The Terms of Release (23 page)

Ellen nodded, blinking rapidly. “Good. Good.”

Win patted her back awkwardly. “When can they see him?”

“He’ll be in recovery for an hour or so, then they’ll move him to a room.”

“Thanks.” That would give Ellen and Rosie time to clean up and get some food.

He needed to get them a hotel room and some clean clothes. Mom. Mom could help. Win moved off to one side to call his mother. She always knew what to do.

“Son? Son, is that you? I’m heading into town. Grace called and said the Reddings got hit. Her sister June is caught in Rockwall, but she’s trying to get to Ellen. How can I help?”

“We’re at the hospital, Mom. Sam…. He didn’t make it, and Sage had to have surgery. Everything is fucked up.”

“Okay. So I need to get clothes and toiletries for Ellen and… shit, I can’t remember the girl’s name.”

“Rosemary. Rosie.” He glanced at Ellen, who was staring at the nurse’s station, face stony. “She needs help with all the people who want a piece of her too. And Uncle Ted hit her right in the face.”

“Rosie?”

“No, Ellen.”

“Christ. Let me stop at the Walmart, and then I’ll be there.”

“Thanks, Mom.” His relief knew no bounds. Sometimes women needed women.

He headed back over. “Ellen, that was my mom. She says June’s heading over to see you.”

“Oh. Well, good.” She stood up and hugged him. “I’m sorry about all this mess.”

Win hugged her back, holding on. “Don’t you dare apologize. I’m just happy I can help.” He was pretty invested in the Redding clan these days.

“Me too. Sage is lucky to have you.”

“I sure hope he still thinks so. I was going to talk to him tonight, and then all this….”

She looked at him. “I don’t want to know. Lovers fight. It happens. You fight, you make up, you go on.”

“That sounds good. Not the fighting.” He smiled a little, feeling some hope.

“It is.” Her eyes filled with tears. “And you’ll not know what to do when it’s taken from you, so hold on.”

God, his mom needed to hurry. He wasn’t good at this part.

“Momma, come on. Come sit.” Rosie took her hand. “Win don’t need you bawling over him.”

Ellen sniffed and went to sit, holding Rosie’s hand. Wilma showed up then, about five minutes ahead of his mom.

When crazy June showed, he knew they were safe, and he started worrying about Sage.

Maybe he could see what was going on, when they could see the man. When he could see Sage’s eyes again. It had to be soon. He needed to know at least one thing was going to be okay.

He needed Sage to know that he was in this for the long haul. All of it.

And that he’d made that decision before any of this ever happened.

T
HE
WHOLE
fucking world was fuzzy, distant, and his throat hurt. Bad.

Come on. Come on, Sage. Where the fuck are you? What is going on?
His eyes tried to open, but felt like they was glued shut.

He wriggled a little, his legs screaming and stiff and wrong. Wait. Wait, was this a dream?

“Mr. Redding? I’m Cari, the day nurse.” The woman had a soft, super-drawly voice. Sounded oddly like Rosie. “Would you like anything for the pain?”

“Nurse?” Fuck, his throat hurt. “Where ’m I at?”

“You’re in the hospital, Mr. Redding. Some water?” She pressed a straw to his lips.

He sucked hard, the cool liquid feeling like pure heaven. Hospital. Not infirmary. Okay. Okay. So….

Everything crashed in on him in a rush—the storm, the fight, the jail. Daddy. “My dad.”

Her mouth flattened for a moment. He could finally focus on her. “Your mom would like to see you. Should I let her know you’re awake?”

“Uh-huh.”

“I’ll go get her.” The nurse hightailed it out, and he lay back, sighing.

He knew Daddy was gone. He knew it. He needed to get up, go check on the ranch. He pulled the covers back and stared at the wires and tubes and bandages and shit. Oh damn.

His heart started racing, blood pumping hard.

“Sage. What the hell are you doing?” It wasn’t his momma. It was Adam.

“I…. My legs. There’s tubes.” He didn’t understand. At all. “I got to get up, man. I got to get home and fix Momma’s house.”

“Hush, baby.” Adam pushed him back down. “They had to do surgery on your knees. One had to be replaced altogether. Your mom is napping, and I told them not to wake her yet.”

“Surgery? I don’t… what? Adam, the house is broke, Penny’s there, the horses.”

“Penny is okay. The ranch house is bent, but it’s watertight right now, thanks to Bulldog and his buddies.” Adam touched his cheek. “And you’re not in jail.”

“He hit Momma. He hit her, Adam, and told her he was going to take advantage.”

“She told me. Jim cleared the arrest today off your record, baby. Teddy is crazy.” Adam stroked his face like the man couldn’t stop touching him. “I’m so sorry.”

“Daddy’s gone. Is Momma hurt? Is she okay? Fuck, I’m hurting.”

“He is. You got to say good-bye. Ellen is fine, as much as she can be.” Adam’s hands kept moving, nice and easy, making his eyelids heavy.

“There’s tubes in my legs.”

“They have to make sure stuff drains and all. The doc said it went really well.”

“I don’t… they took out one of my knees?” Could they do that? “Am I going to have to use a cane?”

“Actually, the doc says you should have way less pain now.” Adam was smiling about that, so it must be true. “You will have to do some therapy.”

“Yeah? That sounds pricey. I ain’t got nothin’ left to pawn.”

“Don’t worry about that right now.” Adam’s face tightened up, just a little, but he didn’t say anything else.

“Yeah. Thank you for everything, man.” God, he was sleepy, sore, and everything seemed so far away.

“You think I’m going away that easy?” Adam took his hand. “I’ll be here.”

“I hoped not, but….” Shit happened. Bad shit.

“I know, baby. We’ll talk on that later, okay? There’s a lot more to process now, and you and me? We’re solid.”

“Solid.” He held onto Adam’s hand and worked hard to stay there, stay focused, but it was like he’d worn himself to the bone, worn himself plumb down.

“Yep. Sleep a while longer, babe.” Adam leaned down and kissed him, right there in the hospital.

“Gon’ get in trouble. Can’t kiss up on me.”

“Shh. Sleep. I promise I won’t molest you while you nap.”

“Shut up.” He laughed, though, and the sound followed him down into dreams where he was a kid again and hadn’t fucked up so bad.

W
IN
SAT
,
staring at Sage’s face. The lines cut deep around Sage’s eyes and mouth, the pain evident. He sure hoped Ellen wouldn’t be mad at him and Rosie for not waking her to see Sage, but they both needed their rest.

He couldn’t believe, looking at those poor legs, that Sage would walk better now. No way. They were Frankenstein legs. Those scars would be epic.

“How’s he doing?” A deep voice interrupted him, and he looked up to see a big old boy in scrubs. Oh, that was one of Bulldog’s boys…. Rip? Reg? Rick. Rick. It was Rick.

“Sleeping. Wigged out when he’s not.” Win smiled a little, feeling odd with it on his face.

“Yeah, no kidding.” Rick went over, checked some shit, and then pushed a button on the IV. “Morphine drip. Push as needed. They’ll have him walking by the morning, for sure.”

“Seriously?” He looked at Sage’s legs again.

“They look swollen, but the doc cleaned it up in there a lot. Give him a couple days, and he’ll be amazed.” Rick sighed softly. “I’m sorry about his dad. We’re having a fundraiser for costs for the family. Guys are coming from Houston, Dallas, even Louisiana.”

“That’s amazing. If I can do anything, let me know.” The bikers had been so good to Sage. Win had a whole new appreciation for them.

“Surely will. You going to stay in here with him? He might have bad dreams. Don’t worry about waking him up.”

“I am. His mom is out like a light, and Rosie needs her rest.”

“I’ll get them to bring you supper. It’s not good food, but it’s food.”

“Yeah. The menu says there’s a BLT?” He could so eat some bacon.

“Totally. Coffee? Coke?”

“Oh, Coke. That would rock.” Adam shook Rick’s hand. “Thank you.”

“No problem, man. Sage is a good guy.”

“He is.” No matter what else happened, Win knew that fact deep down in his bones.

He settled back in his chair, taking Sage’s hand when it searched for him. “I got you, baby.” Christ, what a day.

“Adam.” He did love how his name sounded like a prayer in Sage’s voice.

“Rick says you have a morphine drip if you need it.” That was inane, but he didn’t want Sage to hurt.

Sage made a soft sound, squeezed his hand, smiled a little. Win grinned. God, he loved this man. So much. If nothing else came of this rotten day, he knew that was the most important thing now. He would have to do things day by day.

He wasn’t stupid. His family was going to come after him, after the Reddings, and there was no real avoiding that, but they’d deal. They had a whole lot of more important shit to deal with, like Sam’s funeral.

God, he wasn’t ready to think about that. Thank goodness for Mom and her practical self. She’d walked Ellen through all the funeral home paperwork and the call from organ donation. Man, they asked a lot of questions.

“Adam, I need to piss. Help me up.”

“Let me get the nurse.” Win hit the call button.

Rick was back in a second. “What’s up?”

“I need the facilities, man. I need to get up.” Sage tried to sit up, swaying dangerously.

“Whoa. Whoa, hold up. The catheter’s probably kinked. Stay. Stay right there.” Rick went to the side of the bed, fiddled, and Sage sighed. “Better?”

“Uh-huh.”

Oh man, he was glad he hadn’t tried to get Sage up. He’d thought the cath bag was there, but he wasn’t sure. Hospitals were damned confusing.

“The doctor will have you up in the morning, man. For sure. For now, you hang out, watch TV. Play cards with Win.”

Uh-huh. Like Sage could see cards right now. They could so watch TV, though. They had proven to be good at that.

“’Kay.” Sage leaned back. “Did someone feed the horses?”

“Bulldog’s people have been out there all day.” He could call, he guessed, but those guys were good as gold.

Rick nodded. “Everything’s taken care of. Wilma took Penny to her house for the night. She was worried.”

Sage made a satisfied noise. “She’s a good girl, my dog.”

Win knew he was smiling like an idiot, but Sage did it for him, 100 percent. He patted Sage’s belly, needing to touch.

Sage made a soft sound, easy and peaceful and happy.

Rick murmured something and slipped away, and they were alone again. Win had to admit, he was savoring this time. Soon enough they’d be crazy busy.

“This has been a really fucking long day.”

“It has, huh?” He met Sage’s eyes, staring intently. “I love you.”

“That’s probably bad for you.” Sage nodded, though, and squeezed his hand. “I’m sorry about earlier. About not being… right.”

“There’s no right or wrong, baby. We just have to deal with all the weirdness.” He ran his thumb over Sage’s knuckles.

“You’re always going to be a good guy, and I’m always going to be an ex-con.”

“Mmm. And I’m always going to be the one with the crazy family.”

“You musta had a lot of sane genes in your daddy.”

“Mom too. She’s a rock. She’s been here with your mother.”

“Good. Momma needs help, and I’m stuck ’til the morning.”

“At least, yeah.” It would be a few days.

“They’re not lying about my legs, right? They’re going to work again?”

“They’ll work better, if the Doc is right.” He’d repeat that as long as Sage needed him to.

“Okay. I don’t want them blowing sunshine up my butt.”

“This is Texas, babe. Not likely.” He winked, trying to get him a smile.

Sage chuckled. “You’re the only one I want dealing with my butt.”

“I like your ass. It’s tight and tiny.”

“Everything about me is little, Adam. I’m a pocket cowboy.”

“Not everything, babe.” They both cracked up at that, and it felt good to laugh.

Win’s food came, along with a bit of soup and Jell-O for Sage. It smelled like bacon and potatoes. Suddenly he was viciously hungry.

He dug into his BLT while Sage picked and basically ignored the food. He didn’t blame Sage for not wanting the Jell-O. Finally Sage gave up, eyes closing. “I want a Reese’s cup.”

“I can do that.” He could, if Sage would be willing to let him go.

“Okay.” Sage held his hand.

“Did you want it now, babe?” He would call Rick in. He wasn’t ashamed to admit he didn’t want to leave Sage alone.

“In a minute, maybe.”

“Sure.” Man, he wished he could lie down with Sage. Maybe once the man fell asleep again, he’d stretch out in the little convertible chair.

“Love you.” The words were fuzzy, Sage already sleeping.

“Get some sleep, babe.” He’d hold on a while longer. Then he’d have to get shit done.

He had to. He didn’t have any choices. He had people to take care
of.

W
ALKING
WAS
possibly the scariest thing he’d ever done.

Ever.

He wasn’t sure if it was because he was on legs that didn’t even feel like his or because Momma was waiting there at the end of the hall. Sage felt like a two-year-old might, all wobble and stop and start.

Momma just watched, her face set in determined lines, and he made himself do it, not flinch, not panic.

The first step made his heart race. The second felt easier. The knee that wasn’t his actually hurt less than the other, and that unnerved the hell out of him. Momma smiled a little, the lines around her eyes easing, and that made him work harder. One step after another, and he was sweating like a lathering horse by the time he reached her.