Page 90 of Roses Are Dead
I double-checked to see if anyone was still eavesdropping. Most of the restaurant had cleared out of our section, not wanting to linger around the big bad Bear. “Carl has a stash point behind his toilet. I grabbed.” I shrugged, trying to remember why it had been so important. Beth’s hollow eyes flashed through my thoughts, nudging me to speak. “Beth, his sister, is going through her second battle with cancer. I started growing my hair when she got it the first time. By the time she beat it, it wasn’t long enough.”
I laughed, silently and bitterly. My nose stung with the memories. “She got better. We all thought that the chemo and stupid prayers fixed her.”
I closed my eyes, remembering that horrible time. I’d been on the precipice of returning to the fold. For her. Luckily, science and healthcare intervened and I was free to continue exploring who I was and what I wanted out of life. “Three months ago, she found the first swollen lymph node. Within four weeks, it became more than one, and she started losing weight. Then she got sick. Really sick. I moved back to help her and John.” My head shook back and forth without any will behind it. “Carl’s a perfect match for donation. We all knew this the last time. But no one wanted anything to do with him because of—” The waiter arrived with Bear’s card and discreetly set the leather folder beside his elbow before slipping away.
I swallowed the pain. “She’d gotten better. Then… wham, so much worse. Because he’d already been tested years ago, the medical team suggested she pursue the stem cell donation. But Carl wouldn’t listen to anyone. Except me. I wouldn’t have been at Carl’s otherwise. Trust me when I say that. I wanted nothing to do with him. Nothing.”
Bear shifted to sign the check and held the binder up for the waiter to grab. But he made no move to gather his coat or anything. Instead, he took another sip of wine and silently encouraged me to do the same.
I drained the glass. “I took the money so he’d have to come back, just in case the donation didn’t work. I’m bound to this. So, I can’t.” I can’t give you the money. “You are justified for getting angry with me about this. But I’m not going to back down.” I stared at the table to hide my sad frown. I knew I was hurting him and the people he cared about. I knew stealing from Carl was a long shot, and likely would make me a bigger target for his evil. But if Beth got better, then it was all…
Well, evil would do some good for a change. Was it worth it? Maybe not. But hope and love were fickle things. Hard to shake, and even harder to hold onto.
22
Bear
Wolf and Jackson both wouldn’t fit through the front door of my shop at the same time, but that didn’t stop them from trying. Wolf had led the charge from the curb. I’d just peeled off the second latex glove when the bell above the door sounded as Jackson elbowed past him.
Being who it was made when it was not matter. I motioned to my apprentice to clean up the client I’d been working on. “Reschedule him. Any time that works with his schedule.”
Then turned my attention to the twin thunderheads in my front lobby.
“You’re back.” I held a hand out to Jackson.
“What’s this shit with your ol’ lady?”
Fuck. Jackson didn’t mess around with preliminaries. At least he hadn’t shot me yet. “She ain’t my ol’ lady.”
Wolf snorted, but kept his speculation to himself otherwise.
Jackson had that face on. The one where he just had to prove his point. There was no arguing with him when he got like that. He flicked a finger up. “One, she’s been living at your house since the first. Two, you ain’t poked your face in the club for a whole fucking week.”
No shit. Fridays were the only mandatory night. And seeing that it was Friday, I was due for another appearance. “I’ll be there tonight.”
“That doesn’t fucking count. Three, you took her to that fancy as fuck restaurant.” He pointed toward the place just down the block.
“That ain’t a crime.”
“It is when his wife hasn’t gone there yet.” Wolf kept his voice low. His usual tone when he insulted Jackson.
I laughed.
Wrong move.
“Lemme guess, you just made it home, Kate’s pissed because it took longer than expected, and you plan to come to church tonight?”
“That ain’t why, and you know it.”
Beside him, Wolf brushed a finger on the tip of his nose to tell me I’d hit the truth right on the…well, nose.
Unfortunately for him, Jackson caught the movement out of the corner of his eye. “Knock it off. Kate’s just fine with me going to church tonight.”
Jackson was delusional. There’s no way Kate was fine with the situation. She’d made a habit of showing up at the house every day for the last week because she missed her husband so much. Her and Zoe practically lived with me it was getting so bad. And Rose?
She was enabling their visits despite my warnings.
“Tell him the shit about Carl,” Wolf prompted.
