“Thank you.”
“Stop.”
“No. You sat with me all fucking night. You come home, get maybe two hours sleep, and then help Linc and keep him company.” I hold his shoulder. “Thank you.”
He nods. “You’d do the same.”
I absolutely would.
“Your face…” he begins then trails off.
“I know it’s bad. I need ice packs on according to the instructions. I hope we have enough to rotate between me and Linc,” I mutter.
Kennedy scoffs. “Please. With Jesse around and all the scuffles he’s gotten into with dudes who didn’t appreciate their chick sucking him off—rockstar or not—we’ve got tons.”
I start to laugh but groan instead. “Everything hurts.”
“When we find out who did this and who ordered it, they’re going to hurt a lot more before they burn in hell,” Kennedy tells me.
“Famiglia.”
He nods.
After washing my hair and cleaning off the blood on the parts I can’t reach, Kennedy steps out of the room. I stand there, the water spraying atop my head and running down my body.
When I’m feeling a bit more like myself, I turn the water off and there’s Kennedy. Ready with the towel. I hope he knows how much this means to me. I’d tell him again, but it makes him uncomfortable and that’s the last thing I want him to be.
Open affection is something Kennedy’s not had much of in his life. The most I’ve seen him embrace is with Nicole. He doesn’t hold back with her. I think he senses a kindred spirit, maybe.
After putting my boxers on, I get into bed next to Linc and lean back against the pillows. I let out a long sigh.
“I hate hospital beds.”
Linc makes a sound of agreement. “I hate hospitals. I got shit for sleep.”
“That’s the worst. You’re finally in a deep sleep and the fuckers wake you up again,” I sneer.
“Right?”
“Mrs. M’s heating up some chicken enchiladas for us.”
Linc looks over. “You sure you can chew that?”
“They’re soft enough. That doesn’t hurt so much as this hole in my back—well, it’s stitched shut now. Some bitch whacked me with her stiletto. I don’t know if she meant for it to get stuck in my back, but she’s down to one shoe. These aren’t cheap ones either. These are those red bottom ones Tera likes,” I tell him.
He whistles. “Upper crust lowering themselves to such a level?”
I shrug. “I don’t know who would’ve wanted this done. I mean, there are a lot of haters right now, but I don’t think this was random.”
“No. It wasn’t.”
Tera brings in some ice packs, and the minute she sees me, she bursts into tears.
“Aw, hell,” Linc mutters.
“Tera,” I say softly, and hold my arms out for her.
She walks quickly over and is careful not to jar my ribs.
