3.
S ANDI
“If you have even a drop of humanity inside you, you’ll kill me now and release me from this hell you’ve subjected me to.”
I leaned over Ajax to fluff his pillow and got so close that our noses were almost touching before I whispered, “No.”
“You know I can’t go anywhere with that fucking string tied to my dick, Ratched.”
“It’s not a string, it’s a catheter, and it’s there to help you stay still so you don’t fuck up the hours of hard work we’ve had to do twice to keep you from bleeding to death.”
Ajax closed his eyes and grimaced before he said, “I was right. You’re the Antichrist.”
I giggled before I rested my weight on my left hand and then touched his forehead with the other, not to take his temperature, but just because I needed to touch him one more time before I moved away. I ran my fingers down his face and along his jaw before I drew my hand away. I was about to push myself up to stand when his eyes fluttered open.
“Come on, Atilla. Please?”
“You look so pitiful that I almost feel sorry for you.”
“I don’t,” Jewel announced as she walked into the room. “Three is your magic number, Eric. You had three bullet wounds, and it took three days for you to fuck up all the work we did to try to fix those. If you get up and rip your stitches again, I’m going to drag you out into the woods and feed you to a bear.”
“I can’t get up because every time I try, that thing pulls on my dick, and not in a good way,” Ajax told her with a glare. He turned his gaze on me and it got heated, and this time I knew it wasn’t the same sexual frustration I’d seen in the coffee shop yesterday. This time, it was pure anger.
“Don’t look at me like that. I’m not the one who insisted on hiking through the mountains after I’d been told to stay in bed.”
“I was going fucking crazy with my brother and half the population of Texas chattering in my room.”
“Not quite half. Maybe a third,” Jewel allowed.
“You’ll be happy to know that after you promised, with a pinky swear no less, that you’d go to Rojo to visit them, they all packed up and went home, except for Rosie, of course.”
“They’re all gone?” Ajax asked. His tone told me that he didn’t expect that at all, and it seemed like there was at least a bit of yearning in his voice when he asked, “Did they even say goodbye before they left?”
“They did, but you were drugged up again after we had to repack the wound on your side and restitch the one in your thigh.”
“Sorry I fucked those up,” Ajax mumbled, and I knew that the meds Jewel had just pushed into his IV were taking effect. Right before they took him under, he muttered, “I fuck everything up.”
I looked across the bed at Jewel, and she grimaced before she whispered, “He should be out for a while. Dianna offered to sit with him if we wanted to go over to the restaurant and have dinner.”
“I’d like to get out of here,” I admitted as I put my hands behind my head and then twisted at the waist to stretch my back. Once I’d worked out a few of the kinks, I yawned and said, “We probably should make it a quick dinner, though, because I might fall asleep at the table.”
“Are you sure you don’t mind staying here with him?”
“I don’t mind at all. The boys will be home tomorrow, and you need to get back to your practice. It makes sense for me to stay since I’m not scheduled until next week.”
“Rooster said that they found Eric’s truck and are bringing it here tomorrow, so you won’t be without transportation if you want to get away for a few hours.”
“I might go into town and see the sights if I get bored.”
“There aren’t many sights to see, but you’re welcome to do that as long as you can convince him to stay in bed while you’re gone.”
“I’m probably going to handcuff him to it as I start tapering him off the sedatives.”
Jewel burst out laughing before she said, “That sounds like a good idea.”
“I guess that will be the first thing I go shopping for once his truck gets here,” I said with a grin. “I might grab a ball gag while I’m out because when that man gets going, there’s no shutting him up.”
Jewel looked down at our patient and grinned before she said, “You better watch out. He might like the handcuffs.” She looked over at me and warned, “The ball gag might be a smidge over the top.”
“We’ll see.”
It didn’t take long for Dianna to come down to the cabin, and after we filled her in on what was going on with Ajax, Jewel and I walked down to the restaurant. This was the first time I’d been out of the cabin since we’d managed to get Ajax settled into bed so we could work on him, and the crisp fresh air perked me right up. By the time we got to the steps leading into the building, I had found my second wind and was glad I’d accepted Jewel’s invitation to dinner.
The restaurant was cozy and quite a bit more upscale than I’d imagined. As I perused the menu, I realized that they must have an actual chef on the premises. It didn’t take long for me to make my choice, and soon, the server appeared to take our order.
Jewel and I made small talk until our appetizer arrived, and then we were quiet while we ate. It was nice to be able to spend time with a friend who didn’t have to fill every single second with needless chatter. That wasn’t to say that Jewel and I couldn’t talk each other’s ears off, which we did time and again, but comfortable silence was a good thing sometimes, and both of us understood that.
After a while, Jewel asked, “Are you planning to go home when you’re finished working with us?”
“Hell no!”
Jewel laughed before she asked, “Why?”
“I’ve had enough of Michigan winters. From now on, the only blizzards I want to think about are the ones from Dairy Queen.”
“What about the kids?”
“They’re old enough to take care of themselves, and the best part of that is that they can travel alone. Last winter, they met me in Florida for Christmas, and we opened gifts next to the pool of the house I was renting.”
“Luckily, Rojo only gets one or two snowstorms a year, and it usually melts off within a few days.”
“We’ve had this discussion before, Jewel. If I remember correctly, your yearly snow average was less than twelve inches and mine was closer to seventy. Our homes are not the same.”
“I remember how bad it was,” Jewel said with a shiver. “It was like living in a snowglobe version of hell.”
“Exactly!”
“Where will you go after your contract is up in Rojo? Any idea?”
“I might take some time off, but I did have an offer in New Orleans that would start at the end of January.”
“How fun!”
“I know! I’ve always wanted to visit, so if I get to live there for a bit, that would be even better. I can take in all the touristy stuff I want without a time limit.”
“One day, your kids will be grown, and you’ll be able to go wherever you want.”
“I’m not that kind of girl. It was hard for me to leave Rojo, and I was only there for less than a year. By the time I came back, I vowed that I wasn’t going to live anywhere but Rojo or Colorado Springs.”
“I never imagined that I’d leave my hometown either, but now that I have, I don’t want to go back permanently. I enjoy going home to visit, but that’s it.”
“You can’t be a traveling nurse forever,” Jewel pointed out.
“I can if I want,” I disagreed. “The pay is outstanding, and I’m going to keep doing it until I want to do something else.”
“You can always come work for me in Rojo and make that your home base for retirement,” Jewel suggested.
“That’s not a bad idea at all. I’d get just enough snow to remind me why I hate it and be able to enjoy myself the rest of the year.”
“Have you forgotten how hot it gets in the south during the summer?”
“Ah, yes, but in the south they have this wonderful thing called central air conditioning. We’ve become friends, and now I can’t live without it.”
“I was amazed when I found out that most people up north don’t have it. How do people live like that?” Jewel asked in disgust.
“Let me just say that once I discovered the joys of taking a long shower and then starfishing in the middle of the bed beneath the ceiling fan and AC vent, I was a convert. I’m never going to get tired of that.”
After we finished dinner, Jewel and I decided to splurge and each ordered a different dessert to share as we drank coffee and assessed what would need to be done with our patient.
“Keeping him still is the most important thing, and I don’t envy you in that regard,” Jewel said honestly. “As a matter of fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if you wake up one morning to find out that he left sometime in the middle of the night.”
“That’s where the handcuffs come in,” I teased. I couldn’t stop myself from asking, “What do you know about this guy?”
Jewel shrugged and said, “I remember seeing him every so often when I was a kid, but then he just disappeared and no one mentioned him again.”
“So, you don’t know how he got his . . .” I cleared my throat and grinned before I finished, “ injuries ?”
“You’ve talked to him. My guess is that he irritated someone so much that they just couldn’t control themselves.”
“If that’s the case, then I’m surprised that hasn’t happened to one of us.”
“I’m sure there have been times when people have considered it.”
“I’m sure.”
“I do have one problem with our plan.”
“What’s that?” Jewel asked.
“If you leave, how am I going to get back to Rojo?”
“We’ll figure it out,” Jewel assured me. “If nothing else, make him drop you off at my house on the way to wherever it is he’s going.”
“I should have a house by then,” I reminded her.
“Well, then have him take you there.”
“He shouldn’t be driving that far in a week, but after watching him limp his ass down to the coffee shop the other day, I can’t imagine anything would stop him.”
“You’re going to have your work cut out for you, Sandi, but I can’t think of a better woman for the job.”
“Thank you. Your praise feeds my soul.”
“And then you had to make it weird.”
“Would you expect anything less?”
◆◆◆
“If you don’t take these handcuffs off of me, I’ll . . .”
“You’ll what? Bitch and moan some more? Is that even possible?” I asked.
“Listen, Annie . . .”
“Who the fuck is Annie?”
“She tied that man to the bed just like you’ve done to me.”
“You’re comparing me to a psycho in a Stephen King novel?” I asked in outrage.
“If the shoe fits, then put that bitch on and walk around in it.”
“I’m offended that you think so little of me.”
“Really?” Ajax asked quietly.
“No, dumbass! I could give two shits about what you think of me. I just want you to be still long enough to heal so we don’t have to do this shit all over again!”
“I’ll stay in bed.”
“Bullshit. That’s what you said the first time, and then you collapsed on your way back from the coffee shop. Then you said the same damn thing three days after Jewel left, and I found your ass passed out and bleeding on the living room floor. Hence the handcuffs.”
“It’s wrong to handcuff someone to the bed without a safeword.”
“So, what’s your safeword?” I asked. When he just stared at me like I was nuts, I pressed, “Well? What is it?”
“ Uncuff me, goddammit !”
“That’s more complicated than one I would have picked, but to each his own, right?” I asked as I walked out of the bedroom. I grinned at him before I pulled the door shut and then giggled when he yelled at me as I walked down the hall.
There was something to be said for caring for someone who wasn’t ever going to call the cops. It did have its perks, and handcuffs were at the top of the list.
◆◆◆
AJAX
I came awake slowly and was careful not to move at all as I tried to figure out what was wrong in the room. I knew there was someone nearby, but it wasn’t Sandi. I didn’t smell her lotion or shampoo, whatever it was that made my cock hard every time I got a whiff of it.
No, this was a distinct smell - fresh air and smoke? Not cigarette smoke, but campfire smoke.
“I know you’re awake.”
I slowly turned to find the source of the voice and assumed that my friend Lurk was sitting in the chair where Sandi liked to read, but he wasn’t close enough to the window for me to see any part of him. Instead, he was a shadow, and for a second, I knew exactly what prey felt like when there was a predator nearby.
“What’s kickin’?” I asked, as if it was perfectly normal to wake up and talk to the human equivalent of a ghost.
“We brought your truck back.”
“Thank you.”
“Needs gas and an oil change.”
“I’ll get right on that.”
“We found the other woman, and she’s safe at home with her sister. You should check your bank balance to make sure payment was made.”
“I’ll split it with you when . . .”
“No, you won’t.”
I would, but I’d have to be sly about it. Lurk wasn’t the only one who could sneak in under the radar.
“Did you have any problems?”
“I didn’t, but they did.”
“How many?”
“Three dead, two will be soon, and I got a new dog.”
“Oh, that’s good. What are you going to name it?” I asked, as if he hadn’t just told me that he went on a killing spree.
“Not sure. We’ll see how we get along and then figure it out together.”
“I have to ask. Did you get the dog before your trip to New Mexico or . . .”
“No. I took it while we were down there. Felt bad leaving it with no one around to feed him.”
“That’s nice of you.” I wasn’t sure what else to say, so I asked, “What kind is it?”
“It’s a dog.”
“No shit, Sherlock,” I said in exasperation. “What breed?”
“I don’t know. I didn’t ask.”
“Have you talked to Rooster yet?”
“Yeah. Met his new girl.”
“Rosie. She’s my niece.”
“How does that work?” Lurk asked.
“Well, a long time ago my mom and dad fell in love and then they created . . .”
“Fucker, we all know you escaped from hell through a fissure at the base of a volcano.”
“The volcano part is new.”
“It makes sense.”
“Rosie is my older brother’s daughter.”
“That’s weird.”
“What’s weird about it?”
“She seems perfectly normal, but that can’t be right if she shares your DNA. Was she adopted?”
“No.”
“Were you?”
I ignored his question and asked, “When are you leaving?”
“Soon, I hope. Okie’s gotta sleep for a bit, and then he’s going to drive me to his place. I’ll figure out how to get home from there.”
“How did you get to Okie’s?”
When Lurk shrugged, I shook my head. Talking to the man was like pulling teeth with no novocaine. I wasn’t sure if he purposely tried to be so maddeningly vague or not, but it made me crazy.
I smelled Sandi’s lotion right before I heard footsteps in the hallway, so I closed my eyes to pretend I was asleep in the hopes that she’d go back to bed. I heard the door hinge squeak when she opened it and then felt her beside me before she touched her hand to my forehead. She had just readjusted the blanket over my shoulders when I felt her tense, and a second later there was a commotion beside me and I heard a loud grunt.
Suddenly, the light came on, and I saw Sandi standing in the doorway in a T-shirt and a pair of sweatpants, shaking her hand as if she had an injury. I shifted my gaze over to the corner where she was looking and saw my friend slumped over with blood streaming out of his nose.
“Fuck! He scared the shit out of me!” Sandi hurried over to the dresser and muttered, “Let me get the cuff key, and I’ll take them off of you and put them on him to hold him until the cops can get here.”
“Holy shit! You knocked him out!”
“What the fuck was I supposed to do?” Sandi asked as she frantically tried to fit the small key into the cuff.
I waited until she had unlocked it and I pulled my hand away before I explained, “That’s a friend of mine.”
“What? Where did he come from? How did he get in?”
“Front door,” Lurk said in a decidedly nasal tone before he moaned. “You didn’t have to hit me so hard. Jeez.”
Before I knew what was happening, Sandi slapped the cuff back on my wrist and attached me to the bed. Again .
“Goddammit, woman! Let me go!”
“No. I need to take care of your friend, and I can’t trust you to be still, so the cuffs stay on!”
Lurk burst out laughing, and I glared at him before I snarled, “Let me go.”
“No. You can’t be trusted, and I need you in bed for at least another day.”
“She fucking cuffed you.” Lurk cackled, but it was muffled since he was pinching his nose closed to staunch the flow of blood. “Oh, holy shit! That’s awesome.”
“I hope you’re happy, Attila.”
She shook her hand out again and winced before she said, “I hurt my hand on his face.”
Lurk started chuckling again, and I scowled at him before I said, “Well, I guess you have another patient now.”
“Fuck him. It’s just a bloody nose. If he can’t take care of it, then he deserves to die.”
“But you knocked him out.”
“How did he get into the house in the first place?” Sandi yelled.
“If I tell you how I did it, will you reset my nose?” Lurk asked.
Sandi bit her lip for a second and then looked down at me before she whispered, “Can I trust him?”
“I sure the fuck hope so since I’m cuffed to the bed and wouldn’t be able to protect you if I wanted to!”
“Oh, I don’t need you to protect me. I was just wondering if he’d narc me out if I gave him some painkillers.”
Suddenly, Lurk was in front of her on one knee. “Will you marry me?”
Sandi raised her eyebrows as she looked down at him. The pain in my side damn near killed me when I burst out laughing, but I couldn’t help myself when she said, “Shut up, dumbass. Get up off the floor before I hit you again.”
Lurk looked me dead in the eye, the blood all over his face and shirt forgotten and his nose already swelling, and smiled when he said, “I think I love her.”
“Fuck off.”