Page 21 of Guarded By Them

I clocked the name on her shirt. “Sure thing, Libby.”

Satisfied, she went away and left us to eat.

Chapter Seven

Rue

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I HATED THE GUYS FIGHTING.

A part of me wondered if it was like being a child and hearing your parents argue and being frightened that they were going to divorce. Not that the guys were anything like my parents, of course, but I didn’t know what I would do if they fell out badly enough for one or more of them to want to walk away. What would happen to me then? It wasn’t as though I could ever choose between them.

The coffee was hot and sweet and strong, and the food the waitress brought was delicious, too. We ate in a silence, each of us lost in thought, and too hungry to waste time talking when we could be eating.

I was worried about Ryan, though. He was clearly in pain, and Dillon was right when he suggested getting him checked out. What if the swelling got worse, and put Ryan out of action altogether? It was better that he got it seen to.

I wanted to suggest that to him, but I was frightened of his reaction. I hadn’t missed how everyone had turned and looked at us when he’d slammed his fist down on the table, and right now we didn’t need to attract any unwanted attention. It wasn’t only the Capello brothers or Joe Nettie’s men we needed to be fearful of. There were several weapons and a big bag of cash sitting in the booth beside us—Kodee hadn’t wanted to leave anything in the car—together with fake passports and the start of my forged passport, too. If we were stopped and searched, it was enough reason to arrest us. It wasn’t even that I was afraid of getting arrested. It was more the reality of that if we were, I’d be separated from the guys. I could probably handle us all being locked up together, but that was never going to happen.

“Everyone done?” Kodee asked, looking around.

“Yeah, I’m stuffed.” I placed my hands on my belly. There was a definite food baby growing inside there.

He signaled the waitress for the check then threw some bills on the table. “That should cover it. Let’s get out of here.”

Ryan pulled himself out of the booth and straightened. I tried not to stare at him, knowing he hated any unwanted attention, but I couldn’t miss the signs as he limped across the restaurant toward the exit. His face was pinched, his skin pale. I exchanged a worried glance with Kodee, who only shrugged. What could we do? We couldn’t bully Ryan into going to the hospital, could we?

We made it back to the car, and I sat in the backseat with Ryan. He reached down to lift his stump and the prosthetic leg up onto the seat.

“Why don’t you take off the leg?” I suggested, hoping he wasn’t going to snap at me for saying it. “It doesn’t look like it’s comfortable to wear right now.”

Ryan shook his head. “I can’t.”

“Why not?” Did he mean he wasn’t physically able to remove it? I didn’t understand.

“What if Joe Nettie’s men or the Capello brothers catch up with us and I’ve only got one leg? How do you think I’m going to be able to protect you if I can’t even stand on two feet?”

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