Page 173 of Cook

“Cook,” she murmured, looking away.

“Are you disobeying me, baby girl?”

She glanced up, hiding under her long dark eyelashes. Her eyeswere wet, cheeks swollen. Her face was red tinged. How long had she been crying because of me? She gnawed on her bulging bottom lip, and if I wasn’t tied up in all these tubes, I would lunge at her and kiss her deeply. Instead, I was locked down, like a weak and sick man.

“No, Daddy,” murmured Maddie, and she crawled off the seat beside my bed and curled up on my good side.

She was careful, but the smallest movement on the bed hurt my body. It was like my nerve endings had been set on fire. I fought off a groan as she shifted. Finally, like a nesting dog, she slumped into the bed beside me. Her head rested on my good shoulder.

“Is this all right?” she whispered.

“Yes, baby girl,” I said, ignoring the pain. Where the fuck were the pain killers?

But as quick as the pain blazed through me, it cooled with Maddie beside me. She was a salve, leeching away my pain. I could’ve died right here and now with her in my arms and been a complete man.

After a moment of just us, Maddie said, “The others are outside. If you want to see them.”

“Eventually,” I said, tightening my hold on her shoulder.

“And your mom.”

“Is she okay?”

“She’s good now. Roni is making sure her meds are balanced.”

I dragged my hand down her body, feeling the ridges of her ribs and hardened edge of her hipbone. I cupped her ass. She leaned in on me, her thigh resting on the top of my leg.

“What is it, nizhóní?”

“We were all so worried . . .”

“But?”

“But I learned something about you today.” Her voice was soft, her breath lilting against my skin. “And your mom. Or maybe I learned it a long time ago at her house in Phoenix. But I didn’t realize it.”

I fought the tension that crept into my spine. Moving would make the pain so much worse. “What did you learn, baby girl?”

She mumbled something, but I wasn’t sure I heard her right.

“Say that again. Louder.”

“I understand why you got upset when I called you Daddy.”

I went rigid then until the pain bit me hard. “Ow, fuck!”

“I’m sorry,” she said immediately and tried to slip away.

I held on tighter. “Not...your... fault.” I took a couple of deep breaths until I could speak again. “Tell me more about that.”

“It’s just that your mom.” Her eyes flitted up to mine.

“Go on.”

“She’s been hurt, right?”

“Yeah,” I wheezed.

“And you too.”

---