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“You two figure that out. I ordered a car. I’ll get home to take care of Jackson and send Jake here.” Wells rubbed his eyes and looked up as a car pulled in. “At least something’s going right. Let me know if anything changes.”
Remy and I took up a private waiting room and I paced the hallway in front of Memphis’s door while he woke people up and got contact information for the warden. I didn’t think to doubt him because there was never a time when Remy didn’t pull through. That night wasn’t any different. In no time, I was sitting across from him at a small table with my phone between us and a surprisingly alert voice shouting at us.
“What’s wrong? Where’s Memphis? If anything happened to Memphis, I swear to God, I’ll find my way out of here and break your—”
I cut him off. “She’s okay. Do you know Charlie Brennan?”
“Why are you asking about Charlie? Memphis cut that piece of shit out a while back. What happened? I don’t need to be finessed right now, man, just let me have it.” His southern accent was somehow thicker than Memphis’s, but it felt familiar.
“He showed up at our place tonight. He broke in and was waiting on Memphis. Your brother was in our house, trying to steal our dead mother’s jewelry, but that’s neither here nor there.” I blew out a sharp breath. “There was—”
“No, Jack is in rehab down here, buddy. Not to say that he wouldn’t rob your dead mother and every grave your family has ever filled, but Memphis paid for him to go to rehab before she left. He’s…” He swore viciously and I heard a couple of loud bangs before he was back. “You’re not shitting me, are you? Jackson is in Chicago?”
“Yeah, he is. On his way to another rehab, thanks to our brother. One that he won’t be able to walk out of. He was out of his mind tonight. He shoved Memphis and she fell and hit her head.” I looked down at my hands and watched in horror as they shook. I was a surgeon. My hands didn’t shake. Seeing Memphis hit her head had fucked with me. “We got her to the hospital and the doctors checked her out. She’s okay, but they’re keeping her overnight for observation.”
“Which one are you? The doctor or the fancy businessman? Or the artist?”
I shoved my hands under my thighs. “Doctor.”
“Boone, then.” He lowered his voice. “Give it to me straight, Boone. On a scale of one to FUBAR, where are we at with all of this?”
“What do you mean?”
“I know my big sister. That girl raised me when she was still a baby herself and I probably know her better than I know myself. I know the situation with y’all. I’m guessing by the tone in your voice that you’re not just stressed because she hit her head.” He blew out a breath. “I know she wasn’t completely open about our upbringing, but if you knew the whole sordid story, you wouldn’t be either.”
Remy snorted. “She wasn’t just not completely open. She lied.”
Knox made a sound of aggravation. “I don’t even have to guess. Remington, or Remy as Memphis calls you as she’s waxing on and on about you. You sound just as fucking cranky as she described you. Though she said you had this sexy voice thing and I’m just not hearing it.”
“Whatever you’re trying to do, kid, save it. We just needed to let you know she was hurt but she’s okay.” Remy stood up and started to leave but came right back. “Are you all thieves? Is it a fucking genetic thing?”
Knox was silent for so long that I thought he’d hung up. It was clear when he started talking, he was biting back anger. “I’m going to let that one slide. I’m assuming that you had your shit rocked tonight. You thought Memphis was a perfect little rich girl with blue blood running through her veins and now you know that she’s as country as a hound dog barking at a tractor. You thought she was going to pop out kids who came readymade to play in symphonies and shit like that. Instead, you knocked up a kid from the trailer park whose big dream in life is to become a librarian because a librarian was nice to her once. You knocked up a girl who has more heart than you’ve probably ever known or seen. The shit she’s been through, you’d piss your rich boy pants and run home crying. I get that you’re upset,Remy, but that’s my fucking sister you’re talking about and you’d do best to watch how you talk about her.”
Remy was quiet for a while before he sat back down. “Tell us about her.”
“Let’s make one thing clear first. I may be in prison, but I’m really good at holding a grudge. If you hurt my sister, I’ll break your faces. Considering how fond Memphis seems to be of them, I’d really rather not have to.” He grunted. “And that ain’t an idle threat, boys. We have lots of places to bury the bodies down here and you should know that any jury in the south would hear my sister’s story and let me go free for killing the assholes who made her cry. Do you get me?”
I sighed. “We get it. You big and country, we weak and city. Can we move on now?”
He laughed. “No wonder she likes you best, doctor man.”
Remy’s head shot up with a glare. It looked like he barely resisted the urge to hit something.
“Kidding. I knew it would set Remy off, though. That’s how much she talks about y’all. I’m honestly sick of you three already.”
Remy growled. “Just tell us about your sister, asshole.”
56.
***Memphis***
DoctorBraddocklookeddownat me with a kind smile on his face. “The ER doctor did several scans before I got here and then I ordered my own set. The baby is fine. Doing great, actually. On the ultrasound, it looked like they were kicking up a storm in there.”
I tried to sit up and my head throbbed, reminding me that it was a bad idea. “They? What do you mean, they?”
“Don’t worry, you’re not having twins. I just didn’t know if you’d want to know the baby’s sex.” He squeezed my hand. “Doctor Reyes already told you about keeping you overnight and watching you. I agree. You have a pretty good bump on the back of your head and your elbow is probably going to hurt for a while. Might as well stay and be taken care of.”
I looked down at my hands. Did he know? When I’d woken up alone in the hospital room, I didn’t have that hazy confusion. I’d understood immediately why I was alone. The guys were not going to stick by my side after finding out about my lies the way they had. My staying at the hospital was probably the last I was going to be taken care of for a long while.
