“Yeah, it always is. Just don’t make me have to work on you next. If that happens, I won’t be patching up your boyfriend, I’ll be helping Clay and Ford take him apart.”
“He’s not my boyfriend,” she said.
“You keep telling yourself that. I’ve got to get back to work. They will discharge him soon.”
She walked out with Blaze and returned to Rory’s room. He was alone for the moment.
“Where are my brothers?”
“I think they are going to talk to Blaze. They want you to stay with him.”
“I already told Blaze no. I’ll stay with you tonight in Clay’s cabin I hate so much, but we’ll be fine. Then we’ll figure out the rest.”
“I’ll figure out the rest,” he said. “You need to give me some space.”
“No, no, no. Don’t make me yell. You’ll end up with a worse headache.”
“Told you that wasn’t going to work,” Clay said, coming back in. “Rookies.”
Rory sank back on the bed. She moved over and climbed next to him. “You can’t get rid of me that quickly.”
“So I’m learning.”
29
HAD TO STAY SHARP
“Idon’t need a watchdog,” Rory said hours later when Clay pulled into his rented house to grab some clothes.
“Not saying you do, but someone wants you dead and you’re not a hundred percent. I don’t need my sister on my case if something happened to you on my watch.”
He snorted. He hadn’t been under anyone’s watch in years and wasn’t sure how he felt about it.
Since the day his sister died, he’d had to fend for himself.
His parents were only breathing humans in the house who rarely talked to each other unless it was to fight.
And look at him? Nah, his father would rather not, as if it was Rory’s fault it all happened.
He had needed no one else to make him feel worse than he already had.
To dump the weight and guilt on his shoulders that he could barely support. Not the best life for a teen dealing with his own grief.
Clay took the key from his hand and unlocked the door, then moved in with his gun out and looked around. The person would be stupid to come back again at this point.
“Maybe you should have played it up the guy succeeded and I could hide out on the farm,” Rory said.
“I suggested that, but Ford wouldn’t do it,” Clay said.
“Yeah, can’t catch him if he slithers back into the shadows.”
“He won’t stay there long,” Clay said. “Now that he’s come out, we’ll find him.”
“You or Ford?”
“Both,” Clay said. “He’s pushed too far. His reach hit this family now.”
Rory nodded, thankful they felt that way. Were they angry with him? He didn’t know and it wasn’t as if he could do much about it.
