AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I cackled, the somber mood lifting almost instantly as the guys went back and forth telling us humiliating stories about their childhoods. Jagger threw in a few of mine so I got him back with some of his. We laughed and for a while, I forgot why we were all there together.
45
Layla
ThenightsspentatGrandma’s house were cramped. The four of us didn’t exactly fit in my full-size bed. We tried to make it work, though, because Grandma was in her bed and Jagger’s old room had become a temporary home for Nick and Hilary. With everyone there at night, there wasn’t room for me to crumble. I wouldn’t have traded it for anything. It felt like family. Loud and chaotic, it would’ve been perfect if Jagger was home.
I spent my days with Jagger. Every day he was stronger from his injuries in the wreck. His ribs were severely bruised and would be painful for a while, but even they were better. His broken leg and arm had been casted and the neon pink I’d slipped the doctor a twenty to use made Jagger look like a shiny, plastic toy.
We dealt with people who stopped by to check on him and Grandma panting at her soap operas during the day, but the guys weren’t there, so it was marginally quieter. Nick and Hilary wouldn’t stop cleaning the house and cooking dinner for everyone, even when I made it clear that I didn’t expect anything from them. It really felt like this big family I hadn’t known I could have had circled around Jagger and I was more grateful than I’d ever been.
The guys had to deal with Bingham and other business during the day but as soon as they were done, they came to the hospital to hang out with Jagger for a while. The way the town and nurses reacted to seeing them, it was clear that they’d already won Backtop over.
Another interesting development that filled me with hope was Jagger’s stubborn disinterest in his night nurse, Cammie. She was his age, so pretty that it almost hurt my feelings, and had heart eyes for my dumb brother. I could tell that he felt something for the woman from the way he refused to even admit that he found her pretty. He was fighting it and I enjoyed watching him squirm as the clock ticked closer to Cammie’s shift. No matter how often I tried to talk to him about it, though, he clammed up. Deep down, I knew the reason why. He’d accepted what he thought was the end for him. I couldn’t.
“What the hell has gotten into this town?” Grandma stomped into the room, her eyebrows clamped together in the middle of her forehead as anger twisted her mouth. “I nearly got run over three times trying to park in that piece of shit parking lot. I swear to everything sweet in this world I almost just punched a teenager. Little shit just took my spot and then flashed me some gang sign.”
“What?” I stood up, startled by the idea of Grandma getting flashed gang signs. I wasn’t even sure if I was more concerned about her getting hurt by a gang member or her somehow joining their gang. “Are you sure?”
She held up a peace sign with her fingers. “It was a damn hippie gang sign.”
Jagger laughed full out and clutched his stomach. “God. No more laughing.”
“You scared me, Gran. Jeez.” I sank back into my chair next to Jagger and stretched my legs out. “Did you see the guys while you were nearly getting run over by hippies?”
Shaking her head, she walked over to Jagger to kiss his forehead. “I didn’t see them. I was a little busy, though. I’m serious. The whole town has lost its mind. I didn’t know a single person I passed on the road coming here. Are we being invaded? I think we’re being invaded.”
Jagger snorted. “By hippies?”
There was a heavy knock on the door and we all looked up to see a small group of men and women in white coats, holding clipboards. The doctors on staff at the hospital didn’t knock. The strangers looking at us were an anomaly.
I stood up and plastered a brittle smile on my face. “Hello. Can we help you?”
An older woman with solid silver hair stepped forward and shook my head. “Hi. I’m Doctor Fairity. These are my colleagues.”
I waited while she introduced the others and frowned. “I’m sorry. Are you new at the hospital? It’s not typical that we don’t recognize faces around here.”
Dr. Fairity smiled and shook her head. “No, no. I’m sorry. Let me start over. I’m Dr. Fairity and I work as a research oncologist. Each of us are oncologists. We’ve been called in to look at Jagger’s case.”
Grandma gasped. “You have?”
I glanced back at Jagger and saw his eyes on Cammie. She was standing just behind the new doctors, her eyes on him, full of hope. My heart filled and I crossed my fingers that things were going to get better.
“There’s nothing to look at.” Jagger’s harsh sentence made me flinch. His face had turned hard and he refused to look back at Cammie. “I’m dying. The doctor here told me there’s nothing that can be done. I won’t spent the last of my life being treated like a fucking lab rat.”
Cammie’s face fell and I swore I saw tears in her eyes as she turned and hurried away. Frustration bit at me and I turned to my brother, scowling. “What the hell, Jagger?”
He knew I’d seen the exchange between him and Cammie. “She needs to accept it. I’m no one to start caring about.”
“I didn’t realize you were put in charge of her emotions and feelings. You ass. I’ve never known you to be a quitter, Jagger Morgan, but it’s almost like you want to die.” I crossed my arms over my chest and glared at him. “Now, shut up and listen to the doctors. And later? You need to apologize to Cammie for being a horse’s ass.”
Dr. Fairity cleared her throat gently. “Jagger, if you’d just give us a moment to explain what we do, I think you might feel differently about us.”
Grandma moved closer to him, ready to slap his head. “He’d love to listen.”
“Thank you. Our practice is very selective in who we help. Our work is expensive and not often covered by any insurance companies. Unfortunately, until something changes, our services are very elite. We charge a lot of money for what we do and because of that, we’re very selective about the cases we take. We have no interest in taking money to watch someone die. We study a patient before we offer our services. If we didn’t think you had a fighting chance, we wouldn’t be here, Jagger.”
My legs buckled and I would’ve hit the ground if not for Hilary slipping in at that exact moment. She eased me into a chair and fanned me while looking around. “What’s going on?”
