“I know…”
“They haven’t even set her free, yet.”
“Yeah.” He looks at Carmen. “Guess I’m gettin’ anxious. Any day now.”
“Two more weeks,” I tell him.
“Anything can happen, man. I want the guys around. And Melodi and Hannah.”
“Melodi’s fuckin’ nuts,” I mutter, thinking of Fuse’s crazy woman.
“She’s good with kids, though. Just has a jealous streak, that’s all.”
With amusement I raise my eyebrows at him, remembering well his speech about how jealous bitches bring men down and that Fuse should leave his. But motivation changes opinions. And Melodi is a good mother. She’s even better than Hannah whose got three runnin’ around from Scythe. Since he’s on the road the most of any of us, Melodi cares for Hannah’s kids thanks to her depression from missing her man. It’s a vicious circle, but we all take care of each other.
“True,” I mutter, shaking my head at how twisted life is.
A nurse enters with the machine to check Luna’s vitals. Behind her is that physical therapist I don’t want near her. I straighten up and eyeball him. Tonk notices and glances over as the tight-shirted fuckhead nods to us, then smiles at Luna.
“Well, look at you!”
She frowns at him and glances to me. “Who the hell is this?” she asks me as the nurse wraps the blood pressure Velcro on.
Relief relaxes me into a low laugh. She doesn’t find the dude attractive. Good. “He’s gonna help you get stronger, baby.”
She sneers from me to him. Perplexed by this reaction, he looks around with a lot less confidence that he walked in with. Tonk’s trying not to laugh.
“Sunshine likes her men dirty,” I tell the poor guy.
Luna laughs and tries to get serious as quickly as she can. “Sorry. What do you need me to do?”
As soon as the nurse finishes up, he guides Luna out of the bed and tells her, “It’s normal to feel dizzy.” Holding her up, he walks her around the small room until she finally pulls away.
“I think I’ve got it.”
Tonk and I exchange a look, but Carmen is just watching Luna like she’s the most interesting woman in the world. There’s an invisible pedestal erecting under her bare feet with ever passing second.
Holding onto the wall, Luna walks around and breathes deeply in and out. The hospital therapist watches her and walks with her, but doesn’t dare make a move to help.
She glances to me out of the corner of her beautiful eyes, and smiles. “I’m gonna be fine.”
I’m feeling more pride than I ever have for anything or anyone, ever.
“Yeah you are,” I tell her. “You’re gonna be better than fine, baby.”
Luna
I groan, “Mmm…” as I take another bite of the Fatburger Jett brought me. “This is amazing.”
“Best in town,” he grins, chomping on one of his own. “And best name for a burger place, ever.”
We eat in silence for a while.
When a nurse knocks on the door, he calls to the door, “Yeah?”
She walks in, and it’s the woman who was ogling Jett before, right in front of me. Her admiring face has transformed to embarrassed and awkward, which means it was her who walked in on us the other night. Ha! I was hoping it was. It’s all over her face that she knows her fantasy is over. He’s not ever going to be hers.
Good.
Wait…what am I talking about?
I don’t have any claims on him. In fact, I know we’ll be saying goodbye soon. I guess I haven’t given a lot of thought to what I’m going to do now that it’s over and Matias is finally gone for good.
What do you do when you’ve fulfilled your dream?
“How are you feeling today?” she asks, carrying in the machine to check my vitals. They do this every two fucking hours. It’s annoying as hell.
“Third days a charm. Feel like my old self. Can you get the doctor for me after this?”
She turns right around to do it now. That’s how uncomfortable she was. Silently laughing to myself, I gobble up some delicious, thick French fries.
“You eat like a guy, Sunshine,” Jett tells me, highly entertained.
“I eat like I love food.”
“And so delicately,” he teases.
“Fuck being delicate.” I open my empty mouth wide and take the biggest bite of burger I can fit.
He starts laughing when I realize it was too big and I can’t chew it. “Ha! You remind me of my brother Jason. He’s done that shit so many times!” Bending over in laughter, he hands me a napkin. “Here. Spit it out and start again.”