Chapter 30
Chapter Thirty
GIA
Gowned in, an hour into surgery, the mare was holding steady.
Hudson was finishing the final sutures to close the abdomen after removing a sand impaction.
The anesthesia monitoring machine kept up its steady electronic beeping.
One of the techs at the horse’s front end gave her breaths periodically.
“Don’t get involved with him again,” Hudson said quietly, keeping his voice low enough the anesthesia techs wouldn’t overhear. “He’s not good for you.”
Not good for me? I’m the one not good enough for him. “He organized all this, which is something.” My gaze drifted to the viewing gallery above us. The surgery suite had been built like a theater—bright lights below, giant glass wall above so owners could watch every terrifying second.
Timothy stood on the other side with a phone pressed to his ear, pacing two steps one direction, then back again. He’d been doing it off and on the entire surgery. Probably handling one work crisis after another while pretending he wasn’t losing his mind.
Hudson snorted. “He didn’t do this for Shay or this horse.”
I glanced at him. “We are literally elbow deep in this mare trying to save her life after what he did to make this happen .”
“That man up there was marginally concerned until you got involved. He might’ve lent us a trailer to make it to Raleigh. Then you gave him one look and after that, he decided to show off.”
Show off? What the hell?
Hudson had no idea of the cost of what Timothy arranged. He didn’t see the humiliated man breaking apart. Oh, God… I wanted to run upstairs and hug him one more time.
Hudson cut a suture and tossed the scissors onto the tray with a metallic clank.
“Look at him.” Hudson flicked his gaze toward the gallery.
“The man looks like he walked off the cover of Cowboy Quarterly. He smells like bad decisions. He’s a handy man who will cheat on you the second he loses interest. Just like Justin. ”
Hud’s jealous. I appreciated Hudson as a friend, but now I remembered why I never saw him as anything more.
There was a reason he’d remained on good terms with Justin through his residency and afterward.
Everything was about winning and points.
Hudson had been biding his time so he could become the best.
“Hudson—”
“He will destroy you.”
I looked back toward the gallery. As if he felt me watching, Timothy lifted his head. Even through the thick glass, his attention found me instantly. To try to reassure Timothy, I forced a smile even though he couldn’t see through my mask.
His forehead creased as he slowly let the phone drop from his ear.
I went soft in the middle and muttered, “He smells better than bad decisions.”
“See, that right there? He’s like a German shepherd guarding what’s his.” His eyes narrowed. “Wait. Did you just say he smells better than bad decisions?” He lowered his voice to a scandalized whisper. “You slept with him?”
Thank God for the mask because my entire face went hot.
Hudson said, “Whatever. You had your taste. Now forget about him.”
“Forget about him?” I braced both hands against a sterile section of the drape before I did something insane like throw a surgical instrument at his head. “You know nothing about my life.”
His jaw tightened beneath the mask. “I don’t want to see you hurt again.”
A sharp laugh ripped out of me. “Oh, you don’t?”
Hudson glanced toward the monitors before tying another suture with infuriating calm.
“Tell me, what’s your plan?” I demanded. “Take me on a few dates? Charm me into bed? Convince me to come work at your practice?” My voice rose with every word. “Then what?”
He finally looked at me. “What do you mean, then what? That’s the dream, right?”
“What happens the next time my father smacks me around?”
“I didn’t know he did that. You call the police.”
I stared at him in disbelief. “He owns the police.”
Hudson opened his mouth, but I bulldozed right over him.
“No, seriously, tell me how this fantasy of yours works. Let’s say we have a child someday.
A little girl.” My throat tightened violently around the words.
“What happens when my father decides he’s angry at me and hurts her to punish me?
What if he…” I swallowed hard because this scenario wasn’t too far from reality.
“Kidnaps her and demands something? Money or whatever?”
Hudson’s hands slowed. “Then we really call the police.”
Something inside me snapped. “Sure, we phone the police. I do know the sheriff. Beyond that, what would you do to get her back…or what if it was me he took? What if there’s no time to call the police?”
A couple techs looked over. I didn’t care.
“Doing anything more would be illegal, Gia. This is a ridiculous scenario.”
“What will you do? How can I trust you to keep me safe?” I demanded. “That’s the question.”
Hudson went back to suturing like if he ignored me long enough, I’d burn myself out. This was exactly what Justin had done when I asked these kinds of questions. Ignore the angry woman until she was no longer a problem.
Finally, after several stitches, he muttered, “This is ridiculous. You call the cops, they arrest him, end of story.”
I went still. Dead still.
Softly, I asked, “What about me? While the police are posturing outside the house or wherever and my father is killing me?”
Hudson looked up and for an instant I saw the same flash of annoyance Justin used to give me. As if me demanding he act on his love was a step too far.
I shoved away from the table hard enough the instrument tray rattled.
My voice came out frighteningly calm. “You want to know what that man upstairs would do?” I jabbed a finger toward the viewing gallery where Timothy had frozen as if some sixth sense told him I was angry.
“The one you think I should just get over and forget?”
“Not particularly,” Hudson muttered.
“If anyone touched his child or me, he’d destroy their entire world.” The fury in me turned cold and lethal. “Not threaten them. Not file paperwork. Not wait for someone else to save the day.”
Hudson finally looked up.
“He’d burn everything to the ground,” I said softly. “His entire family would be right behind him. Same as I’d be if anyone touched one of his family.”
Silence crashed over the surgery suite except for the steady beep of the monitor.
His eyes widened slightly.
“So you see, Hudson…” My chest heaved beneath the gown. “He’s the kind of bad decision I need in my life. The kind that can promise to keep what they love safe. No matter what.” I tilted my head. “Are you ready to do that for me?”
Hudson stared at me like he was seeing me clearly for the first time. And maybe realizing he had absolutely no idea what kind of woman he’d been trying to save.
“Hud,” I said, keeping my voice steady. “I respect you. You’re smart, you’re talented, but what you’ve built in your head about us isn’t real. It’s a fantasy. A crush.”
I exhaled through my nose, forcing the words into something cleaner than the mess behind them.
“I’m difficult. I’ve got a hell of a lot of baggage.
I need someone who can stand in the fire with me.
Someone who doesn’t back away when I panic or when everything goes sideways.
When it does, it isn’t pretty. It scared the hell out of Justin.
His answer to that was to shut down on me, or turn to someone else. ”
“Be reasonable,” Hudson said quickly. “I’m not Justin.”
“No,” I agreed. “You’re not. But you’re also not Timothy Hurst.”
His expression tightened at that.
My voice dropped lower, steadier now. “If anyone threatened him or his daughter, you can’t begin to imagine what I’d do to make sure they were safe.”
I pulled off my gloves one finger at a time, the snap of the latex loud in the quiet between us. “I think I’m done here.”
I dropped the gloves into the trash, didn’t wait for a response, and walked out.
Outside the surgery room, I got a drink from the water fountain, but it did nothing to cool me off.
I turned and stepped back.
“What’s wrong?” Timothy asked.
I pasted on a fake smile. “Why would you assume anything’s wrong?”
“Every tech in that room went real still while you had words with Hudson before you walked out.”
“Could you hear what I said?”
He shook his head.
“I don’t think I should tell you.” I let my eyelids close and took a few deep breaths. “I’m running hot right now. Very hot.”
“What’d he say?” There was amusement in his question He seemed far too happy I told Hudson off.
“He told me to forget you. That you were a walking bad decision.”
“Oh, he did? Did he offer something better than me and bad decisions?”
My gaze locked on his. “I told him he could take his fantasy and shove it up his ass. No one gets to label you a bad decision who’ll use me and cheat on me.”
“He said that, did he?”
“If we ever sort ourselves out, you’d never hurt me that way.
But that man in there—” I pointed to the surgery suite.
“That’s exactly what he’ll do the second I become too much for him.
Maybe I don’t suck him off enough times.
Or maybe I don’t hold his hand at the right time in public.
Or maybe I miss his call, and he assumes I’m having an affair.
Maybe I have one of my panic attacks. Maybe—”
Timothy pulled me into him hard. His lips landed on mine. He kissed me deep and thoroughly until all the anger faded.
He whispered, “I’m a walking bad decision. Always have been. But you can count on me.”
“I knew that the first time I invited you to the lake.” I stepped away from him. “I’m an equally bad decision.” I shook my head dismissively as if trying to reset the air.
“I’m the one who’s sorry. For back then. For not having my phone. For making you think I didn’t care.” His voice roughened. “That’ll never be true.”
“I believe you.”
Time seemed to slow as I lifted my hand to his cheek, feeling the tension locked in his jaw beneath my palm.
“Someday there might be another moment where I’m in trouble and you can’t answer your phone.
Not because you don’t want to. Just because life happens.
” I swallowed, but I needed to make him understand this.
“If I call Jackie or Mark or whoever, it’s not because I don’t want you there.
They’re my backup. That’s all.” My thumb brushed lightly across his skin. “You’re the one I need.”
His mouth pressed into a tight line, like he was trying to hold something in that hurt too much to let loose.
“Gia, is everything okay?”
I whirled out of Timothy’s hold so fast I nearly stumbled, but before I could fully step away he caught my hand and reeled me right back against his side like letting go hadn’t even crossed his mind.
Shay stood there with red-rimmed eyes and exhaustion written all over her face from hours of crying and worrying.
“Your mare is in good hands. The surgery went well,” I said quickly.
“But you and Dr. Raynes were arguing.”
“It was personal. He and Timothy don’t exactly see eye to eye. He said something…uh…” I tilted my head, trying to decide how much damage control Hudson deserved.
“He talked shit about me because he’s jealous,” Timothy said easily, like this conversation wasn’t detonating small explosives inside my chest. His thumb stroked once across the back of my hand. “Thinks he can steal Gia from me.”
My mouth parted. Not take her out. Not hook up with her. He said: steal from me.
Like I already belonged somewhere in Timothy’s world.
Heat climbed straight into my face.
Shay blinked between us before a tired grin spread over hers. “Damn right she got mad. The two of you…” She pointed between us. “Weirdly works.”
I opened my mouth to object. Or clarify. Or something. Nothing came out. Timothy still hadn’t let go of my hand.
And worse, he looked completely natural standing there holding it in front of everyone.
Shay added, “That online FundMe you set up for Atrax and got your mom to spread around already has almost sixty donations and ten thousand dollars on it.”
“Told you my mother has good friends.” Timothy winked at her.
I finally found my voice. “I’ve got to go on one more farm call to see a goat peeing stones. I’m sure you’ve got a lot to take care of.”
“I do.” But instead of stepping away immediately, he gave my hand another squeeze first. A quiet one. Possessive enough to notice. Gentle enough to undo me a little.
After I changed clothes and headed back out to the truck, I phoned Lisa Hurst. “Ma’am, it’s Gia. Timothy did something big today. Real hero stuff.”
“Hon, he does that every day, but few notice it.”
“I saw it right up close.” I started the truck but didn’t pull out.
My hands stayed wrapped around the steering wheel.
“I want to do something nice for him to say thank you.” I heard Sofia babbling in the background and smiled despite myself.
“Can you put me on speaker phone? I’d like to ask Sofia if she would help me. ”
“Okay, you’re on speaker. Sofia, Gia’s on the phone. Wants to ask you something about Daddy.”
“Heya, Miz Gia,” her high-pitched voice came through the phone.
“Sofia, how would you like to help me make dinner for your daddy? He was a real hero today for a lot of people.” My voice softened. “Sometimes heroes need somebody to take care of them when they get home.”
“Yeah.” That was it.
In the background I heard little feet thundering across the floor and Lisa laughing, which somehow made my chest ache.
Lisa chimed in, “I think that’s all you get. She’s off and running. Timothy texted he probably won’t be in until seven-thirty and asked me to get Sofia fed and bathed. He’ll put her to bed.”
The fact he was still thinking about Sofia after the kind of day he’d had twisted at something inside me.
“You think he would be okay with us making him dinner?” I asked quietly. “Especially when he’s super tired? He might not want company or noise or…” I trailed off. Or me.
“I think it’s exactly what he needs. Someone needs to get him to see he’s appreciated. He doesn’t take praise or that kind of thing very well.”
I smiled to myself, picturing the way he shrugged off every hard thing like it cost him nothing.
“I was thinking stuffed pasta shells Sofia can help me make. Something warm he can just sit down to without having to think.” I hesitated before adding softly, “He takes care of everybody else all day long. Feels like someone should take care of him for once.”
Lisa went quiet for a moment like she heard everything I wasn’t saying. Then she said gently, “He’d like that more than you know.”
“I remember him talking about your breadsticks.” My grip loosened on the steering wheel. “Would you be up to making some with us?”
“We’ll do it together. I’ll teach you. How about you come over at five and we’ll start cooking?”