Page 44 of Sinners Keepers
The doorbell rang, startling me. My anxiety spiked immediately. I didn't have experience with meeting any significant other’s parents. Mattia’s parents were long dead before we’d ever met, not to mention the fact that he was in no waysignificantto me. Ijah was the only real boyfriend I'd ever had and we simply hadn't made it to that point. I stood, straightened my clothes, and raked my fingers through my hair, hoping I looked at least halfway decent.
Law tugged at the hem of my shirt. “Relax.”
“Pfft. Easy for you to say.”
“It won’t be as bad as you think. My mo—”
Whatever he'd intended to say about his mom was cut off. He was mid-sentence when she swept into the room, her bright eyes, rosy cheeks, and infectious grin changing the entire atmosphere.
“Nelia?!” I was dumbfounded.
Nelia. My nurse. Was Law’smom?
Oh my god, of course she was.
She swept me up into the biggest bear hug. I was momentarily too shocked to hug her back, but when she didn’t immediately release me I snapped out of it and wrapped my arms around her. The warmth of her embrace was comforting.
She held me at arm’s length, giving me a solid once-over. Once she was satisfied I was all in one piece and well, she moved on to Law.
“Wait a damn minute,” I said to literally every single fucking person in the room. “I have questions.”
Nelia crouched down next to Law and began inspecting his wounds.
She lightly trailed her fingertips along his chest, then moved down to his stomach, probing and pressing gently. He tensed as her fingers found the most tender spots, flinching away from her touch.
She shone a small flashlight from the outer edge of each of his eyes inward, then pulled a stethoscope from the bag she'd carried in and laid it against his chest. She noted his breathing rate and temperature before also checking his blood pressure. Satisfied that he was stable and in no immediate need of medical attention, she said, "I don’t think you have a concussion or any other serious internal injuries, so we're good to keep an eye on you here for a few days. But if at any point I decide that has changed, you will go in. Immediately. No questions asked."
"Yes, Mother," he said, giving her a mock salute.
"Now," she said, turning away from him and back to me. “Questions?”
She continued to catch me off guard.
“So many questions,” I replied. I paused to gather my thoughts. “And… all of them arewhat the fuck?”
Alec chuckled, coming up behind me to massage my shoulders. “You’re wondering why she helped you run away from me?”
“Well. That’s a great place to start,” I said.
Nelia shot daggers at Alec. “If he was stupid enough to make the mistake of saying things you didn’t need to hear in a space where you were incredibly likely to hear them, that was on him. What was I supposed to do? Tell you that you were delusional when you were finally ready to be discharged? I wasn’t setting you backweeksof progress just because he chose to be a dipshit that morning.”
Law chuckled. “You were never in any danger, love.”
“Oh, of course not,” Nelia added.
I gasped, recalling my encounter with Law that same day. I turned to him. He had the audacity to seem almost cheeky about it. “The nerve of you to basically tackle me and hog tie me when I had a brain injury. What the fuck?”
“You did what now?” Nelia asked, rounding on her son.
He cowered, holding up his hands in submission. “Listen, I was just playing the part. Do you think she would have listened to me if I’d attempted to sit her down and have a gentle conversation with her about why she needed to come home with us?No. She literally threw a shoe at me.Twoshoes, actually. And one of them hit me in the crotch!”
Nelia scoffed, flicking his ear as she passed him on her way out of the room. “You’re lucky you’re injured right now. Between the two of you, I don’t know which is worse,” she said to Alec and Law. I wondered if she had the full story about how I’d gained my memories back. I was guessing not, because she’d have likely had some strong words for Ijah as well.
“Are you hungry, Nelia?” Ijah asked, following her to the kitchen.
“I’m hungry!” Alec called after them. “Are you hungry, Hunny Bee?” he asked me.
“Oh, I’m fine,” Law said sarcastically. “Don’t mind me, not hungry or in need of anything at all. I’ll just find my way to my room by myself. I can totally climb up all those stairs without assistance. Not like I was pumped full of rock salt andburied alivein a fuckinghauntedcemetery or anything.”
