Page 90 of Five Mountain Daddies

“Jesus, Samuel,” I whisper. “Whathappened?”

He shrugs, wincing again, and glances away. “Occupational hazard,” hesays.

“This happened in themine?”

“No.” His gaze meets mine again. “This is because ofyou.”

That sends a shockwave running down my spine. “I had nothing to do with this,” I say, stepping towardhim.

“I know that,” he says, sighing. “But there are people that don’t want me anywhere near you.” He gives me a serious look and I know exactly who he’s talkingabout.

Anger spills through me. “He wouldn’t,” Isay.

“He would. Big business has a long history of beating and breaking unions any way they can, including this.” He gestures at hisbandages.

I sit at the end of his bed, feeling shocked, outraged, furious. I knew Ingram was a pretty bad guy, but this is too far. This is criminal, and wrong on so manylevels.

But Samuel doesn’t seem too upset about it. In fact, he’s still grinning, and despite his bruises, he’s still as handsome as ever. He’s practically glowing, actually, and I find myself intensely attracted to him despiteeverything.

“We’ll stop him,” I say suddenly. “We can go to the police. I’ll back youup.”

He laughs ruefully. “No, we can’t. Who do you think actually did thekicking?”

I gape at him. “The… police attackedyou?”

“Three dirty cops did,” he says. “This is how this town works, Amelia. It’s corrupt to the heart of it. We can try to make it better, but we’re fighting a losingbattle.”

“No,” I whisper. “That’s nottrue.”

“Yes, it is.” He looks at me, suddenly angry. “Men like Ingram always win. Don’t you understand thatyet?”

“He doesn’t have to win here. You have me on yourside.”

He softens a little bit at that. “I know, but it might not beenough.”

I grip his comforter and stare at him. “I won’t let thisgo.”

“Good. Neither willI.”

I chew on my lip for a second. “Where do we go fromhere?”

“We play ball,” he says. “We negotiate, make a contract, keep movingforward.”

“And let himwin?”

“I didn’t say that.” He sighs. “I don’t know what I’msaying.”

I stand up. “I’ll go. I probably shouldn’t havecome.”

He looks at me. “I’m glad youdid.”

I stare back. “Yeah. I’m glad I didtoo.”

For a second, I want to go around the bed and kiss him. But instead, I turn and walk away, leaving his room and shutting his door behindme.

Later, in the car, after I’ve calmed down a little bit, I remember what he said. He got attacked because of me. I don’t know exactly what he meant by that, but I canguess.

Ingram knows that I like Samuel. He knows we have a good relationship, and he wants to break us apart, because we might be able to beat him if we work together. Of course, he has no clue about the baby inside of me. He has no clue how deep and intense my bond with Samuel isbecoming.

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