Page 96 of Always Salty

“Fuck,” she breathed as she scrambled up.

I noticed that she was in hospital scrubs that were two sizes too small for her, as she made her way to her shoes in the corner of the room.

Her shoes, however, were what caught my attention.

They were covered in what looked like rusty red…

“Is that blood?” I asked.

Reign’s shoulders drooped. “Yeah.”

“What’s going on, Reign?” I pushed.

She swallowed hard and stared at her shoes for a long moment before she said, “I was in a car accident.”

“What happened?” I asked just as the door to the lounge opened back up and Chevy came back inside.

I looked from Chevy to Reign, back to Chevy.

“Explain,” I snapped at the two of them.

I didn’t care that Reign was in an accident. What I cared about was how my brother was looking at the woman that I would’ve sworn on my life would’ve ended up with Copper.

“Shit.” Chevy ran his hands over his face. “It’s…”

“Complicated,” Reign finished.

I looked from her to Chevy and said, “We just got him back, Chevy.”

Chevy looked sick. “I know.”

“Fix it,” I said. Then I turned to Reign and said, “Copper officially just moved into your building.”

Oh, and you’re about to start working for us…

She deflated. “Fuck.”

I turned to Chevy.

“Don’t be stupid, Chevy. If this is what you want, fine. But don’t be fuckin’ stupid.” I gathered my shoe that’d fallen off, slipped it onto my foot, and walked out.

I walked straight to the place we’d been intending to go eat at and purchased some pastries, then I made my way back to the office.

I found Copper in his office, staring at the wall.

“I loved her with my whole heart,” he said. “Still do…”

I placed the pastries on the desk in front of him and said, “You need to talk to Chevy.”

“If I talk to Chevy right now, I might hurt him, and he doesn’t deserve that,” he confessed.

“Then what are you going to do?” I asked.

“I don’t know.”

I left him alone after that, reaching for my phone the minute I left his office.

I called Dima since I still hadn’t heard from him, and a strange man answered the phone.

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