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It ached the whole time I was fucking Savannah, but I didn’t care. Pain was irrelevant. I wanted her, and I took her.
I’m a fucking animal.
That’s what prison does to a man. Turns him into a damned animal. A savage.
“Go back to your friend on seven,” I say. “I need to see to my sister.”
“Falcon…I want to know if she’s all right. Your sister.”
I shake my head. “She’s my responsibility, not yours. Go.”
I leave then, Savannah still naked from the waist down except for her black pumps.
God, her black pumps.
What is it about black pumps? Black patent leather pumps?
But I erase her from my mind—or try to—and go back to Raven’s room.
The nurses are still hovering over her, but no one is trying to electrify her.
My heart drops to my stomach. What if…
A doctor whisks past me.
“Hey,” I say. “What happened? Is she okay?”
He turns to me. “Are you family?”
“Yeah. I’m her brother. Falcon Bellamy.”
“She stopped breathing for a moment, but she’s better now.”
“So you didn’t electrocute her?”
“The paddles? No. We didn’t have to use the paddles. She started breathing on her own again. Now we have to figure out why.”
I fall against the wall. “Thank God.”
“She’s not out of the woods, yet.” The doctor looks down at his phone. “People don’t stop breathing for no reason.”
“The transplant. She’s supposed to get my bone marrow.”
“Yes. We’ll do everything we can to make sure that happens as scheduled.”
“But—”
“I’m sorry, sir. I have to see to my patient.”
“My sister, you mean. She’s not some chart. She’s a person. She’s my sister.”
“Yes, sir, and your sister is my patient. If you’ll excuse me, please.”
“Can I see her?”
“When I’m done with my exam. In the meantime, do you need to call anyone? Your parents? Other siblings? A significant other?”
“Yeah. Right. Okay.”
I walk to the end of the wing to the alcove where there’s a small waiting area and some vending machines. I pull out my brand-new cell phone—man, these things have changed in the last eight years—and call home.
“Hello?” My mother’s voice is anxious.
“Mom, it’s me. It’s Falcon.”
“Oh! I didn’t recognize the number.”
“It’s a new phone. New number. Listen, Raven had a spell tonight.”
Mom gasps. “What is it? Is she okay?”
“Everything seems okay now, but she stopped breathing for a minute. The doctor’s with her now.”
“I’m coming to the hospital.”
“It’s okay, Mom. I’ve got this.”
“Oh, Falcon…” She chokes up. “Do you remember? Do you remember how I used to depend on you?”
I don’t reply right away.
I was twenty-two when I went away. Freaking twenty-two. Dad was always busy with the ranch or with other business, and Mom… She’s been telling me I’m her strength since I was sixteen.
I look back now and I think that’s a hell of a shitty thing to do to a sixteen-year-old.
It was a hell of a thing to do to herself too, because once I was gone, who was her strength then?
Robin and Raven? Mom’s a little sexist, so she wouldn’t look to her daughters for strength.
Hawk?
Hawk was nineteen and in college.
Eagle? Seventeen and fucked up at the time. He’s clean now.
“Mom, I got this,” I say again. “Get some sleep. There’s no danger at this point.”
“What about the bone marrow?” she asks.
“I don’t know. The doc will let us know if the transplant can still take place.”
“Oh, Falcon…”
“Mom, I didn’t call to send you into a tailspin. I called to let you know what’s going on. I got this, okay?”
“Thank God you’re back, Falcon.”
“I am. You don’t need to worry anymore.” I end the call.
I hope I didn’t give my mother bad information. She’ll worry anyway.
She adores her kids, all of us. It about killed her when I got sent away.
She doesn’t know the truth of what happened. Hawk, Eagle, and I swore an oath. But she always believed in my innocence. She never once doubted. She was ready to use every cent of her fortune to get me the best attorneys.
I didn’t let her.
I didn’t let her because those attorneys would have done what was best for me.
I had two brothers to look out for. I was more concerned with what was best for them. So I copped to the shooting. I lied. I told my attorney what I was doing, and though my father tried to pay off judges and politicians to get me out of prison time, nothing worked. They made an example out of Falcon Bellamy. Proved that even the rich can get sent up the river.
I stand outside Raven’s room.
Finally, Savannah emerges from the vacant room.
She’s dressed now, looking professional as ever, though her hair’s a little unkempt.
She walks by me to get to the elevator.
She doesn’t say a word.
13
SAVANNAH
I go back to Ashley’s room just to tell Gert and Jordan that I’m going home.
“Okay, we’ll see you there later,” Gert says.
I hand her an extra key. “Just let yourself in. I’m going to bed.”
