Chapter Five #3
“No.” It was an accident, and making some poor sucker pay for it wasn’t going to help anyone.
“The guy who put it up wasn’t an electrician or anything.
He was a friend of one of the brothers, doing us a favor.
We didn’t pay him, other than a cold beer or two.
Not like he did it on purpose. Just bad luck it went south. ”
“Well, at least no one got hurt.”
“Except Jake. Part of it landed on his foot.”
She grimaced. “Ouch! Poor guy.”
I laughed at her expression. “Yeah. Big ouch. I’m sure he’ll ham it up and Mom will baby him like fucking crazy.”
Scrapper picked that moment to stand up and stretch.
Giving my hand on Lily’s a grumpy look, he padded over to me and curled up on my lap to resume his nap.
“Looks like you’ve been deserted.” I stroked a finger across the soft fur.
I’d never thought of myself as a guy who wanted a pet.
Too much responsibility, and what happens to it if I don’t come home one day?
Yeah. Not a great idea when you deal in death and destruction.
Scrapper, though, had managed to worm his way into my heart in no time flat.
Shit. Next thing you know I’d be bringing home that bunny Ace was talking about.
“Umm.” Lily shifted uncomfortably. “I hate to keep asking you for stuff, but we need to get Scrapper a litter box or he’s going to use whatever he thinks is a good idea to do his business in. This will be the last thing. Honestly.”
I had no problem with her asking me for what she wanted. Made me feel good to be able to do things for her. Shit. I was practically domesticated already. “No problem. Piper picks up food for Willow at the farm supply store in town. They probably sell cat supplies too.”
“That would be great, but…”
“But what?” Surely she didn’t think picking out a box for the kitten to shit in was important enough to risk her going to town.
“I don’t have a lot of money left, so they need to make sure it’s nothing fancy.” She said it in a rush, like not having a fucking truckload of money was a personal failure or something. “Just a pan and one of those scoop things to clean it.”
I gave her hand a squeeze. “Don’t worry. I’ll make sure the little furball has a place to do his dirty work.”
She frowned up at me. “You’re laughing at me, aren’t you?”
I grinned. “Yeah. In just over one day, you’ve gone from worrying about some asshole killing you, to worrying about where two pounds of orange attitude is going to shit. That’s funny.”
She wrinkled her nose, but I could see the laughter twinkling in her eyes. “Maybe a little bit.”
“You guys decent in there?” Joker’s voice echoed through the door.
“Yeah, just give me a minute.” I moved Scrapper onto Lily’s lap and went to open the door. Pivoting to address Lily, I added, “Would now be a good time to tell you Joker’s coming up to check you out and document some of your injuries in case you need proof later?”
She grimaced. “Might as well get it over with.”
Joker entered the room and dropped his medic kit on top of the dresser. He grinned at me. “Hate to admit it, but I get that a lot from women.”
The exam didn’t take long, and Joker managed to keep the tone light enough that Lily didn’t get stressed out.
He took a lot of pictures and assured her that no one else would see them unless it was strictly necessary.
When he was done, he packed everything back into this kit.
“I’ll go lock these away in a file in case we need them later.
Meanwhile, over the counter painkillers should take care of any discomfort.
Just remember not to mix pills and alcohol. ”
“Thanks, bro.” I opened the door for him.
“No worries. Glad to help.” He headed back down the hallway toward his own room.
After closing the door, I crossed back to sit down beside Lily. “That wasn’t so bad, was it?”
She shook her head. “No. I expected it to be worse. I can see why you guys call him Joker.”
I rolled my eyes. “He was taking it easy. Trust me, some of his jokes would make a dead guy groan.”
She laughed, and I reached over to pet Scrapper who had claimed his spot on her lap.
Looking down, Lily traced the tattoo of a rattlesnake that wound around my forearm and ended with the head on my hand. Its mouth was wide open showing the fangs as if it were about to strike. “Is this a rattlesnake?”
“It is. See those two dots in front of it?”
She nodded, moving her finger to that spot.
“Those are where I got bit by a rattler. Damn near died that time. Those fucking things hurt like hell, and that’s before the poison starts to work on you.”
She stared up at me, eyes wide. “Is that why they call you Rattler?”
I nodded. “Yeah. We were doing practice maneuvers at a base near here when I first enlisted. We were crawling through the underbrush so the enemy group didn’t see us.
Ace was ahead of me and he disturbed a rattler.
He didn’t see it, but it was poised to strike the back of his neck.
I jumped up and grabbed it, so it bit me instead.
Luckily we had a medic in the group and he carried the antivenom in his kit, so I got a shot right away.
Still not a fucking walk in the park, but I lived. ”
“Wow!” She traced the outline of the snake. “You saved his life. Is that why he made you his Vice President?”
“Nah. He’s saved mine just as many times as I’ve saved his. We’re a team -- like a family, only better than a lot of them. We look out for each other without expecting anything in return. It’s what we do.”
She blinked away the moisture that flashed in her eyes. “I can see why Jack wanted to come here.”
I turned and wrapped my arms around her, careful not to disturb the sleeping kitty on her lap. “He was a great guy. He would have been welcome.”
Someone pounded on the door, breaking the spell. Beast’s voice echoed through the solid wood. “Pizza’s here! Come and get it before it’s all gone.”