Total pages in book: 40
Estimated words: 37093 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 185(@200wpm)___ 148(@250wpm)___ 124(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 37093 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 185(@200wpm)___ 148(@250wpm)___ 124(@300wpm)
“About how hungover I got?” I snorted. “No, Cyrus. I didn’t. Why? Because it’s no big deal! People get drunk all the time and manage to survive a long fucking while.”
“Language.” Both men spoke in unison, and I wanted to throw something at them.
“You know what? Fuck both of ya. I’m outta here.” I stood to go, but Cyrus shoved me back down. Gently, but it was a shove nonetheless.
“Sit the fuck down. Stitches ain’t done, and you and me gonna have a talk.”
“You’re not the boss of me.” It slipped out before I could stop it. Yeah. That wasn’t getting me anywhere in a big Goddamned hurry.
“That’s pretty fuckin’ evident, considering you’re still sitting comfortably.” Cyrus crossed his arms over his chest and looked down his nose at me with an angry glare, a look I’d seen from my brother on more than one occasion.
I narrowed my eyes at him. “Are you threatening to spank me?”
“I don’t threaten, Odette. I’m simply stating a fact. Your brother is in the middle of something he can’t get away from, though he wanted to do just that. Leave a child he’s trying to help to come get your drunk ass and take you back to Florida because he loves you that much. He’s supposed to call me today and let me know if he can safely leave. I told him not to, that I’d take responsibility for you, but he didn’t want to do that. Probably because he knows I’ll make you toe the line and he feels sorry for you.”
“My brother should not feel sorry for me. I did this to myself and he knows it. I don’t want or need his sympathy. Not for this.”
“She’s fine, Cyrus.” Stitches interrupted a conversation I really didn’t want him to hear, but I had completely forgotten about him listening. Which was just as humiliating as Cyrus seeing me like this. It was worse than that, actually. Cyrus had been the one to drag me out of that bar. I knew it because I remembered his scent. It was comforting even as it teased me with something I knew I could never have. “I brought a bag of fluids to give her. None of the vitamins it really should have, but I wasn’t giving my right nut to go with my left one. Not for this. She’ll feel better once it’s in. Open it up and let it go as fast as gravity will let it.”
He hooked a thin tube to the IV in my arm that I’d forgotten about. I was glad it was there because I hated needles.
Cyrus nodded, never taking his eyes from me. “Thanks, Stitches.”
“I know you’re waiting on the OK from Blade, but my advice is for you to put her over your knee and spank her ass until she can’t sit for a fuckin’ week.” He shut his bag and gave me a hard look. “Your brother would be ashamed of the way you’re acting.”
OK, that hurt. I tried not to wince but wasn’t sure I pulled it off. I knew I was being a little brat, but I felt awful. Only thing I wanted was to take a shower and sleep for a week.
Once Stitches was out the door, Cyrus knelt in front of me where I sat on the bed. “What’s all this about?”
“Nothing.” Childish? Yeah. But I wasn’t ready to talk to him just yet. I’d come all this way for that very thing, but I never expected to find Cyrus like this.
“Uh-huh. Fine.” He stood and hooked hung the IV bag from a pole Stitches had left. “Lie back and rest while this goes in. I’ll bring you something light to eat and some more painkillers. Once that bag is empty and you’ve got more on your stomach than what I suspect is rum, I’ll help you take a shower.”
“In no reality are you helping me take a shower, Cyrus. I’ve been bathing on my own a very long time. I can manage. Even if I have to sit on the ledge to do it, I am not letting you help me.” I was ignoring the fact that he knew me well enough to know it had been rum I was drinking. He likely knew about the Coke I drank with it too. If I dwelt on that little tidbit of information too long, I’d start fantasizing again.
He sighed and shook his head slightly. It was like he was having an internal argument with himself. And losing. “Sit back. I’ll bring you some buttered toast and apple slices. You can nibble on that while those fluids go in. We’ll talk about the rest later.”
Cyrus left then, leaving me alone with my thoughts. He was right about one thing. My brother didn’t need my dramatics. In his line of work, there was enough real-life drama to do anyone. I was ashamed of my behavior, but I didn’t want to involve Donovan in this. I didn’t even want to involve Cyrus, but he was the first person I thought to turn to. Why was anyone’s guess. The only history we had was when he’d hauled me over his shoulder and marched me straight to my brother. It was probably the image I’d built of him in my mind over all this time. He was nothing to me. I was nothing to him. But in my little pea-brained mind, I’d latched on to him for some unknown reason and thought he could make everything better.