Page 165 of My Cowboy Freedom
Chapter 38
Sky
In the ER, I waited. One arm was wrapped in a soft cast and the other handcuffed to the bed frame. A sheriff’s deputy stood outside the door.
No one had come to my room since they’d finished fixing up my arm.
Somewhere, Elena was getting looked over. Probably Chandler as well, He’d worked so hard, trying to tell everyone what was what, he probably needed his blood pressure checked.
The nice thing was they gave me the good kind of painkillers. My arm throbbed dully but the wrenching, truly sick-making pain was a memory. I’d always been kind of glad you can’t remember physical pain. You rememberfeelingpain, but it can’t hurt you anymore.
Good thing. Otherwise, our memories would be harmful to our health.
Physical pain is awful. But then it leaves.
Emotional pain does encores.
I heard loud voices in the hall. Laughter as someone passed by the door. She was heading to Labor and Delivery, judging from her very pregnant body and the way she was saying, “Fuck this shit. I don’t wanna do this no more.”
Rock was out there, somewhere. In trouble for what he’d done to Lefty’s truck. He had to be sick with worry over Elena. He was already under so much strain, what with his parents’ home-conversion therapy and Chandler’s health. Elena was his touchstone and without her, he was probably feeling alone.
I wonder if he’s going to think I abandoned him.
If he’s going to think I left him because hitting Lefty meant more to me than he does.
I wanted to tell him nothing could be further from the truth.
I’d never do anything to make Rock sad, except... Goddamn reflexes.
Andi and Ryder and Declan had arrived earlier. I’d seen them walk past. Maybe they were taking care of Rock. Probably they were.
I shouldn’t think I could do a better job than them, but I did.
Nobody could ever take better care of Rock than me.
I got him.
He didn’t need babysitters and rules about how to save his soul. He just needed someone to clear away everything that kept him from being Rock.
And I was a little proud because I saw that from the very beginning.
Precious gems just need a little love to shine.
The chance to be Rock’s man, the guy who gave him what he needed, was what the temporary satisfaction of punching Lefty Wheeler was going to cost me.
Plus, it was going to cost me even more time. Not just my stretch, but an added sentence for losing control and hitting. More time,worsetime because it was a second offense. Unprotected time, because ’Nando wouldn’t know me no more.
The one thing that made it worthwhile was knowing Lefty Wheeler was going to do time too.
Between Elena’s accident, and the assault on Rock. Maybe they’d even charge him with a hate crime. If I knew about those, then Declan surely would. Rock was going to see to it that Lefty got punished, because once Rock got ahold of himself, he’d started laying out every awful, bullying thing Lefty’d done since Rock came to town.
A lot of it, even Elena didn’t know anything about.
Tripping. Spilling drinks. Pushing.
Once, according to Rock, Lefty’d even made veiled threats against Maisy—something about meat, laced with poison and how that would be real easy for someone to do. How they’d never get caught.
I’d wanted to leap out of the patrol car and kill Lefty when I heard that. What kind of sick motherfucker talks about poisoning a service dog?
