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“Cheyenne, what’s your occupation?”
“No idea,” I quipped, putting on a brave face. I’d woken this morning to a room of strangers. Even confused as I was, I recognised a full-on paddy when I had one, and boy did I freak the fuck out! Doctor Paul had been questioning me for a few minutes, and while I remembered my name and date of birth, I didn’t recognise anyone watching me. Doc Paul sedated me but left me conscious.
“Does The Wild Wind ring a bell?” Paul asked. I shook my head; nope, it meant zilch. Yet, by their expressions, The Wild Wind should mean something.
“Doc,” the guy called Celt growled again. He was a pretty man. I wondered who he was to me, knowing my luck that was my brother. So no perving him until I understood his relationship to me!
“It could be short term memory loss, or it could be full-on amnesia, or it could even be a bleed to the brain. I’ll schedule a CAT scan for later today. But Cheyenne has been unconscious for five days while the swelling in her brain subsided. Her brain was badly bruised and has undergone a shock. It may still be healing itself. In due course, we’ll rule out the more obvious problems and whittle down what we can.” Doc Paul smiled at me as I watched, unconcerned by what he was saying. Somehow I think I should have been worried by Doc Paul’s words, but I couldn’t muster the energy.
An idle thought crossed my mind that I should be freaking out more or panicking. I felt like a glass half full person. I was awake, apparently luckily so, after a nasty accident. Which yet was to be explained. The only thing I was worried about was I couldn’t move my feet.
“And explaining Chey’s injuries to her?” The older woman said. I closed my eyes and yawned; it was time for a nap.
“Hopefully, she’ll be more alert when she next wakes. Remember, her body and mind are struggling to cope,” Doc Paul warned. “On some level, Cheyenne knows what’s happened and is seeking refuge from the horrors for now. The human brain is a wonderful organ that can convince itself to do anything.”
“Will Cheyenne remember?” Nana asked. Her face held all the worries of the world as she stared at her sleeping granddaughter. That was all Chey did recently. Sleep and go unconscious.
“Yeah, Chey will regain her memories in time. Probably not the incident, but everything else, yes. If this is amnesia, it’s short term. Of course, there is always a slight chance I am wrong, but looking at the accident and events before it, I guess Cheyenne’s brain is protecting her. It doesn’t want to acknowledge what she knows; Mick is dead and was killed because someone tried to murder her,” Doc Paul replied sadly. Nana’s eyes filled with tears again. The idea of telling Chey, her beloved bodyguard, had died was awful. But sooner or later, Chey needed to be told.
“Thank you, doctor,” Nana said and sat to keep vigil over Cheyenne. Doc Paul took his leave, and Nana offered him a goodbye. “I don’t know why you’re here, Celt.” Nana tossed over her shoulder.
“Yeah, you do, Nana, don’t play dumb.”
“It’s because of you; my granddaughter didn’t come home for over a decade, Celt. Do you honestly expect Jed and I to wipe that pain and grief away overnight?”
“And Chey hid my son from me for fifteen years Nana, which of us made the worse mistake?”
“Chey protected herself and Jesse, and you can’t deny that, Celt. Jed and I both saw that video. Witnessed what you did to my girl. You think we’ll forgive that?” Nana bit out, and Celt flinched.
“When have you ever known me to put a hand to a female, even Shayla, after the shit she pulled? Forget Chey, Nana. Tell me a time I harmed a woman deliberately,” Celt demanded. Nana frowned and wrinkled her brow.
“Can’t say I heard or seen anything,” Nana finally admitted.
“And drug use or being so drunk I’d harm someone?” Celt pushed. He sensed he needed one of Chey’s supporters on his side.
“Same again,” Nana reluctantly agreed.
“So why did I attack Chey? Chance thinks my drink was roofied. Apparently, it wasn’t the first fuckin’ time Zeus drugged one of us. Could be Zeus roofied my beer, then I did the coke and drank more because I was under his control. Did you not notice that I acted on it when Zeus gave me a command on that video? That’s what I noted when I calmed Nana, Chey’s innocent, but I’m not as guilty as everyone believes.” Celt dropped his bombshell as Nana absorbed it.
“Who else did Zeus drug against their will?” Jed asked from the doorway. Celt turned in his chair and met the man’s angry eyes. Celt couldn’t tell if it was anger at him or Zeus.
“Shee and Pyro. And Chance saved Levi from being drugged. He was too late for Shee and Pyro and had to clean up their mess. Just like mine,” Celt admitted.
“So after all these years, you’re saying you were roofied, and you did as Zeus commanded?” Jed asked incredulously.
“Sayin’ it’s a possibility, Jed. Today I know what Zeus was capable of. It worries me he roofied me. That night I was preparing to let Chey go, send her on her way to her career. It was unnecessary for me to visit the motel. I’d said goodbye to her, still can’t figure out why I returned,” Celt owned.
“Because you’re an asshole, Celt. When we discovered Chey bleeding in reception, blood pouring down her legs, you don’t have a clue what we thought. We rushed her to the hospital. She refused an ambulance in case it brought you back across. Jed and I couldn’t believe you punched her to miscarry your babe. I still can’t reconcile that action with the boy who used to check her bedroom high and low for spiders because Chey was terrified of them. And despite her yelling, kill the fuckers, you put them outside without harm,” Nana reminded him.
“So knowing that, why would I turn against Chey with no motive?” Celt demanded. Nana made a sad face, and her mouth dropped.
“Because Chey was pregnant, and you didn’t want a kid. That’s a damn good reason, Celt,” Nana said and turned to Jed, ending the conversation. Nana hated recalling those times, her Chey torn up and heartbroken. Celt arriving and playing dumb the following day had made Nana so angry. But life continued, and they’d discovered that Chey remained pregnant a month later. Jesse was born five months later, two weeks premature, but screeching his heart out. Chey had looked barely more than a child herself, Nana had noted, but she was so proud and so in love with Jesse. There was no parting them.
“Think I’d abuse my kid Nana? I’d plenty of reason to harm a woman after Shayla pulled her shit, and don’t you deny it,” Celt hit back hard. Nana remembered the stunning African American who’d trapped Celt with an unplanned pregnancy. From gossip, Celt had been using her as a casual lay until five months later, Shayla announced she was pregnant. Shayla named Celt as the dad and Celt stepped up and put a ring on it without batting an eyelid.
Everything had been fine until the babe was born, and Celt demanded a DNA test for a just in case scenario. Nana could only imagine his shock that six weeks after the test, it came back that Celt was not the boy’s father. Celt and Shayla had gone at each other in the street with Celt, ending the relationship and telling Shayla to find another dope. Further rumours had spoken of how Celt had still done the decent thing and paid for the apartment for the next year, even though he’d moved out. Turned out Shayla’s baby daddy had been a married prick who didn’t want a kid. Celt went after him and forced him to provide for the boy Celt had called his son for two months.
“Maybe you got a point, Celt, but that’s up to Chey. And no matter what you want, it’s what Chey thinks and feels that matters,” Nana replied.
