“Wolf,” I uttered.
“Wolf?”
“Wolf did this,” I said.
“It’s okay,” said Lincoln. “Just breathe easy. We’re almost there.”
“Storm,” I uttered.
“Storm?”
“Storm is a horse. He must be wondering where I am.”
I felt so silly and useless at the hospital. I had minor cuts on my hands. That was it. Meanwhile, Gran had been rushed into surgery. She had sustained internal bleeding. The nurses told me she was going to be okay, but that didn’t ease my mind or make me feel any less useless.
“She’s going to be fine,” said Lincoln. “Your Gran’s a tough woman. It’ll be all right.”
“Why does everyone keep telling me everything’s going to be alright!?” I shouted. “Everything’s not alright. Everything’s wrong!”
As if my world wasn’t upside down enough, Lincoln put an arm around me and I didn’t push him away. I was actually comforted.
“You’re right, Ruby,” he said. “It’s just something we say when we don’t know what else to say.”
Despite how much I hated Lincoln—or thought that I hated him—I put my head on his shoulder. He put his other arm around my waist and pulled me in for a tight hug.
We were standing next to reception between the waiting room and the corridor. There must have been twenty or so people around us. Still, maybe it was the shock or the rollercoaster of emotions I’d been on or the thrill of being watched by strangers, but I pressed myself close to Lincoln. I felt his cock harden against my hip, and I gyrated slowly, nibbling at his neck with soft pecks.
He pushed me away—after a long moment. “Let’s go check in on Ryder.”
He started walking away. I took his hand in mine and we hurried, together, down the corridor.
“You look like shit,” Lincoln said to Ryder. “And your eye is swollen.”
“Yeah, of course I look like shit. I was in a fight. What’s your excuse?”
Lincoln shrugged. “I was born this way.”
“My condolences.”
I teared up. As much as Ryder hated me, he hated Lincoln even more. Yet, laid out on the hospital bed, his lips badly swollen, and a bandage on his forehead. With some effort, he managed a sly smile. And the ribbing between the two of them was playful. For the first time since Tammy’s accident, they were talking like friends.
I wiped my eyes with the back of my hand.
“Jeez, Ruby,” said Ryder. “I don’t look that bad, do I?”
I laughed, and more tears came. “No, it just makes me happy to hear the two of you talking in a way that isn’t like mortal enemies.”
Ryder pointed at Lincoln. “He saved my life. Yours too.”
I locked my arm in Lincoln’s and drew him to me. “And Gran’s.”
“Just doing my job,” said Lincoln.
I laughed then quickly threw a hand over my mouth. “Sorry. I still haven’t got used to Officer Lincoln, yet.”
“That’s Deputy Stone, actually,” said Lincoln with pride. And this time, I didn’t laugh. He was right to be proud.
I slipped my arm from his, wrapped it around his waist, and gave him a squeeze. “Officer Stone, that has a nice ring to it.”
“What are you two like a couple again, is that it?” said Ryder.
Lincoln pulled away from me and threw his hands defensively in the air. “No. No, way. Not at all.”
“Lincoln!” I said.
He looked at me with a frown. “What?”
“You don’t have to be so enthusiastic with your denial.”
The nurse came in and announced the good news: Gran was out of surgery. She was doing fine, and we could go see her.
Ryder pulled himself out of the bed. “I’m going with you guys.”
The nurse rushed over to his bed and tried to keep him from getting up. “Oh, no you don’t. You need to rest.”
Ryder got out of the bed. “I rest on Sundays,” he said. “Last I checked, that isn’t till tomorrow.”
Seeing is believing. And it wasn’t until I actually saw Gran and saw that she was doing fine that I believed what the nurses had been telling me.
“You’re going to be okay, Gran.”
“Of course I am,” she said defiantly. “Except these doctors won’t let me leave. Say I need to stay here overnight.” She shook her head. “I told them I’m the mayor and they need to let me go home.”
“You should listen to the doctors,” I said.
She frowned. “I don’t have much of a choice. These doctors are so stubborn, won’t listen to a word I tell them. You’d think they were legislators or something.” She looked at Ryder. “Ryder, my goodness, you look terrible.”
“I’m okay, just a few bruises.”
She shook her head. “My, oh my. You look terrible and you’ve got a few bruises. Not your lucky day, is it?”
Ryder looked at me with a smile then at Lincoln. “Actually, it might just be my lucky day.”
Gran frowned.
“I think one of the blows I took to the head must have knocked some sense into me,” said Ryder. “I’d been harboring so much anger, and for what?”