Silas laughed softly, aware of the pain, but not letting it stop him from showing his happiness.
“This is Johnson. The smooth talker of the family. He’s the easiest of my brothers to get along with,” I informed my soon to be husband.
Silas offered his hand to Johnson, and Johnson took it, not softening his grip at all to give Silas a pain-free handshake.
No, Johnson gripped hard and shook away, and I could see Silas wince, but he let it happen.
“Johnson,” I reprimanded my brother. “Go the fuck away and leave me alone for a minute.”
Johnson grinned unrepentantly. “He’d have done the same to me had the positions been reversed.”
Silas nodded. “Yeah, I would have.”
I pushed my brother’s shoulder. “Go. Tell the brunette at the desk that he’s awake, will ya?”
Johnson nodded. “Sure thing, sis.”
I rolled my eyes as he left the room but there was no real annoyance behind it. I was so happy I could burst.
Two more brothers home, and I’d be happier than I could remember being in years.
“Now that he’s gone, you can go ahead and tell me all of it. What’s the rest that you haven’t told me,” Silas said the moment Johnson cleared the door.
I looked at him, studying his face and body.
“Your sons’ kicked the shit out of Shovel. And, um, three of the four guards that… well, you know… were also taken care of by the club. That Black Jack guy, though, he really came through,” I informed him.
The man smiled.
Widely.
“Good,” he said, leaning his head back and closing his eyes. “Good.”
“Mr. Mackenzie,” a nurse said, bustling into the room with a huge computer in front of her. “How are you doing?”
I liked Silas’ nurse. She’d been his nurse the previous day, too.
“I’m fine,” he said, not admitting to being in pain.
“He hasn’t pressed his morphine pump yet, and I’m pretty sure he’s in pain,” I told her, knowing Silas would never admit to it.
Berty, the nurse, nodded. “Got it. Mr. Mackenzie, this is a morphine pump. You can press it if the red light is lit.” She indicated by picking up a button Silas could hold in his hand and pressing it. The red light clicked off, and Silas’ glared. “Don’t worry. You can’t over-medicate yourself. It’ll only let you press it every fifteen minutes, understand?”
Silas nodded. “Good. I have a few medications to give you, and I can take your catheter out if you’re interested.”
Silas nodded again.
“Excellent. Let’s take care of the catheter, first,” she said, pulling out some purple gloves and slipping them on. “Ma’am, if you could step…”
“She’s not going anywhere,” Silas snapped.
Berty winked at me. “Alright then, let’s do this.”
I watched as, with able hands, she quickly and efficiently removed the catheter from Silas.
I smiled down at my hands as I saw how uncomfortable it made him to have some woman holding his dick.
“It’s not funny,” he mumbled once she was done.
I lifted up laughing eyes to catch his angry gaze, and shrugged. “I’m sorry. I can’t help it.”
“It doesn’t feel right to have anybody touching it but you,” he grumbled.
Berty grinned, but didn’t look up from washing her hands.
I moved forward until I could place my lips on his. “I love you.”
He grinned. “Love you too, darlin’.”
And even though he was still hurt and had some healing to do, I knew everything was going to be alright.
Because Silas would make sure it was.
He’d never stop fighting for me, and I would do the same for him.
Because I loved him, and he loved me.
It was just as simple as that.
Epilogue
Old dogs know more tricks than you think they do.
- Silas to Sawyer
Silas
“I can’t believe you’re making me do this!” Sawyer grumbled under her breath as we made our way into the courthouse.
I shrugged. “It needs to be done. You deserve it.”
She sighed and stopped protesting, even though I could tell she was still just as pissed now as she had been earlier.
I hired a lawyer to take care of Sawyer’s restitution case.
The state had countered with an offer for $50,000. However, I still felt that wasn’t nearly enough.
Especially considering how even after being released from prison six months ago, and with a full four months for the people in this town to absorb the knowledge that she’d been wrongfully charged, convicted and sentenced, everyone still looked at her differently. It broke my heart every single time I saw how it affected her and how she tried to bury and hide her hurt.
It’d been four months since I’d had my ass kicked by Shovel, and I still felt like shit some days.
It was harder to recover now from something like I’d been through than it had been for my younger body.
Bouncing back the next day just didn’t happen for me anymore.