his disposition. But once I’d determined that his love for junk food nearly rivaled the love he had for his spoiled little dog, I’d started sneaking him in little treats each night. He still hadn’t shared a ton of personal information with me, but I’d figured out enough.
Like the fact that he’d never been married, hadn’t had any children, and had lived with his sister for most of his adult life. He’d ended up taking care of her after their parents had died since she’d had a developmental disability that’d kept her from being able to live on her own. She’d been gone for nearly a decade now, so Walter was well and truly alone. He’d had a string of live-in nurses, but none had lasted more than a year or two. According to the agency who employed the nurses, Walter’s surliness and the endless northern Minnesota winters always ended up taking their toll. I’d worried a bit that Walter’s personality might be a challenge for however many weeks he ended up staying with me, but the more time I spent with him, the more I knew we’d get along. I was coming to realize that the fiercely independent man wasn’t so much grumpy as he was frustrated with having to rely on others to do tasks he’d done for himself all of his life. Even the injuries he’d sustained after the war hadn’t really slowed him down… it was his aging body that was forcing him to give up the independence he obviously craved.
