Page 60 of The Woman with the Target on her Back (Grassi Family)

“Yeah. But still. She’s never hesitated about him before. Even when he was full of tubes, and that shit usually freaks people out.”

“Yeah,” he agreed, sighing. “Maybe she’s just worried about telling her dad what happened to her,” he said. “Especially if he’s as protective of her as it seems.”

“That could be it,” I agreed.

I mean, how did you explain to a man you were mostly on the outs with, but who worked hard to keep you safe, that he’d failed? That you were nearly beaten, raped, and murdered? That you’d been in a drive-by shooting meant for you?

That was a lot to load on a man who just woke up from a coma, who was probably still trying to process his own attack.

“There’s time, though,” Aurelio said. “We should have reminded her of that. We don’t have to be anywhere. She can take her time explaining things to him. Maybe when he’s getting closer to being discharged, so… hey,” he said, jumping up.

I followed when I noticed Traveler walking toward us.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

“They’re ah, they moved him. The nurse said it could happen at any time now that he was fully awake. And, I guess, they got tired of him being ‘difficult,’ so they decided to move him to a lower floor. They gave me a floor and number,” she said, wiggling a sticky note.

She still seemed really strange.

Aurelio took the note.

“Down three floors,” he said. “You want to go now, or grab some coffee first?” he asked, clearly better at this sort of thing than I was.

“I guess we should give them a few minutes,” she said, clearly glad for the brief reprieve.

So we went to the machine and got shitty coffee, then drank it mostly in silence for an exaggerated length of time before she sighed and slapped her knees before standing.

“I guess we should make our way down,” she said.

I reached outward, but she must not have noticed because she rushed ahead of me toward the stairs.

There was another small sitting area on this floor, and I was about to follow Aurelio toward it when she called out.

“August?” Her voice was tight, a little choked sounding.

“Yeah?” I asked, turning back.

“Can you come with me?” she asked. “I just… can you?” she asked.

“Of course,” I agreed, feeling weird as fuck about it. I looked toward Aurelio who gave me a nod as he reached for a magazine. Then I followed Traveler toward her father’s room.

We weren’t two feet into the room before we heard some grumbling sounds.

“This fucking thing,” his deep voice hissed.

Traveler paused, taking a deep breath, then moving fully in.

“Hey, Dad,” she said in that same choked voice she spoke to me in.

“Travy,” her father said, most of the tension leaving his body as his gaze landed on her. “Thank God,” he said, exhaling hard, like he’d been holding a breath. “You’re okay.”

“You look better,” she said, moving toward the side of his bed while I stayed back. Her dad hadn’t noticed me yet, and I was okay with that.

I didn’t know what I expected of her old man. But he was a big, solid guy. He clearly hit the gym a lot to be that fit still. He had a wide, strong jaw and stern brows.

I couldn’t see a bit of Traveler in him. Except the eyes. She had his dark, almost black, eyes.

“You saw me?” he asked.

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