How About No
Page 16
And I was reluctant to let it go, even though I wanted to.
“Landry!”
I turned just as my mother came barreling toward us, pushing me aside.
I stepped back from Landry and dropped her hand, only for my leg to nearly give out from underneath me.
I felt bile rise up my throat, and it took everything that I had not to bend over and throw up right then and there.
I should’ve been better by now.
I shouldn’t hurt this much so long after I’d been shot.
Yet, I did hurt.
Obviously, I knew it wasn’t going to heal in a day, but it should be at least a little bit better by this point.
But it wasn’t.
And I had a feeling, one deep in my gut, that this wound was not a simple one. It wasn’t going to be fixed…and I was likely going to lose my leg.
Speaking of which, I drew a deep steadying breath and reached past Landry, who was in my mother’s arms and got my bottle of pills. Popping them open, I threw one of the horse pill antibiotics in my mouth and swallowed it dry.
It stuck in my throat about halfway down, and I reached for Landry’s drink that she’d yet to finish.
Washing it down the rest of the way, I licked my lips and tasted her apple Chapstick, groaning at the flavor.
God, I’d loved it when I kissed her and tasted that.
It was so perfectly her.
“Oh, I’ve missed you,” my mother said, pulling back.
“You haven’t missed me?” I croaked.
My mother glanced at me, stuck out her tongue, and then pulled Landry in for one more quick hug.
“I’ve missed you, too,” she said, her eyes turning to concern. “Are you okay?”
Landry’s eyes went to me, and her frown deepened.
“What’s wrong?” she asked, pulling away and moving toward me.
Oh, nothing much. I think my leg is about to fall off due to the pain I’m in.
“Stepped wrong,” I lied.
“Stepped wrong my ass,” my father grunted as he finally caught up to my mother, who had obviously run ahead of him. “You pushed him out of the way, and he had to stumble to catch his balance. You’re lucky the truck was right there, or he would’ve fallen straight on his ass. Jesus, Minnie. He was just shot not long ago!” my father, Porter, growled. “And you. You went and got yourself shot, too. What the fuck is going on in Texas?”
Landry smiled at my father, and tears came to her eyes.
The minute my dad saw that, he sighed and said, “Come ‘ere, girl.”
Landry threw herself at my old man, and I felt my heart skip a beat inside my chest.
Not only had she left me, but she’d left my family too.
My parents had adored her from the moment that they’d met her, and Landry had latched onto them like they would leave her at any second.
My dad reached around Landry’s body to wrap her up tight and narrowly missed smacking me in the face as he did.
“You’re talking about me not paying attention,” my mother, Minnie, laughed. “You almost clocked him in the face!”
Porter shrugged, uncaring. “Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do.”
I rolled my eyes and took a step away from the truck in the direction of my mother.
My mom wrapped her arms around me gently and said, “You okay?”
I nodded and dropped my mouth to the top of her head, inhaling the floral scent that she’d worn since I was a child, and feeling like I was home. “Yeah, Ma. I’m good. How are you?”
“I’d be good if that lawyer asshole would tell me what was going on,” she muttered.
“That lawyer asshole is your brother,” I paused. “And why wouldn’t he tell you?”
Porter moved until his arm was across Landry’s shoulders. “Let’s go find out.”
And that’s what we did.
Arriving in the lawyer’s office—my uncle Jimmy’s office—I took a seat and nearly groaned audibly at the way the pressure was taken off of my leg.
“Fuck, that hurts,” I growled, feeling my stomach clench, and my ears beginning to lose the slight ring.
“Got that right,” my father muttered.
I looked over at my old man, who’d also taken his seat on the comfortable leather couch just down from me.
“Back acting up again?” I questioned.
He grunted. “Been acting up for the last thirty years.”
I snorted. “If I keep this leg, I have a feeling that it’s going to do the same damn thing.”
“You’ll feel it every single time the weather acts up,” he promised.
I was not looking forward to that. Not even a little bit.
I’d been in the Army for three years as an MP—military police—before getting out and joining up with first Benton’s police department, and then almost immediately moving to Bear Bottom PD.
Needless to say, those three years in the Army had not been kind to my joints. We still did quite a bit of patrolling while carrying gear in the military police. Some of the places we had to investigate in the Middle East would never be kind even to the healthiest of people. We investigated murders, missing soldiers, domestic violence, anything that might happen in the states, just in worse conditions.
Now, add on being shot in the thigh, and that wound not healing correctly…I had a feeling I was really fucked.
“Great,” I muttered, closing my eyes.
The couch beside me depressed, and I didn’t have to open my eyes to know that Landry had just taken the spot between me and my father. She was so close that I could feel the heat of her along my left side.
Everything inside of me urged me to throw my arm around her shoulder and pull her in close to my side.
I debated it for all of three seconds before I said “fuck it” in my head and did what I wanted.
Lifting my arm, I didn’t bother trying to act smooth, as if pulling her into me was just something that happened.
Nope. I went ahead and wrapped my arm around her shoulders, cupped her elbow, and pulled her into my side.
At first, she stiffened, and I was sure that she was going to pull away.
But then she surprised the shit out of me by not only staying where I put her but also laying her head against my pectoral.
Everything inside of me soared.
Everything.
My heart raced. My hopes lifted. The throbbing in my leg faded into the background.
Hell, even my bladder that’d been protesting for the last hour had paled in comparison to how it felt to have her in my arms, back where she fucking belonged.
We stayed like that for thirty blissful seconds before my uncle Jimmy came out of his office and said, “All right, boys and girls. Y’all can come back now.”
I grunted as Landry used my full bladder to push herself away from me, scooting to the edge of the couch and opened one eye to glare at the man.
He was grinning at me.
I silently curled my lip at him and flipped him off for good measure.
He shrugged.
“Can we have the meeting right here?” I requested. “I have to pee, my leg hurts, and if I have to get up again, it’s not going to be good.”
“Why don’t you pee then?” Uncle Jimmy suggested. “There’s this new modern invention called the toilet. You go in there, lift the lid because your aunt Martha will kick your ass if you pee on her seat, and then take a leak into the little porcelain bowl. It’s great. You should try it.”
I flipped him off again and closed my eyes once more.
“Because walking to the bathroom might very well make me throw up right now,” I told him honestly. “My leg hurts really fuckin’ bad.”
Jimmy’s face went soft. “We can do it out here,” he agreed. “But I can’t promise that my next client won’t walk in during the middle of it.”
“If that happens,” I sighed. “Then we’ll move. But until then, this couch has accepted me as one of its own for the time being.”
Landry settled back into the couch but didn’t move back into my side.
My parents, who’d been quiet up until this point, both started talking at once.
“So, let’s get this shit over with. What’s the deal?” my father asked at the same time my mother said, “Tell us already, please.”
“Landry!”
I turned just as my mother came barreling toward us, pushing me aside.
I stepped back from Landry and dropped her hand, only for my leg to nearly give out from underneath me.
I felt bile rise up my throat, and it took everything that I had not to bend over and throw up right then and there.
I should’ve been better by now.
I shouldn’t hurt this much so long after I’d been shot.
Yet, I did hurt.
Obviously, I knew it wasn’t going to heal in a day, but it should be at least a little bit better by this point.
But it wasn’t.
And I had a feeling, one deep in my gut, that this wound was not a simple one. It wasn’t going to be fixed…and I was likely going to lose my leg.
Speaking of which, I drew a deep steadying breath and reached past Landry, who was in my mother’s arms and got my bottle of pills. Popping them open, I threw one of the horse pill antibiotics in my mouth and swallowed it dry.
It stuck in my throat about halfway down, and I reached for Landry’s drink that she’d yet to finish.
Washing it down the rest of the way, I licked my lips and tasted her apple Chapstick, groaning at the flavor.
God, I’d loved it when I kissed her and tasted that.
It was so perfectly her.
“Oh, I’ve missed you,” my mother said, pulling back.
“You haven’t missed me?” I croaked.
My mother glanced at me, stuck out her tongue, and then pulled Landry in for one more quick hug.
“I’ve missed you, too,” she said, her eyes turning to concern. “Are you okay?”
Landry’s eyes went to me, and her frown deepened.
“What’s wrong?” she asked, pulling away and moving toward me.
Oh, nothing much. I think my leg is about to fall off due to the pain I’m in.
“Stepped wrong,” I lied.
“Stepped wrong my ass,” my father grunted as he finally caught up to my mother, who had obviously run ahead of him. “You pushed him out of the way, and he had to stumble to catch his balance. You’re lucky the truck was right there, or he would’ve fallen straight on his ass. Jesus, Minnie. He was just shot not long ago!” my father, Porter, growled. “And you. You went and got yourself shot, too. What the fuck is going on in Texas?”
Landry smiled at my father, and tears came to her eyes.
The minute my dad saw that, he sighed and said, “Come ‘ere, girl.”
Landry threw herself at my old man, and I felt my heart skip a beat inside my chest.
Not only had she left me, but she’d left my family too.
My parents had adored her from the moment that they’d met her, and Landry had latched onto them like they would leave her at any second.
My dad reached around Landry’s body to wrap her up tight and narrowly missed smacking me in the face as he did.
“You’re talking about me not paying attention,” my mother, Minnie, laughed. “You almost clocked him in the face!”
Porter shrugged, uncaring. “Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do.”
I rolled my eyes and took a step away from the truck in the direction of my mother.
My mom wrapped her arms around me gently and said, “You okay?”
I nodded and dropped my mouth to the top of her head, inhaling the floral scent that she’d worn since I was a child, and feeling like I was home. “Yeah, Ma. I’m good. How are you?”
“I’d be good if that lawyer asshole would tell me what was going on,” she muttered.
“That lawyer asshole is your brother,” I paused. “And why wouldn’t he tell you?”
Porter moved until his arm was across Landry’s shoulders. “Let’s go find out.”
And that’s what we did.
Arriving in the lawyer’s office—my uncle Jimmy’s office—I took a seat and nearly groaned audibly at the way the pressure was taken off of my leg.
“Fuck, that hurts,” I growled, feeling my stomach clench, and my ears beginning to lose the slight ring.
“Got that right,” my father muttered.
I looked over at my old man, who’d also taken his seat on the comfortable leather couch just down from me.
“Back acting up again?” I questioned.
He grunted. “Been acting up for the last thirty years.”
I snorted. “If I keep this leg, I have a feeling that it’s going to do the same damn thing.”
“You’ll feel it every single time the weather acts up,” he promised.
I was not looking forward to that. Not even a little bit.
I’d been in the Army for three years as an MP—military police—before getting out and joining up with first Benton’s police department, and then almost immediately moving to Bear Bottom PD.
Needless to say, those three years in the Army had not been kind to my joints. We still did quite a bit of patrolling while carrying gear in the military police. Some of the places we had to investigate in the Middle East would never be kind even to the healthiest of people. We investigated murders, missing soldiers, domestic violence, anything that might happen in the states, just in worse conditions.
Now, add on being shot in the thigh, and that wound not healing correctly…I had a feeling I was really fucked.
“Great,” I muttered, closing my eyes.
The couch beside me depressed, and I didn’t have to open my eyes to know that Landry had just taken the spot between me and my father. She was so close that I could feel the heat of her along my left side.
Everything inside of me urged me to throw my arm around her shoulder and pull her in close to my side.
I debated it for all of three seconds before I said “fuck it” in my head and did what I wanted.
Lifting my arm, I didn’t bother trying to act smooth, as if pulling her into me was just something that happened.
Nope. I went ahead and wrapped my arm around her shoulders, cupped her elbow, and pulled her into my side.
At first, she stiffened, and I was sure that she was going to pull away.
But then she surprised the shit out of me by not only staying where I put her but also laying her head against my pectoral.
Everything inside of me soared.
Everything.
My heart raced. My hopes lifted. The throbbing in my leg faded into the background.
Hell, even my bladder that’d been protesting for the last hour had paled in comparison to how it felt to have her in my arms, back where she fucking belonged.
We stayed like that for thirty blissful seconds before my uncle Jimmy came out of his office and said, “All right, boys and girls. Y’all can come back now.”
I grunted as Landry used my full bladder to push herself away from me, scooting to the edge of the couch and opened one eye to glare at the man.
He was grinning at me.
I silently curled my lip at him and flipped him off for good measure.
He shrugged.
“Can we have the meeting right here?” I requested. “I have to pee, my leg hurts, and if I have to get up again, it’s not going to be good.”
“Why don’t you pee then?” Uncle Jimmy suggested. “There’s this new modern invention called the toilet. You go in there, lift the lid because your aunt Martha will kick your ass if you pee on her seat, and then take a leak into the little porcelain bowl. It’s great. You should try it.”
I flipped him off again and closed my eyes once more.
“Because walking to the bathroom might very well make me throw up right now,” I told him honestly. “My leg hurts really fuckin’ bad.”
Jimmy’s face went soft. “We can do it out here,” he agreed. “But I can’t promise that my next client won’t walk in during the middle of it.”
“If that happens,” I sighed. “Then we’ll move. But until then, this couch has accepted me as one of its own for the time being.”
Landry settled back into the couch but didn’t move back into my side.
My parents, who’d been quiet up until this point, both started talking at once.
“So, let’s get this shit over with. What’s the deal?” my father asked at the same time my mother said, “Tell us already, please.”
