Bad Apple (The Uncertain Saints MC #4)

by Lani Lynn Vale

  My body turned, allowing me to survey Kitt’s injuries.

  She was awake and conscious, and I knew that she wasn’t in a good place.

  “You scared the shit out of me,” I blurted. “And Emily puked all over the back of the truck.”

  Her mouth curved up at the edges, and a smile broke out over her face.

  It was the most beautiful sight in the world.

  Walking carefully toward her, I sat down on the edge of her hospital bed and stared deeply into her eyes.

  “I don’t like what your eyes are telling me,” I told her softly.

  She looked haunted, and I didn’t like that. Not even a little bit.

  Not when that haunted look would normally mean very bad things if it’d been reversed and on my face.

  “Talk to me, momma,” I said softly.

  Her eyes closed, and then reopened.

  “I’m a menace to society,” she whispered brokenly.

  “How do you figure?” I asked.

  She swallowed hard.

  “I killed Corey,” she whispered. “I almost killed my baby.” She scrubbed her hands over her face. “And I almost killed my brother today. And I’m only getting worse!”

  I caught her hand that had flailed out to the side and brought it up to my lips.

  “You’re not a menace to society,” I said. “And I think it’s time for a second opinion. You’ve been with this doctor in Dallas for a while now, and I think it’s time to use someone else’s knowledge and hope that maybe they can find the answers that your other doctor can’t.”

  She closed her eyes.

  “And what if they don’t have any idea, either?” She whispered brokenly.

  I was about to reply when Kitt’s face turned to her brother and she snapped, “Language!”

  I turned too, noticing that the floor was covered in spit up and that a nurse had quite a bit of it dripping down her pant leg into her shoe.

  Ridley’s eyes were focused on the nurse like a predator, and I sat there, stunned, to see anything other than indifference on his face when it came to a woman.

  “Apple.”

  I turned back to Kitt, raising my brow at her.

  “What?” I asked.

  “You didn’t answer. What if the other doctor doesn’t have any idea, either?” She pushed.

  “Then we worry about that when it happens. Don’t borrow trouble.”

  ***

  Kitt

  Two days later, I found myself at my new doctor’s office.

  “Hello, dear. It’s nice to meet you. Would you come in?” My new doctor, Dr. Pierce, smiled and waved his hand for me to enter.

  We both followed him in and took seats directly across the desk from him.

  My belly was turning as I stared at him.

  The nurse that my daughter had puked on last night had recommended Dr. Pierce, and he’d worked me in the very next morning.

  After reviewing my chart, he’d called and asked me to meet him at his office at eight this morning. I was also instructed not to take any of my medications and to eat normally with no caffeine intake.

  So I’d done as instructed, and now here I sat, tired and nervous as hell, Apple at my side.

  Then again, that’s where he’d been since my accident yesterday morning.

  Apple, somehow sensing my thoughts were on him, grabbed my hand and squeezed it lightly, giving me strength that I didn’t know I needed.

  I gave him a quick smile, letting him know that I was all right and turned back to the doctor who was shuffling papers around on his desk.

  “I had the nurse pull your blood work from the accident two months ago, and the blood work from yesterday, as well as the last set of blood work we ran on you about a month prior to finding out that you were pregnant,” he started.

  I nodded.

  He continued after making sure I comprehended where he was.

  “Your hormone levels are back to normal,” he said.

  “If that’s the case, why in the hell is she still having seizures since that was the previous doctor’s only guess as to why she was having the seizures during her pregnancy?” Apple asked.

  There was no beating around the bush for Apple. The man was like a bull in a china shop when it came to getting information that he wanted or needed.

  “I’m getting there,” he said, holding up a finger. “I’ve got some good news and some not so good news,” he proceeded.

  “Okay,” I cleared my throat. “What’s the bad news?”

  He smiled.

  “The medication you’ve been taking since you had your daughter hasn’t been correct. In fact, it’s not even a little bit correct. The pharmacy misread the doctor’s handwriting and has been giving you something that’s supposed to control anxiety, not your seizures, which is why you’ve had poor success with this medication regimen.”

  My mouth dropped open.

  Surely I hadn’t heard him correctly, right?

  But he wasn’t laughing.

  Not even a little bit.

  And the man at my side sure wasn’t laughing.

  “You’re telling me she hasn’t been getting the correct medications all this time?” Apple asked in outrage.

  The doctor held his hand up.

  “Yes and no,” he said.

  Apple narrowed his eyes. “Explain.”

  Dr. Pierce held up his hand. “First, I want to know what your diet was like when you were pregnant.”

  I blinked, turning to survey him more completely.

  “Normal, I guess. I ate fruit and or oatmeal in the morning. Normally, a sandwich and chips for lunch, and whatever we had for dinner. Pizza. Meat loaf. I didn’t cut out any foods or anything. Why?” I asked.

  “What kind of fruit?” Dr. Pierce asked.

  I shrugged.

  “Sometimes oranges. Grapefruit mostly. That seemed to be the one thing I craved throughout the pregnancy,” I murmured. “Grapes were a third favorite.”

  Something in his body changed, and I knew something in the explanation I’d just given him had been the cause of that change.

  “Grapefruit is contraindicated to take with the seizure meds you were on,” he explained. “Didn’t your previous doctor explain that?”

  “I know,” I nodded. “That’s what the nurse kept telling me every time she gave me some pamphlets and sample drugs when I visited their office.”

  He winced.

  “Contraindicated is not a good thing. Contraindicated means you should not be taking, using or eating them with the meds that you were on,” he explained gently.

  My belly dropped out from under me as I stared at him in shock.

  “So you’re telling me I did this all to myself?” I gasped in shock.

  He shook his head.

  “No,” he held up his hand. “That’s not what I said. What I’m trying to explain is that the grapefruit juice interacts with the medication impairing the way they respond in your body. They don’t necessarily render them completely ineffective, though. Pairing the ineffectiveness of the meds with the hormone levels and adding in the changes in you during your pregnancy, it only exacerbated the issues you already had.”

  I shook my head.

  “What about the meds after she had the baby?” Apple broke in. “You said she was getting the wrong meds. And I know for a fact that she stopped eating grapefruit nearly the instant she had Emily.”

  “Her system showed a high dose of an anti-anxiety medication. Normally, the two alone would both treat the disorder, but when combined they counteracted each other, changing the levels of the medicine her body would need to treat the seizures in the first place,” he said. “Essentially, she wasn’t getting enough medication, and the more seizures she had, the more she exacerbated the problem, causing even more seizures to happen.”

  We sat there, silent, as we processed that information.

  “So what now?” I finally
asked when I couldn’t come up with anything else to say.

  “Now, we wean you off the medicines completely. I want to see how you do without any medicine at all,” he answered.

  I nodded.

  “Then what?” I asked.

  “Then we’ll see.”

  Chapter 20

  And I was like ‘whatever bitches’ and the bitches whatevered.

  -E-card

  Kitt

  “Do you mind packing me a lunch?” Apple asked me. “I’m running late as fuck this morning.”

  He ripped off the shirt that Emily had just projectile vomited on and started hurrying for the bedroom all the while Ridley looked on with laughing eyes.

  “You’re such a shithead,” I told my brother.

  My brother shrugged unrepentantly. “I’m just glad it wasn’t me.”

  I grunted and walked to the counter, easily making him two peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

  The next thing to go onto the counter was a large thermos of milk. I wasn’t sure if he packed that or not, but I knew when he was at home, he had milk with his sandwiches.

  I followed the two sandwiches up with a Ziploc bag of barbeque chips and a banana.

  “Will you grab me a bag out of there?” I asked Ridley.

  Ridley grabbed a Walmart sack out of the cabinet where we kept them and tossed it at me.

  It went about half the distance it should’ve gone, meaning it fell at my feet.

  I sighed and picked it up off the floor and stood up to find Ridley holding the banana in one hand with a Sharpie in the other.

  “What are you writing on that?” I asked warningly.

  Ridley grinned and tossed the banana into the bag, which I immediately took out and read.

  “Seriously?” I asked him.

  He shrugged.

  “I don’t see the big deal,” he said.

  “You put this banana to shame,” I read the banana. “You think that’s acceptable to put on a man’s banana?”

  We both paused for long seconds before we both burst out laughing.

  Shoving the banana in the bag with the chips, sandwiches, and thermos of milk, I tied it shut and held it out just as Apple came rushing in.

  “It’s time,” Apple agreed, shrugging on a fresh shirt. “And you need to tell that jackwad Jake not to call anymore or I’ll kick his fucking ass.”

  I snorted.

  Calling Jake a ‘jackwad’ was an understatement. I would classify him more as a rodent. Or a roach.

  I was seriously tired of answering the man’s phone calls. The more he called, the less polite I was.

  If he called me today, let’s just say that I wouldn’t be responsible for what I did.

  “I’ll handle it,” Ridley promised.

  “Thanks, baby,” Apple said as he took the sack from my hand.

  With a quick peck on my lips, he exited the kitchen through the garage.

  Short seconds later I heard the roar of his engine rumble to life, and then he was gone.

  “What’s he got going today?” Ridley questioned as he started to make his own lunch.

  He grabbed the leftover steak and potatoes from yesterday’s dinner and tucked it under his arm.

  “Something about a presentation at the wildlife refuge,” I told him. “And he has to meet his superior in Longview for lunch.”

  He stopped, eyebrows rising.

  “And who’s staying with you?” He demanded.

  I grinned.

  “I’m staying by myself!” I grinned excitedly.

  His eyes became wary, and then he looked to the video monitors we’d just canceled the service for yesterday, and then back to me.

  “Are you sure that’s wise?” He asked warily.

  I nodded.

  “It is,” I agreed. “It’s time.”

  It’d been three months and some change since I’d stopped my medication completely and not one single time had I had a seizure.

  Not. Freaking. Once.

  And I’d never in my life been more ecstatic.

  Well, kind of.

  Last week, Emily had mastered the art of sitting up all by herself, and I had to say, that was a pretty exciting day in the Drew/Walker household.

  “I won’t be able to come check on you today. I will be busy all day,” Ridley glared.

  My brows rose.

  “Hot date?” I asked him teasingly.

  I knew he had a crush on the cute little nurse that we’d met at the hospital those few short months ago, but he’d been really secretive about it.

  “Not exactly,” he hedged. “I’ll discuss it with you and Apple when I get home,” his lips thinned. “Give that kid to me so I can give her a kiss.”

  I handed her over, watching with happiness in my eyes as he gave her a sloppy wet kiss that she thought was the best thing in the entire world.

  She giggled a deep belly laugh that was like tinkling bells to my ears, and then passed her back to me.

  “Be good,” he narrowed his eyes. “And, swear to God, you get into trouble today, I’m never forgiving you.”

  I snorted.

  “Yes, dad.”

  He pointed at me with a stiffened finger.

  “Careful, kid.”

  I raised my hands in a haunted fashion.

  “I’m shaking in my boots.”

  ***

  I sat on the couch, stunned.

  “You’re…joking, right?” I asked my brother who’d just dropped a fucking bombshell on us.

  He blinked, and then shook his head.

  “No. Not kidding,” he said. “Our brother’s a fucking dumbass, and I have to fix this.”

  I was shaking my head before he’d even finished.

  “You don’t have to fix a goddamned thing that that stupid man has done,” I hissed. “He’s no one to us. No one.”

  Ridley’s lips tightened.

  “It’s not just about Connor,” he murmured softly. Taking a deep breath, he released it and then glanced at Apple before turning back to me. “This has everything to do with the stupid mother fucker, Hanson Coller.”

  The name Hanson Coller sent ice through my veins.

  “Apple,” I interrupted. “Can you give me a few minutes with Ridley alone?”

  Apple glanced at me, then to Ridley, before nodding.

  “Yeah,” he agreed. “I’ll give you a few. I’ll get Emily ready for bed.”

  With that he was gone, and I was left staring at my brother.

  “You’re going to put your foot into it, and it’s going to backfire on not just you, but that nurse you’re trying to hide that you’re seeing,” I said softly.

  His eyes, already haunted with demons from his past, clouded over more.

  “Don’t worry about her.”

  I rolled my eyes.

  “I hope you know what you’re doing,” my breath hitched.

  He looked over at me, and his eyes trailed over my face, down to my hands that were wringing together in my lap, then back up to my eyes.

  “I do,” he promised.

  I got up, and he followed suit.

  He opened his arms, and I walked straight into them.

  He hugged me tight, gave me one last kiss on the forehead and then let me go before saying, “Now go to Apple and fill him in on my life story so I don’t have to.”

  I snorted and punched him lightly in the gut.

  “Yes, dad.”

  He smacked me upside the head.

  Softly, but still.

  “Watch it,” I warned him with a pointed finger.

  He winked and I grinned, going upstairs with my belly rolling at knowing what my brother was about to do.

  “Shit.”

  “What?” Apple asked, startling me.

  I gasped and turned just in time to be gathered into Apple’s arms.

  “Emily’s down for the night. You okay?”

  I shook
my head.

  “My brother’s doing something stupid,” I whispered back to him.

  “Ridley’s not Connor,” he said.

  I nodded.

  And I knew that.

  Connor was Ridley’s twin, and my older brother. A brother that I didn’t know well, because Ridley protected me from him.

  A brother that I only had bad memories of, and I never thought about because he wasn’t much of a brother to me at all and had been even less of a brother to Ridley.

  Meaning, I barely, if ever, thought about him.

  And, if I was being honest, didn’t want to talk about him, either.

  I’d given Apple the details of my brother months ago during a conversation that came up about Emily’s living family members.

  So Apple knew that Connor wasn’t a beloved member of our family. That Connor had terrorized Ridley all because he could and there was no love lost between us.

  “I know,” I said to Apple. “Let’s go to bed.”

  Apple picked me up around the waist and took me into our room, laying me gently down onto the bed before following me down.

  “You happy, pretty girl?” He looked into my eyes.

  “I was until my brother told me he was going to go undercover in a prison to try to get back at the man that was responsible for killing his wife,” I conceded.

  Apple kissed me full on my lips, and then leaned back far enough to look into my eyes.

  My breathing was faster, and my heart was definitely pounding, just from one tiny little kiss.

  Apple had the power to undo me, though, and I found that I quite liked that.

  “Let’s go to bed,” he ordered roughly, pulling me to my feet so we could both strip out of our clothes.

  I followed him to the bathroom, tossing my puke stained shirt into the hamper.

  He waited until I was inside before pushing the door closed.

  The moment the door latched behind me, I found myself with my back pressed up against the wall, my legs wrapped around Apple’s hips.

  “Condoms,” I breathed. “We need condoms.”

  “Got it,” he growled against my lips, licking along the seam.

  My eyes closed and my mouth dropped open, surrendering to his advances.

  “You’re sure about this?” I asked him. “I…”