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He shivered as another cold sweat covered his body.
“Get under the covers, and try to rest.” She fluffed two pillows behind his head.
His bulk took up most of the bed, and when she got in on the other side, her leg rubbed up against his. They lay quietly for a few minutes as his body relaxed into the soft sheets. The shower lessened the body aches, and lying down eased the pounding in his head.
Mandy’s soft breathing soothed him. “Can’t believe I’m saying this, but I like just lying next to you.”
“Me too.”
He reached under the sheets and covered her hand with his. When she didn’t move it away, he laced their fingers together. “What the fuck happened to us?”
A few long seconds passed, then she said, “It wasn’t us, it was everything around us.”
“Yeah.” Her simple logic made sense.
“We were doomed from the very beginning.” She squeezed his hand. “It wasn’t either of our faults—I guess it just wasn’t meant to be.”
“I don’t believe that. When we were down in Searchlight, we did fine.”
“But that wasn’t real.”
He turned his head on the pillow. “Wasn’t real? Your body moving with me, loving me, being with me sure felt fuckin’ real.”
“I mean, it wasn’t our reality. I have a brother who spins out of control, and you have your club who was dead set against us from the start.”
“If your brother’s smart, he’ll stay out of Nevada, so he won’t be an issue anymore.”
Mandy leaned up on her elbow. “Did some of those people from New York really threaten his life?”
“Yeah, I wasn’t shittin’ him. I was standing right there when they made the call.”
“And even after what my brother did, you still came to warn him.”
“Don’t get it twisted, I did that for you, not for him.” Mamba drew in a breath. “As fucked up as he is, he’s your brother, and I already took your other brother—”
“I told you I don’t blame you for that.”
“Maybe I blame me. Maybe warning Ajax was as much for me as it was for you—if that makes any sense.” Mamba shifted in the bed.
Mandy ran her hand up his arm. “You seem a little cooler. Are you feeling any better?”
“The pounding in my head has gone from bongos to a slight pulsing, and I’m not sweating as much.” He smiled at her. “Must be your excellent nursing skills.”
“You’re a terrible patient. You shouldn’t have been on your bike after leaving the clinic with an infection and a raging fever. You could’ve had an accident, or worse.”
“But instead, I’m lying in bed with a beautiful woman.” He yawned. “Who took good care of me.”
“If only Ajax never challenged you and the Serpents to that fight.” Her soft voice filled the dark room.
“I never wanted to fight your brother, but it seemed like the only way to tip the scales in our favor. Busting it up in the cage would’ve been fine, but that was never his goal. He had it set up from the beginning.”
“So many mistakes, so many things we should’ve done differently. If I had stood up to Ajax long ago, this never would’ve happened.”
“And if I hadn’t scoped you out in the beginning, Cobra wouldn’t have shipped me off. But I’ll never regret our weekends on the boat—how you made me feel whole—like I was doin’ the right thing for once.”
Mandy sniffled, and he’d adjusted enough to the dark that he caught her wiping her eyes.
“We could run away together. Far from Vegas, and all this craziness,” her whispered words surrounded him, but he was too old to believe in fairytales.
