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“Royce? Is that you?” I ask in a tone just above a whisper.
“That you, sugar?” His voice is thick from whatever they gave him, but I obviously have the right room.
With that I duck behind the curtain and gasp when I see his back. Royce is laying on his stomach, his face pointed in my direction, but his sheet is down near his waist and while his arms have an assortment of bandages on them, his back looks like a giant bruise.
“Oh, Royce…”
“It looks worse than it is,” he tells me. “You okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine. I just wanted to check on you. Bree told me that Jessa and Danny are safe. That’s because of you, you know,” I tell him, hoping he knows that.
He grunts, looking pleased with my words, even if his eyes do look a little glassy. I can’t imagine the pain he’ll be in when the drugs wear off. “I was just thinking about you.”
“Oh, were you?”
“Uh-huh. You have really bad luck with that shop window, you know?” he replies with a little grin and I can’t help but to reach over to push his hair off of his face. “Plus, I’m going to need some help in the next couple of weeks. ‘Cause of my wrist. I was picturing you in a nurse’s outfit. But not the scrubs. The Halloween kind.”
I’m already shaking my head at him, wondering how much of this conversation he’s going to remember, when he lifts his head up a little. “Are you naked under there?”
“Molly?” Bree’s voice carries from the hall, and I’m sure she’ll figure out where I am in the next minute or so.
“I still think you’re a perverted man-whore, but seeing as how you saved my friend, when they release you, I’ll be by with a basket of your favorites,” I promise him.
“Thank you, Mols,” he slurs out the words as his eyelids fall to half-mast. “Don’t forget the outfit.”
“Stop talking, Royce,” I whisper good-naturedly as I turn to meet Bree in the hallway.
“You are naked.” Are the last words I hear from him before Bree spots me and hands me a bag of clothes.
Chapter 6
Flint –Mid-summer
“There he is,” I say to Roy with a big smile across my face. We’d been waiting on Mack to make it here and I was starting to get worried.
I’m more than a little surprised to see him with a box from Molly’s Bakery, but her sweets are always welcome around here.
“Charlie keeps talking about this bakery,” Mack tells us, dropping the box on the table before reaching his hand out to grasp mine. “Thought I’d stop and check it out.”
“Good to see you,” Roy cracks as he focuses on the box he’s pulling toward him as he licks his lips, barely cutting his eyes up to Mack. “Oh, you too.”
“Ellie’s trying to get him to cut back on his sugar intake. Guess she wants to keep him around for some reason.” I roll my eyes at Roy’s nonsense and motion to the bartender for more beer.
“I know we’re all getting old, but I saw this at the bakery and I recognized this woman,” Mack says, pulling a framed picture out of the pocket on the inside of his cut. “The one holding the little girl.”
“You stole it? Why didn’t you just ask Molly?” I question him, reaching into my pocket for my glasses and flipping Mack off when I see the look he gives me. “We’re the same fucking age, asshole. Don’t tell me you have perfect vision.”
“She was busy with other people. Just look at it, then guess why I didn’t ask her,” Mack replies as he sits down.
There’s a pretty, blond woman in the middle of the frame, with an older woman—obviously her mother—just behind her. They’re both smiling at the laughing toddler with brown hair and large, expressive eyes, who’s clapping in delight.
“Do I want to know why you have Molly’s picture?” Bree asks, peering over my shoulder when she approaches our table.
“Mack stole it.” Roy immediately throws our old friend under the bus while selecting another cookie with the utmost care.
“Bree, you ready to run away with me yet?” Mack asks my wife and I let out a good-natured growl.
I look at the picture again, then shrug, passing it over to Roy.
