Chapter 23
CHEWIE
“Tay, come on. It’s okay!”
“It’s not okay!” Taya wailed as she reached up to wipe the tears off her face. “It’s not okay at all!”
Samara was sitting on the other side of my bed, and I heard her snort before a giggle escaped, and then Brinn started cackling with laughter before she said, “I’m not sure if I’m laughing or crying because this has been the most fucked up day!”
I was trying very hard not to laugh, but the drugs coursing through my system were making that almost impossible, and I smiled when I saw Brandt and Blaine outside the wall of windows walking toward my room.
Brinn, Brandt, and Blaine had been shuffling back and forth between my room and their father’s, worried about us even though they knew we were going to be okay.
“Hey, Annie Oakley, how’re things?” Blaine asked as he walked into the room.
“You know, Mom, I’d have understood if you shot Dad, but what did Chewie ever do to you?” Brandt asked.
“All of you can fuck right off!” Taya wailed. “It’s not funny!”
“It’s not just funny,” I said, losing my battle and cackling. “It’s fucking hilarious.”
“I can’t believe I shot you!” Taya cried. “You haven’t even really pissed me off yet.”
Jaimee leaned forward and rested her head on the bed rail as she shook with laughter. I guess that was just too much because Samara did the same thing seconds later.
Through her laughter, Samara choked out, “I was thinking of all the times I’ve wanted to shoot him and started to get jealous!”
“Jeez, Mom! Why’d you have to shoot him? You could have just stabbed him once or twice,” Brinn cackled.
“She took it to the extreme, didn’t she?” Jaimee asked before she snorted again. “Oh, shit! I can’t stop.”
“I don’t like any of you right now,” Taya growled.
Blaine put his hands up and yelled, “I’m sorry, Mom! Don’t shoot me!”
“I’ll be nice! I swear!” Brandt hooted as he lifted his hands up like his brother.
The nurse, who had been understanding and let everyone crowd into my room, didn’t look happy when she slid the door open and said, “If you can’t keep it down, I’m going to have to ask you to leave.”
“Sorry,” I said as I sniffed back more laughter. “It’s just kind of funny. The man she wanted to shoot is down the hall, and she got me instead.”
The nurse’s lips twitched before she pulled them between her teeth. Finally, she said, “Just keep it to a dull roar, okay?”
“Yes, ma’am,” Blaine, Brandt, and I chorused.
“Any word on when I can get out of here?” I asked.
“Not quickly enough,” the nurse said with a grin. As she started to slide the door closed, she said, “I’m working on your paperwork now, so it won’t be much longer.”
“Since you shot me, are you going to nurse me back to health?” I asked Taya.
She scowled at me before she said, “I’m thinking about shooting you again.”
“Laughter’s the best medicine, right?”
“Not when you’re laughing at me!”
I was looking at Blaine when I saw a man walking down the hall in our direction, and my instincts told me he was a cop. When he made a beeline for my room, I knew that was the case. The second he walked in and introduced himself, the mood in the room sobered.
“Mr. Blanchet. Ms. Corbin,” the officer addressed us as he looked around the room. When he looked back at me, he said, “I’d like to speak to you about what we’ve found so far.”
“You can talk in front of them,” I assured him. I grinned at Blaine and Brandt before I said, “These are our kids.”
They glared at me, and I burst out laughing when Blaine asked, “Are you aching for another injury?”
“See how they treat me?” I asked. “I think I need to be in protective custody.”
The officer cleared his throat, but he was smiling when he said, “We found the woman, and I’ve already spoken to Mr. McDaniels.”
“Who were they, and what did they want with me?” Taya asked.
Brinn took a completely different route and asked, “Are you going to arrest my mom?”
The officer put his hand up for quiet and said, “The male assailant’s name is Scott Tyler. He’s . . .”
“Holy shit!” Brandt exclaimed at the same time Blaine yelled, “Scott?”
The officer nodded slowly as he said, “He’s an employee of your company, and his girlfriend also worked there for a short time.”
“No shit?” Blaine asked. “But why . . .”
The man put his hand up and chuckled before he said, “I’m not quite sure how to tell you this, but . . “ He looked up at the ceiling for a few seconds before he took a deep breath and said, “I’ve spoken to Mr. McDaniels, and he admitted that he knows the woman . . .”
Taya scoffed before she interrupted, “Of course he does.”
The officer cleared his throat before he said, “He knows the woman is his daughter.”
“What?” Blaine, Brandt, and Brinn yelled at the same time.
“Oh, fuck,” Taya grumbled before she dropped her head and looked at the floor. When she looked back up at me, she shrugged and said, “That’s one I didn’t see coming.”
Samara snorted before she said, “And I thought my parental history was fucked up!”
“Me too!” Jaimee cackled. “Holy shit.”
“I know you’re going to have a million questions, but I don’t know many details about the . . .” He cleared his throat before he said, “Situation.”
“Do you know why they came after me?” Taya asked. “I get why they wanted to shoot Boyd, but . . . Sorry, that was uncalled for.”
“But so fucking true,” Blaine muttered.
The officer cleared his throat again, and it was obvious that he wasn’t doing it to get our attention or because he was ill. He was trying hard not to laugh.
“Brandi Sevigny was hired by Mr. McDaniel a few years ago, but before she was even able to start working in the office, she received a call from the HR manager explaining that Ms. Corbin had rescinded the offer of employment due to her criminal history.”
“I remember that. Boyd told the HR director to hire her without a background check, and when she called to tattle, I told her to run it anyway and take the appropriate action,” Taya explained. “She was on probation or parole for embezzlement.”
The officer confirmed. “She was fresh out of prison after serving three years when she approached Mr. McDaniel about her paternity. He promised her a job and income to help her get on her feet and then cut off all contact after she was fired.”
“She came after me because I fired her?” Taya asked.
“Mr. Tyler was very forthcoming about her reasons, although Ms. Sevigny has chosen to stay silent until she speaks to an attorney.”
“So what did he say?” I asked.
“He was told that you were her mother and Mr. McDaniel was her father and if he helped get rid of you both, she’d inherit the company.
” He waved toward Blaine, Brandt, and Brinn before he said, “Since all of you were foster children who were never formally adopted, the probate court won’t recognize you as heirs. ”
“That’s preposterous!” Taya exclaimed, reverting back to the big author words she used when she was flustered.
To lighten the mood, I whispered, “Fornicator!” under my breath, and Taya glared at me before she gently patted my hand and then looked back at the officer. “Was he the one that attacked me a few weeks ago?”
“He admitted to that but insists that she was the one that drove your SUV off the road.”
“Wow. Please tell me that there’s prison time in their future,” Brinn said angrily.
“Obviously, attempted murder is a violation of her parole stipulations, and since Mr. Tyler is a complete dumbass who. . .” The man cleared his throat again before he sighed and said, “Excuse me. He admitted that he’s been stealing cars out of your impound lot to commit more crimes than the ones we’ve discussed.
He’s going to be prosecuted and spend plenty of time in prison too. ”
“You’re fucking kidding.”
“We only have his word right now, but he said that she was complicit in a string of robberies that the vehicles he borrowed from the impound had been used in, including the truck that ran you off the road, the Suburban the man who attacked you was driving, and the vehicle she tried to evade us in today.”
“Well, fuck me,” Blaine muttered.
“Scott’s in charge of the impound lot and has a key and code to every gate there,” Brandt explained.
“Let me guess. Your dad hired him,” Taya said angrily.
Brandt sighed before he nodded slowly. “He did.”
“Now I want to shoot him,” Taya admitted. She looked at the officer in alarm before she said, “I didn’t mean that! I would never . . . Today was a complete accident.”
“Shit! There’s Kathleen,” Brinn said, looking out into the hall. Blaine and Brandt ducked to the side so they were hidden by the curtain, and Brinn shrunk down behind Samara and Jaimee before she whispered, “I don’t think she saw us.”
“Who is Kathleen?” I asked.
“That’s his wife,” Taya explained as we watched the woman walk into a room down the hall.
“Who is that?” the officer asked as a woman with a toddler on her hip rounded the corner and walked into the same door.
I burst out laughing and winced when it pulled at the stitches in my arms. I finally managed to say, “That’s one of his side pieces!”
“You guys win! Your family dynamic is way more fucked up than mine,” Samara announced right before we heard screaming through the open door of my room.
“Fuck me,” the officer mumbled before he walked in that direction.
“We need some popcorn,” Jaimee said as she hurried over to stand beside Taya to get a better look out into the hall. “This is fantastic.”
“How do you know that’s his side piece?” Brandt asked.
“Before I met your mom, I was hired by your father’s wife to get proof that he was cheating on her and that it was her house where he was spending the majority of his evenings before he went home to her.”
“Whose kid is that?” Blaine asked in horror.
“Congratulations!” I announced cheerfully. “In one day, you got a sister and a brother!”
“Holy shit! We’ve got nothing on these people, Chevy.”
I smiled at my daughter. “You’re right! Who would have ever thought that our family dynamic would be the normal one?”
◆◆◆
“Can I get you anything?” Taya asked as she picked up the water bottle she’d brought me less than an hour ago. “This one’s warm. I’ll get you another one.”
“Taya! Come sit down,” I ordered. When it looked like she was about to argue, I played my trump card and said, “Please. I’m hurting, and I want you to snuggle with me until my meds kick in.”
“Oh! Sure,” Taya said before she adjusted the blanket over my lap and then sat down about a foot away. When I lifted my arm for her to get closer, she shook her head. “I don’t want to hurt you.”
“Having you sit close to me isn’t going to hurt me. I used this arm to lift your leg over your head this morning before we got up. I think I can hold you without it killing me.”
“And this is where I say goodbye,” Jade said from the doorway.
I looked over and saw that Ollie was asleep on her shoulder. She had a bag of leftovers hanging from her free hand, so I said, “Give me just a second to put on shoes, and I’ll carry that.”
“You will not!” Taya snapped as she scooted closer to me and fit herself under my raised arm. “You’re injured, dammit!”
Jade smiled before she said, “It’s not heavy. I can do it.”
“See you in the morning,” I told her as I lifted my other arm up to wave.
“Be still!” Taya ordered. As Jade walked out, Taya said, “Sleep in tomorrow. I’ll call you when I get up and around.”
“Yes!” Jade cheered before the door opened and then closed behind her.
“You don’t have to put off your work for me, Tay. I need to go to the studio to check on things in the morning, but I’ll be back in time for lunch.”
“You can’t work!”
“I damn sure can.”
“No! You need to stay here so I can take care of you.”
“I told you I’d be back by lunch, Tay. You spent all day hovering and cooking more food than we can eat in a week. I know that bag Jade was carrying didn’t even have a fraction of what you made today.”
“I needed to keep busy.”
“And you can do that tomorrow by going back to our regularly scheduled programming.”
“How can I do that when you’re injured?”
“Honey, you’ve seen me naked and know for a fact this is not the first time I’ve been shot. At least this one was through and through instead of . . .”
“How in the hell did it fucking go through both arms?” Taya asked in exasperation.
I didn’t remind her that I also had a burn across my chest right above my nipples, which were fine, thank God.
When I lifted my arms to shove the woman who was about to attack Taya from the front, her gun went off and shot through the underside of my left arm, grazed my chest, and then went through the flesh on the underside of my left bicep.
Considering that my entire body was in motion, a sharpshooter would have had difficulty making that happen, but somehow Taya managed to accidentally shoot me three times, technically . . . and all with just one bullet.
“You’re much more upset about this than I am, Tay.
It’s not that bad,” I assured her. “As a matter of fact, I think it’s a blessing.
Someday when I’m really pissing you off, all you’ll have to do to calm yourself down is remember that you’ve already shot me and smile about how wonderful it would feel to do it again. ”
“It’s not funny, Chevy!”
“It really is. I swear. When I told Ajax what happened, he laughed so hard that Sandi thought he was having the big one and rushed to his aide. When she realized he couldn’t breathe because he was laughing so hard and not having a coronary, she asked me what was going on, so I told her.
She said you’re her new hero and living proof that dreams do come true sometimes. ”
“She didn’t mean that.”
“You’ll change your mind once you spend more than five minutes with Ajax,” I assured her. “What did your friends say when you talked to them earlier?”
“That if I don’t put this in a fucking book, one of them will because women all over the world are going to go nuts cheering on the character that gets the honor of shooting the man she loves. He just irritates her in ways no one else ever can.”
“See? You’re a hero, babe.”
“I’m never going to live this down, am I?”
“It’s not likely. I’m going to use it as ammunition whenever you’re pissed at me or won’t let me have my way about something.”
“You wouldn’t!”
“I will,” I assured her. “Now, I’m a poor pitiful man who was nearly taken out by the woman he loves. The only way to make me feel better is to get naked and ride me until I forget about the pain.”
“You’re horrible, Chevy.”
“That very well may be, but I’ve never shot you. At least I have that going for me.”