Molly and Rue’s mouths dropped open in surprise, but I was over Molly’s attitude.
I’d put up with her shit pertaining to Rue for a long time now.
She’d say that Rue wasn’t good enough for me.
I’d say that Molly didn’t know her like I did.
My other two sisters had kept neutral on the topic, but Molly was the baby of the family, and therefore thought she was superior.
Well she wasn’t.
And she no longer came before Rue.
Rue came before Molly; I’d put her last for too long now.
She was my first place from now on.
“But I have something wrong with my car and I want you to look at it,” Molly whined.
I sighed.
Molly was twenty-four years old.
She was old enough to take care of herself, yet when the slightest thing went wrong, she went to her family first instead of trying to fix it herself.
“I’ve told you before I’m not a mechanic. You’ll have to take it in to Torren like the rest of us do,” I told her.
Torren was a member of The Dixie Wardens, a firefighter, and a mechanic in his spare time.
He’d fixed everyone’s car problems that had come up since he’d joined the MC a little over five years ago.
In fact, the business he’d built on the side had become so lucrative that he was now making more doing that than at his regular job.
“Torren hates me,” Molly whined.
“I wonder why,” Rue muttered.
She’d said it quietly, but both Molly and I had heard it.
“Fuck you. What are you even doing here? You and your voodoo pussy making my brother think with his dick instead of his goddamned head,” Molly snapped.
Rue blinked. Then blinked again.
“What?” Her voice cracked like a whip.
Molly flinched at the venom in Rue’s tone, and I stood still, wondering what she’d say next.
To be honest, I wanted to know if Rue planned on fighting for me, or if she’d just give up.
If she could stand up to Molly, then she could stand up to anything.
“You heard me, Voodoo,” Molly snarled.
“First of all, my pussy doesn’t have any voodoo in it. Second of all, you’re a whore. How you can talk about me having a voodoo pussy when you’re the one who likes to have sex with anyone and everyone? You wonder why Torren doesn’t like you? It’s because you’re a cock tease,” Rue snapped.
I was the one to blink now.
Cock tease?
I looked over at my sister to see her blushing profusely.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she stammered.
Rue smiled sardonically. “Of course you don’t. Why don’t you pull your head out and realize what you have before it’s too late.”
I had a feeling that she wasn’t just talking about Molly anymore.
***
“I’m sorry,” I said as I walked back up the porch steps after walking Molly to her car.
Rue shrugged. “I’d like you to take me home, please.”
I nodded. “Okay, just let me get my clothes.”
“Thanks,” she muttered, then walked out my door and went to stand next to my bike.
I watched her go, observing the sway of her ass as she walked away.
Shaking my head, I walked to my bedroom, grabbed a t-shirt out of the drawer, and walked back outside, nearly missing the black thong panties that were laid across my pillows.
Nearly.
She was willing to fight for me.
That was good enough for now.
Chapter 10
If one is not meant to have a midnight snack...then why is there a light in the fridge?
-One of life’s unanswered questions
Rue
“You little pecker head,” I gasped as I backed up out of the room. “I need security!”
Cody came meandering down the hall, and I do mean meandering. No concern in his step whatsoever.
“Why?” Cody asked as he peeked around the curtain and then widened his eyes at what he saw. “What the fuck?”
“What’s going on?” Mona, Cody’s mother, and the charge nurse, asked.
We both stood aside to let her see. “Oh, my.”
Oh my, was right.
The psych patient in room 13 was truly in need of a psych consult. Stat.
“Go on, Cody. Go be a man,” I urged him with a nudge of my elbow.
Cody shook his head. “No, thank you.”
Mona looked on with a flabbergasted expression on her face. “How’d he get those paddles? And where’d he get those needles?”
“Fuc-uh, heck if I know,” I said thoughtfully.
“The real question is, what do you think is in them?” Cody wondered.
I concurred.
One could hope it was only tap water, but there was really no telling. He’d been smart so far. No one had even known he’d had the weapons until I’d entered the room moments ago.
“Code White, Room 13,” a disembodied voice said over the loud speaker. “Repeat, Code White.”
Code white was the code that was called when a combative person or assailant was a current threat to staff or other personnel.
That was the code used to get security there, stat.
It normally would’ve worked, too, if the patient hadn’t chosen that point to line the needle up with his neck, stab it in his throat, and depress the plunger.
I hadn’t meant to start moving.
Somehow I’d done it, though.
I was right beside him, slapping the other needle out of his hand and dropping down to the floor to duck his fist all in about three seconds.
He used that moment to kick my side, throwing my off balance and slamming me hard against the wall.
I covered my head with my hands, knowing that he was about to hit me again, or worse, put about 3000 volts into me.
Then he was there.
I saw him move out of the corner of my eye.
I turned my head just in time to see the patient who’d been holding his hands out towards me to go flying sideways with the full force of Cleo’s body hitting him like a linebacker.
Cleo.
“What the fuck?” The patient cried.
Cleo stood, placing his foot down in the middle of the patient’s chest. “Stay.”
That one word had enough bite and force behind it to make anybody stay.
Man, woman or child.
I’d never been happier to see him in my life.
Cleo had just dropped off a patient that had a massive heart attack while riding four wheelers with his friends.
I’d seen him at the counter giving his report to the nurse who was taking over the patient’s care, but I hadn’t said hi to him because I’d thought I’d be right back.
Turns out, I was wrong.
Cleo’s livid eyes turned from the patient who was now cowering on the floor, to me and he gave me one of the most venomous glares that I’d ever been the recipient of in my life. I would’ve shriveled back if the wall hadn’t held me in place.
Then he blinked, and the aggression was gone from his eyes. It’d morphed into concern the minute I’d flinched from him.
“Are you okay?” He asked.
I nodded, but the commotion of security stole my reply.
“What happened?” Craig, the oldest security guard in the entire place, asked.
No wonder it’d taken so long.
The man was a nice person and all, but he had no business being here. He was nearly eighty, and he moved about as slow as a two-toed sloth.
Possibly even slower.
And asking that man to take you out to your car at night was just a suicide mission because I was fairly sure he shouldn’t be retaining a driver’s license.
“This man just tried to kill one of your nursing staff,” Cleo snapped.
He looked so damn good in his flight suit.
Not to mention th
e amount of authority that rolled off of him when he spoke.
“Where is the sitter that was supposed to be in here?” Cody asked from the doorway.
We all looked around, spotting the vacant chair that was now toppled over by the door.
Then a small voice from behind me said, “Here.”
I turned to survey the counter behind me and came to a stand slowly.
Then I reached forward and opened the cabinet to find the sitter, Audrey, stuffed inside.
“What are you doing in there?” I asked.
She blinked. “He stuffed me in here. I thought it was prudent to stay.”
She crawled out slowly and came to her full height, all 4’11 of her, and glared at the patient on the floor.
My height of 5’8 looked mammoth standing next to her small frame.
“Uhh,” Mona said smartly. “How about we get you both checked out just in case.”
“I’m fine,” we both said at the same time.
We shared a giggle, which was quickly cut short with Mona’s next statement.
“Actually, you’re bleeding, Rue. And Audrey, you have a pretty nifty bruise on your cheek. Let’s go,” Mona declared.
I looked down at my hand to see blood running down it in rivulets.
Huh, look at that. I thought.
We both went reluctantly, and I avoided Cleo’s eyes as I walked out of room 13 and into room 14 where I repeated the story of what had happened no less than fifteen times.
“Your man...he’s scary...and hot,” Audrey said.
Audrey was twenty and in school to be a nurse.
She was a cute, spunky little thing that was really fun to be around.
She made me want to be young again.
Not that twenty-eight wasn’t young, but it wasn’t twenty, either.
“Yeah, he’s pretty darn hot. But he’s not mine,” I tried.
She gave me a look that told me I was dumb if I believed what I’d just said.
Honestly, I didn’t know what Cleo and I were.
He’d dropped me off at home three days ago, and today was the first time I’d seen or heard from him. Granted, I hadn’t given him my number, but it hadn’t changed from a year ago, either. He also knew where I lived, and where I worked.
“Whatever you say,” she agreed, albeit reluctantly.
The cut on my arm only turned out to be a minor scrape. My best guess was that I’d hit it on the hardware that held the cabinet doors on, but that was the least of my worries.
The main one was now glaring at me from the doorway.
“What?” I asked.
His eyes flicked from me to Audrey, and then back to me.
“I have to go back to work. I’m flying today,” he said.
“What?” I asked in surprise.
I hadn’t known he was able to do that.
He nodded.
“Mack’s out with strep throat,” he looked at me pointedly.
I looked up at the ceiling. “Shit.”
But I mean, really, it wasn’t my fault...was it?
“They don’t have anybody else that can fly?” I asked in surprise.
He shook his head. “No. Actually, ten people are out right now with various illnesses. I’ve been working for three days straight.”
The wind in my sails died an agonizing death.
I was such a selfish little girl sometimes.
“Be careful, okay?” I asked.
He walked towards me, dropping his head to kiss me on the lips.
His lips tasted like Chapstick, and I wanted to lick them. Nonetheless, I squelched the urge, barely, and kissed him back the only way that was suitable for a work setting.
Chaste.
“I will,” he said before walking out the door.
“Not yours my ass,” Audrey coughed into her hand.
I gave her a quelling look. “Suck it.”
Chapter 11
Is horny an emotion?
-Secret thoughts of Rue Loden
Rue
Four more days passed before I saw him again.
However, this time it was because he was eating out.
With a girl.
And I was pissed.
Have you ever heard the term, Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned?
Well, I was about to show the entire restaurant just how truthful that statement was.
“What are you doing?” Cody hissed as I stopped walking in the direction of where our group from work was, and started walking in the direction of Cleo.
My eyes were glued on the young woman he had his arm around.
From the back, I couldn’t tell who she was, but it didn’t matter. Whomever it was, shouldn’t be sitting so close to someone that’s taken. Or someone that says he wants me back, that is.
I was nearly right up on her when I realized that the person Cleo had his arm around was his sister.
Immediately realizing I overreacted, I turned, disregarding the surprised faces of the men in the booth facing me.
One of them was Detective Rector, and the smile on his face let me know that he knew what I’d nearly done.
Well I hadn’t, which was why I turned and stuck my tongue out at him like a three year old, causing him to laugh his ass off, and the pretty brunette from the other day to look at him as if he was crazy.
“That was quick,” Cody said as I made it to the table. “Did you kick any ass in those two minutes?”
I sat down hard. “No. It was his sister. She ruins everything.”
Cody snorted into his drink.
I glared at him and reached forward for the Long Island Iced Tea he ordered me, sucking hard and fast on the tastiest thing I’d had in well over twelve hours.
“Ahh,” I sighed. “That’s good.”
“Whoa,” Cody said. “Slow down there, sister. Drunk is not sexy.”
I flipped him off. Who cared if I was drunk? It’d been nearly a week and a half since I’d seen Cleo outside of work, and there he was fucking hanging out with his sister instead of me.
Now that sounded selfish...but still.
The man hadn’t even texted.
“Out of all the freaking places, how do we keep up ending up in the same damn bars? This isn’t even the one they own,” I grumbled just before taking another deep sip of my tea.
Cody leaned back into his chair. “This is the cop hangout in Shreveport. And it’s the closest bar to the hospital. It always attracts a lot of people.”
“Harrumph,” I sighed as I leaned back in the chair. “I wanted to come here and drink and forget about him for a couple of hours. Not come here and see him out when he hasn’t had the decency to call me.”
“Would you like some wine with that cheese?” Cody asked sweetly.
I blinked. “Don’t you mean would you like some cheese with that whine?”
He shook his head no. “No, I mean the cheese dip is here. Do you want wine?”
“Oh,” I said with a blush staining my cheeks. “Yes, I would, thanks.”
Wine was the answer. No matter what the question was.
I reached down for my phone to see if maybe I’d just missed a call from Cleo when I realized that I didn’t even have my phone at all.
Shit.
Had I left it at work?
I thought about it for a few seconds while Cody spoke with the server and then came to a conclusion that I’d left it in my nursing bag.
It’d been raining when I left the hospital, and I’d dropped it in my bag when I’d reached for the small umbrella I kept for the occasions that it was needed.
“Hey,” I said standing up. “I’ll be right back. I left my phone in the car.”
Cody nodded. “Do you want me to order for you?”
I nodded. “Yes, please.”
Cody knew what I liked. Just as I knew what he liked.
I hurried out of the room, trying my hardest not to stare at the table in the corner, but failing miserably.
He was still sitting next
to his sister, his arm slung around her shoulders as they both spoke to Detective Rector and Torren.
Torren’s best feature was his hair. It was the color of black licorice, and there was just something about the way he always had it spiked up, whether he tried to make it that way or not, that I found so sexy.
He was cute, too.
Dark gray black eyes, an angular chin, dark stubbled jaw, and the cutest cleft chin that I’d ever seen.
His eyes were on Molly as if she were a mug of beer in the middle of a frat party.
In fact, if I had to make an educated guess, I’d bet that Torren was just as in love with Molly now as he was a couple of years ago.
If she wasn’t careful, she’d lose him before she even got him.
Which, I thought, she had a very good chance of doing.
The air was cool once I hit the outside air, and it was extra dark due to the storm still ravaging the night sky.
Opening my flimsy umbrella, I made my way to my car cursing myself for not bringing my good umbrella that spanned about four feet.
“Hey, you got a light?” A man said from his car as I passed.
I shook my head. “Nope. Sorry.”
A fat droplet of rain hit me in the face just as I reached the car, and I opened the door without looking, dropping down into the opening.
I lost the grasp I had on the umbrella as the wind gusted particularly hard, and I slammed my car door shut.
“I should just go home,” I grumbled as I watched my pretty pink umbrella tumble down the parking lot.
Sighing, I reached for my bag, digging down to the very bottom.
“There you are, you slippery little bastard,” I murmured.
Clicking the center button, my phone lit up.
Four missed calls.
“Oops,” I said as I opened the phone app.
It wasn’t who I’d thought it was, though. It was Audrey telling me she was running a few minutes late.
Clicking Audrey’s name, I listened to the phone as it rang and rang, finally being picked up by her voicemail. “Hey, it’s me. I was just returning your call. I’m not going to be at the bar. I think I’m just going to go home.”
My next call was to Cody.
“Hello?” He answered on the fourth ring.
“Hey,” I hesitated. “I might have accidentally lost my umbrella...and I’m wearing white scrubs, so there’s no way I’m coming back in there.”
Life to My Flight Page 9