Total pages in book: 98
Estimated words: 114647 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 573(@200wpm)___ 459(@250wpm)___ 382(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 114647 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 573(@200wpm)___ 459(@250wpm)___ 382(@300wpm)
James’ jaw tightened as he listened to me babble.
“Mr. Allen?” A man asked from behind me.
James looked up, and I turned in the circle of his arms and stared at the man with silver hair. Obviously a doctor, he had a warm smile and a smooth voice.
“Yeah?” James nodded.
“My name’s Dr. Stone. Are you ready to be stitched up?” Dr. Stone asked as he set his clipboard down and took a seat on the rolling stool.
It was during the fourth stitch in James’ thigh that Cheyenne and company showed up.
James didn’t acknowledge Sam’s presence at all, and neither did I. Cheyenne gave a raised eyebrow to James as she looked from our linked hands to our faces and back. I made a move to remove my hand from James’, but he held on tighter so I couldn’t get it away from him unless I wanted to make a big deal of it.
“That looks nasty.” Cheyenne said in way of greeting.
“Feels nasty too.” James agreed.
“It’ll leave a pretty wicked scar. Luckily, it only grazed him. Could’ve been a fuck of a lot worse.” The doctor muttered, and then apologized. “Sorry. I was a combat doctor in the army for twenty years. I don’t have control of my mouth at times.”
“That’s okay,” I laughed as the doctor did another stitch. “James would be swearing right along with you right now if it wasn’t for me.”
James squeezed my hand tight before slapping his sister’s hands off the side of his face. “Fuck, I said I was fine! Get off me!” He snapped.
His sister slinked away into Sam’s arms, which made me finally look at Sam’s face. He did not look pleased. My back straightened at the audacity of his anger that was not only palpable, but every bit of it was directed at me.
I gave him my best stink eye, and then turned back towards the doctor that was just finishing the final stitches in James leg.
“You know the routine, I’m sure. Ice. Keep it clean. Take the stitches out in a week. Antibiotics need to be taken twice a day for ten days. I’m assuming you don’t want pain meds?” Dr. Stone asked.
“No.” James confirmed.
“Alright, I’ll send Jennifer in with your discharge papers. Hope you feel better soon. It was a good thing you did.” Dr. Stone said as he left the curtained off area.
Silence commenced as we waited for Nurse Jennifer to come discharge James.
Sam’s face was hard and closed off, emotions wrapped tightly so I couldn’t read him at all. With a look of disapproval at me, he started speaking to James, completely ignoring me in the process.
He asked him about his job on the SWAT team, whether he was happy or not, what happened today when he got shot, how often they trained. The shop talk persisted through Jennifer handing over James’ discharge papers, and then continued on until we reached Sam’s bike.
Both men stopped and turned to study me. I felt the need to get the heck out of there, but I wasn’t leaving until I could talk to James. Make him see that we would be good together. To let him know that Jolie didn’t bother me anymore.
Well, not that much anyway.
Sam opened his mouth to say something. What, I didn’t know, because I interrupted him before he could get the first word out.
“Can I take you home?” I asked James, completely ignoring my brother.
“Yeah, I’d like that,” he agreed. “Where’re you parked?”
“I parked at the back of the lot and ran in.” I gestured towards where my car was parked and started to walk forward.
Sam’s voice sounded from behind me. “Shiloh,” he started.
I turned like a whirlwind and was in his face in the next second. “You know, right now I’m very upset. I’m mad that I gave you so much of my trust only for you to break it. I’m mad that you knew I was aching to see him and you didn’t tell me what was going on. He could’ve died today, and where would that have left me? You want to know where? I’d be devastated. Over the past month, I’ve thought of little else than seeing him again. He makes me happy, and I deserve that.”
I was crying again, and the heartache on Sam’s face gave me a moment of doubt, but I pushed it viciously away. Starting to turn back to James, Cheyenne’s voice stopped me.
“That decision was all me. I didn’t think he needed to have the distraction in his life right now. He’s so caught up with trying to get custody of his daughter, having that piece of trash lying about anything and everything she can think of. I just didn’t want him to be used right now. I asked Sam to not tell you anything, and then I had him play the sister card with James. I never meant for it to hurt....” Cheyenne explained.
“That wasn’t your choice to make. Did I step in when you jumped in the sack that first night you met Sam? No. Did I say anything at all about how fast you moved? No. I didn’t interfere in your life choices, even though it went against everything that was ingrained in me to do so. Have the same courtesy for me.” James snapped, taking my hand and leading me away.
We didn’t speak while we walked to my truck. I handed James the keys like I’d done so many other times before. He opened the passenger door for me and helped me inside. Then he grabbed the seatbelt, leaned over my lap and snapped it into place. Slamming the door, he walked stiffly to the driver’s side, and hopped inside like the movement didn’t pain him, even though I knew it did.
We sat quietly in the parking lot for a few tense minutes. I could tell there was something that James wanted to say, but something was stopping him from doing it. After about four minutes of just sitting there, I broke.
“For the love of all that’s holy. Spit it out!” I boomed.