"I have wine for that."
"You little slut, please tell me you stole from your brother's ridiculously expensive wine cellar."
Bee laughed. "I did it for you."
"You're a great friend."
"No…" Bee reached over and gripped my hand. "…I'm family… we're sisters… all of us. It's what we do."
"We?"
"We," a few voices said in unison.
I turned and gaped at the door as Trace, Mil, and Mo barged into my room, bags in hand.
"Did you guys rob a Nordstrom on the way in?" I pointed to the bags.
"Who needs to rob when you have Nixon's card?" Trace shrugged and winked in my direction. "I think it's time for lunch."
The doctor made his way back into my crowded room, took one look at all the gorgeous girls, and wrote down the wrong prescription three times before he finally was able to give me a legible one — and that was by doctor's standards.
"See ya later." Bee winked at the doctor and blew him a kiss.
I loved that girl.
Mo pulled me in for a side hug while Trace looped arms with me.
"To lunch and wine!" Mil shouted, and the rest of us followed.
We earned some odd looks from bystanders, but I didn't care. They were, as Bee said, really the only family I had.
And suddenly I felt so much better that a few years ago I'd tried to kill a man. Because had I not met him — I wouldn't be here, living my last few weeks with some of the most caring and amazing people in the world.
Had I not met Luca.
I wouldn't have met Sergio.
I owed Luca Nicolasi my life, my everything, and a small part of me had to wonder, if he somehow had known it would come to this.
And I would need someone to hold my hand in the end.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Sergio
I THINK I PREFERRED GETTING SHOT. That was my first thought when the needle went into my body. They'd given me drugs, but I didn't want drugs. Drugs meant I would recover slower. So I told them to give me the bare minimum and tried to think of anything but strangling the nurse when the procedure started.
The nurse with the needle and kind eyes told me it would take a few hours to get the results back from the lab. Luckily, everything would be done on site so I wouldn't have to wait very long.
In the meantime, my only job was to not fall on my ass and make sure I powered through the pain so Andi didn't find out. The last thing I needed was her getting suspicious.
It would mean pestering.
And questions.
And it would be exhausting.
"Hey!" Tex said from the door. "You're alive!"
I gave him a thumbs up.
"Did they stick a catheter up your—"
"Mr. Smith?" The nurse gave Tex a wary eye and sidestepped him. "Your discharge papers."
"Ma'am." Tex nodded his head and gave her what I'm sure he thought was a reassuring smile, but he bared way too many teeth.
She took a step away from him and handed me my papers. "Now remember, you may be sore for a day or so. If you have any excessive bleeding, please come back to the hospital."
"Great." I winced and rose from the hospital bed. "You'll call with the results?"
"As soon as we have them." She flashed a smile and left the room, careful to give Tex a wide berth.
"Huh." Tex scratched his face. "Is it because I'm tall?"
"Your gun's showing." I pointed.
He looked down.
"Kidding." I laughed; it kind of hurt, but the look on his face was worth it.
"Jackass." Tex punched me in the shoulder. "Seriously, you feeling okay? They didn't switch your man parts out for girl parts or do anything freaky, right? That nurse looked a bit handsy…"
"No bad touching." I rolled my eyes. "Not that I would have cared. I was on drugs, you know."
"Clearly not enough if you can still hold a conversation with me."
I winced as I took a step toward him. "Don't suppose you'd give me a piggyback ride?"
"Burn in hell."
"That's what I thought." I bit back a curse and finally met him at the door. "You know, Nixon would at least have given me a high five or something."
Tex nodded. "You're right." He slammed his fist into my shoulder. "Good job. You lived."
"Now who's the ass?"
"Don't forget it, bitch."
The nurses had horrible timing in that hospital, plain and simple; we scared at least two more on the way out when Tex started clapping behind me and yelling, "Mush!"
He needed a kid to torture. I almost felt sorry for Mo; no wonder she was packing half the time.
"How did Andi's appointment go?" I asked once we were out in the parking lot.
Tex's face didn't give away anything, but his body tensed. Every single muscle seemed to stand at attention.
"Shit."
"What?" He shrugged. "I didn't say anything."
"Didn't have to," I muttered, trying to will my body to get into the car without my hip actually breaking off my body. Damn, walking hurt more than it should have. Hell even breathing hurt more than it should have.