She clenched her eyes shut. “Don’t be proud. I got too cocky and brought this on myself.”
“Hey,” Keith said, giving her arm a gentle nudge until she opened her eyes. “This isnotyour fault.”
“It kind of is. Tell him, Jude.”
“Baby, I don’t think any of this is your fault. Keith is right.” I squeezed her knee over the white hospital blanket.
“But you tried to warn me. To get someone to close with me, hire protection. Like I said, I was cocky and thought I could handle it, and I should have taken it more seriously when he cursed me out in public.”
“But you couldn’t have seen this coming, not like this,” Keith said. “And you are not the first woman he’s been violent with, although he wasn’t brazen enough to do it out in the open before this.”
“I’m not?” She cringed when her head popped up.
“No. It was nothing we could ever make stick and can’t use now, but tell me what happened today.” Keith pulled up a chair next to her bed.
“Artie came in drunk. I told him I couldn’t serve him alcohol, and when he wouldn’t order anything else, I told him he had to leave. He called me a bitch and said fuck me and my cop boyfriend, and then Lou dragged him out.”
I tried to loosen the clench of my jaw when Claudia’s eyes met mine.
“Brandon had an emergency, so I had to close alone. Artie was waiting somewhere for me and pushed me against my car door from behind when I tried to get in, and we fought back and forth until Jude got there. I’d tried to just push him off enough to get into my car and get away from him, but he pulled me out once I managed to get in.”
“I’m so sorry, baby.” I grabbed her hand and brought it to my mouth.
Her shrug when she lifted her head made me feel even worse. “I wouldn’t be surprised if he says I assaultedhim.” She huffed. “Since when he tried to grab me, I was the one who struck first. But I was just trying to leave.”
“No one will buy it if he does. I’ll thank Larry if he ever comes back from the Bahamas for the cameras, but I am sure you have lots of witnesses all those times he was nasty with you at the bar. Do you know how to pull the camera footage?”
“I do. Cece definitely does if I have any trouble.”
“If you’re feeling up to it, Davis will take you down to the station to start a restraining order tomorrow. Either way, he has the next couple of days off.” He arched a brow at me. “Peyton is coming back in the morning.”
“They have a few days left of vacation.” Claudia groaned. “She doesn’t have to do that.”
“Jake had to talk her out of driving home tonight when I called her. Let us all fuss over you for a bit, all right?”
“Sure, Uncle Keith,” she said, a normal smile pulling at her lips this time. “Cece opens tomorrow anyway. I’ll stay home until these fade enough to be able to cover them up.” She pointed at her face. “Not that everyone doesn’t know what happened already.”
“Kelly Lakes shows up for our own. And that’s you now, sweetheart. So don’t worry about what people think. Artie should, but you shouldn’t.”
He kissed the top of her head and cut me a look.
“Get some rest, and I’ll talk to you in the morning, Davis.”
I nodded at his retreat and took the vacant chair next to Claudia.
“He’s right. People are going to be very pissed, and Artie is going to be even less welcome around here than he is now.”
“Yes, I’m sure Benny and all his friends will line up to defend my honor.” She laughed, rubbing at her eyes.
“Benny used to be a boxer. I bet he’d still kick some ass for you.”
“That’s right. I forgot about that,” she laughed as she rolled up to sit. “He probably would now that I got him his Yankees games. I just want to go home,” she said, clenching her eyes shut as she leaned back onto the pillow. “Not that I have a home here.”
“Yes, you do. Maybe not an apartment just yet, but you belong here. You’re staying with me tonight.”
She nodded, darting her eyes everywhere but to mine. I couldn’t tell if it was defeat or resignation in her gaze, but I didn’t like whatever it was or know what to do about it.
27
