Page 140 of Roses Are Dead
It was an hour before Wolf showed up with his wife in tow. Tits flashed me a grin and disappeared.
“Where is she heading?”
“She hates hospitals. Did you know that?”
Wolf’s tone was not jovial, certainly not forthcoming, and that set me off. “No one asked her to show up.”
“She’s meeting your lawyer outside, asshole.”
Oh. Good. “Are you sure you want that?” I eyeballed him, not daring to back down because there’s one thing Wolf respected more than respect, and that was strength. I’d shown enough weakness tonight.
“Yeah. Can’t have my VP in jail, can I?”
I let out a cautious breath. “I missed the meeting.”
“Yeah, well, KC stuck up for you. Once he voted your way, everyone else caved.”
I cleared my throat. “He shouldn’t have done that.”
Wolf studied me for almost a minute before speaking. “He’s staying.”
Thank the Gods.
The silence stretched out longer than it should. “Is someone checking on Rose?”
Wolf sighed and crossed his arms. “I thought you two were done.”
We might be. “She got hit by lightning.”
He stared at me. His gaze dropped to my necklace. “I’m never giving you shit about your religion again.”
“Fuck you.” I couldn’t help what happened next. A laugh leaked out. It was so damn tragic, and unbelievable that I couldn’t stop. On the heels of its giggling death came a sob. I couldn’t help that either. It caught in my throat and I coughed. Smoke and the smell of burnt hair clung to my lungs, and I wanted to get rid of all of it. I puked onto the floor and still couldn’t get my breath.
“Nurse! Someone!”
They strapped me down and secured an oxygen mask to my face. My head swam. Wolf leaned over me, holding one hand tight. “Stay with me. This isn’t going to kill you. You hear me?”
In reply, I lifted my middle finger. It stuck out of his grip. He felt the movement, turned my hand to witness it sticking out, and laughed. “You’ll live.” He sat back down, still holding onto my hand, but making room for the team of doctors to hook me up to more monitors and shit.
Hours later, they deemed me fit enough to discharge. The smoke inhalation symptoms had subsided, and my head scans were clear. I had a minor concussion, but responded well despite that. The cuts on my skull took fourteen stitches to close. I looked like a black and blue Frankenstein once they were done. I lingered in the lounge near Rose’s room.
She was admitted for observation. Her heartbeat was irregular, her hearing impacted, and she was having trouble seeing out of her right eye. Her concussion was worse than mine, likely a result of the beating Carl gave her. She also had third-degree burns where the nylon cord melted into her skin at her wrists. Other, less dire burns were being treated as well. At least she hadn’t been directly in the fire when it caught.
I pondered her close call and the events that still seemed too unreal to be believed. Who in their right mind burns someone alive? And why? Rose hadn’t done anything to deserve that.
Tits sat with me, trading places with Wolf so he could talk to the lawyer about everything.
He came back with good news.
“They checked out the site. The fire’s out, but there’s enough evidence to back up your story. The receipts for all that gas were in the cab of Carl’s truck. Cops matched them to Carl’s credit card.”
“Did that asshole survive?”
Wolf hesitated. “He’s on life support. They’re trying to figure out what to do.”
“Pull the plug,” I muttered. It was too good for him. Too clean. Maybe he should linger, racking up hospital bills until every cent he made of dirty money was gone.
Tits snickered. “That’s the Bear we all know and piss ourselves around.”
