“No, I really don’t. Please, get me out of here.”
He was more than happy to oblige. Gripping the handles of the wheelchair, he started to move her out of the room. They made their way across the corridor. Several nurses stopped by to wish her well on her recovery.
Maddie seemed to make people happy wherever she went. He didn’t understand why she was so closed off to the people in town. No one ever had anything bad to say about her, apart from his brother, but Grant didn’t count.
“There were a lot of people there,” Maddie said.
“I’ve got you.” He leaned over and clicked the button for the main floor. He put a hand on her shoulder in an attempt to offer her comfort.
She sighed and put hers on top of his. The one hand that wasn’t broken. “Thank you.”
“I’ve got you, Maddie.”
The elevator doors opened up, and he pushed her across the main floor, heading toward the doors. There was a couple entering and seeing him, clocking his leather cut, they held the door open for him.
Pat and Rusty were waiting by the curb with the van. Pat pulled the side door open, and Rusty climbed into the front seat.
“Your carriage awaits,” Pat said.
With Pat’s help, they lifted the wheelchair, all the while Maddie was telling them to get a ramp or something. They got the wheelchair into the back of the car and secured it so it wouldn’t move.
“Are you staying in back?” Pat asked.
“Yep.”
“I can sit in a chair,” Maddie said.
Bull climbed into the back of the van just as it started up.
“Isn’t this dangerous?” Maddie asked. “I can move, you know.”
“Not without hurting yourself.”
He and Pat had taken a great deal of time to arrange bringing Maddie to his home. Each option of moving Maddie only seemed to cause her more pain. To move her from the wheelchair to the van, they had a high risk factor of banging her leg or wrist. It was easier to take the whole wheelchair into the van, drive her to his place, and then take her out, and wheel her up to his house, to a ramp they’d already installed.
“Don’t worry. The guys will go slow.”
“I can’t believe you did all of this for me. It’s so … wow,” she said.
He smiled. “Charmed?”
“A little bit. I think.”
He chuckled.
“When will I get to meet the dogs?” Maddie asked.
“Very soon.” He had gotten all the dogs back. They had been transported back to the dogfighting facility. The men hadn’t known he had eyes everywhere, and the moment they showed up, he knew. It hadn’t taken a genius to figure it all out.
George had lasted as long as it took him to get the dogs back, and to pay the men back in kind.
It had been a long couple of days. The only ones that he hadn’t been by Maddie’s side, but she’d been on his mind. She didn’t need to know how he had smashed their knees with a crowbar, or hurt them for many hours, having them all pray for death, only to grant it when he was bored.
He still believed he’d given them an easy death. If he had the time, they would still be alive, but he hadn’t wanted to be anywhere else but at the hospital. The garage was getting backed up with work as well. His only focus had been on Maddie. Retribution and Maddie.
Once he took care of the men directly responsible for Maddie, George had come next. The basement’s floor had been painted red. His body had been disposed of, and he’d taken a long hot shower and changed before he headed back to the hospital.
The van moved slowly. Again, this was what he and Pat had organized.
“When do you think everything will return to normal?” she asked.
“Maddie, don’t rush it.”
“I’m not.”
“I can already see you wanting to move on to walking and using your hand again. You will, okay? But you don’t need to rush anything. I’ve got you.”
She smiled. “I guess you are starting to know me.”
“I get you.” He put his hand on her knee. The one that wasn’t injured. “I hate that I wasn’t there for you.”
“Don’t do that,” she said. “You can’t blame yourself for what happened. You’re not responsible for those guys doing what they did. It’s all on them and I’m not going to let you take the blame.” She put her hand on his. “You stayed at the hospital with me. You cared enough to be there for me. That’s enough.”
He could easily argue with her, but he chose not to.
She didn’t need him arguing about useless points. It didn’t take too long for the van to come to a stop.
Within seconds, Pat was opening the van’s door, and then with his assistance, Bull helped to pull the wheelchair out, for her to finally get a good look at his house.