Page 15 of First Surrender

“Why?” The disbelief in my voice cannot be hidden. I can’t fathom why he is so willing to help us.

“Because he’s too young to drive…”

This fucker wants me to fight him. Clearly, he has a death wish. “Yes, Jackson Small Dick, I know that. Why are you doing all of this?”

“Dec is my friend. This is what friends do. Now, eat your food. Get some beauty sleep because you need it.” He doesn’t even humor me by looking in my direction after that little dig. If he did, he’d get both of my middle fingers this time.

“You’re a child, do you know that?”

“No, you can see that I am a 32-year-old man. You can reference the picture of my ID again if you miss my face after we leave.” He puts his cards away, avoiding seeing my locked jaw.

“Give us a minute. I’m not asking.” I bark at him. He looks at me finally, nodding his head before stepping out of the room. I ignore the pity in his eyes.

“Hey, Dec. You’re going to have a sleepover at Jackson’s house. Are you okay with that?” I look at my brother closely, trying to gauge his response.

“Without you?”

“Yeah. He’ll take you to school tomorrow.”

“Okay.”

“Just, okay?” I ask, softly.

“I like him but I’m sad you can’t come.” He shrugs his little shoulders.

“I know but I’ll be okay. The doctors will get me out of here quickly. Then we’ll be back to normal tomorrow.”

“Where will we live?”

“I don’t know but I’ll figure it out. I always do, don’t I?” I hug him tightly, hoping like hell it’s not a lie.

Chapter Nine

Jackson

Istep into the hospital with steel in my spine, preparing for the battle that I’m about to partake in at 8:30 in the morning. My house guest was a delight, the complete opposite of his sister. I sent him off to school this morning with a belly full of donuts and a flash of my cruiser lights, making him and his friends shout excitedly as they ran inside the school.

Natalie, however, has probably been fueling up all night to kick me in the teeth as soon as I walk through this door. Except, her back is turned when I walk in. She’s dressed and looks ready to leave, sitting atop her blankets.

I place a cup of coffee down gently on her table, waiting for her to strike. It’s supposed to be a cushion. A peace offering before we start this back and forth, but she still doesn’t turn around. “Are you good to go?”

She doesn’t respond, staring blankly at the windows that harshly light the room. I walk around her bed to see her straight on and her face is pale. Her normally darkly lined eyes are bare and hollow. She obviously didn’t get any sleep last night. She’s staring vacantly through me as if I’m not even here.

“Nat?”

“Go where?” She sighs. All the usual fire is gone. She didn’t even react to me using the nickname she seemingly hates.

“I can take you to a hotel. Until you get on your feet.”

“I can’t afford that. I’m barely getting by as is. Now I’ll need to replace all of Dec’s stuff that got ruined.”

“You didn’t have renter’s insurance?”

She huffs a sad laugh in response. “No. I didn’t even realize that I needed it. I’m so fucking stupid.”

She’s not my favorite person. She drives me mad, but I don’t like this side of her. I’ll throw an insult or two at her but I don’t like it when she does it to herself. It’s not as satisfying.

“You’ll figure it out. You always do, right? That’s what you told Dec last night.”

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