Now, I knew he was alive.
Gage
I couldn’t believe that I couldn’t walk.
I looked at the wheelchair with disgust.
Yuri straightened from his job of assembling the darn thing. “Do you need help getting on?”
I turned my face away. “Just leave it there, thanks.”
“Alright then,” he said, his gaze going to the half-eaten meal by my table. “They’re aware now, aren’t they? That you own this place.”
“No doubt,” I sighed. “It’s probably under surveillance. You were careful on your way in, I trust.”
“Of course. I had my glasses on and was careful with my angles. Even if they get a picture they have nothing clear enough to search with.”
“Well, don’t come by anymore.”
“I won’t,” he responded but then his eyes went once again to the food on the table.
“What?” I asked.
“The girl, she’s—” he began.
I immediately shut it down. “I’ll get rid of her.”
“Don’t,” he said immediately.
A cold claw tightened around my stomach. “What?”
“She’s good collateral for you. They still suspect you, but with her around, they’ll figure anything that you do out of the ordinary will be because of her. Perhaps they’ll think you’re in love with her and so will want to protect her.”
I stared at him like he was out of his mind. “You do know what that will mean for her, right? She will no longer be safe.”
“Look who’s talking about safe. You told her your fucking name, for crying out loud.”
I dropped my head. I shouldn’t have done that. I was half-dead and I just wanted her to know in case I died.
“She’s already attached to you,” he continued. “So you might as well just ride it out. If we plan it well, your death at the end can release her of any relation to you. They will never come after her and she’ll be free then to live her life as she sees fit.”
Anger at his words nearly blinded me. “I don’t want her involved.” I growled.
“Don’t be stupid, Gage.”
I smacked the lamp by my side. It flew across the room and crashed into the wall.
He lowered his voice, but still went on, “Get as mad as you want, but you shouldn’t have gotten with her in the first place. I’ve seen how she is with you that first night we came. Her attachment to you is not … ordinary. I don’t think she’ll walk away from you even if you told her to go.”
“She’s not going to be a part of this,” I repeated, and my word was final.
He just shrugged. “Up to you man. If you want to get your man, I suggest you start thinking with your head and not your dick.”
“Get the fuck out!” I shouted.
“Call me if you need me,” he said as he walked away.
I lay back on the pillows and cursed out loud. I looked at the clock. It was five. She would be finished with her shift at the diner now. I thought of her. How she made her ugly uniform look like it was something right off the catwalk. And even in my broken state, my cock stirred. Yuri was right about one thing. I was a fool who’d been thinking with my dick. And I had to stop doing that. I had to find a way to protect her.
Twenty minutes passed with me staring at the minute hand of the clock slowly ticking my life away. Eventually, I rolled over to the kitchen. I needed food to get my strength back. I was no good to anyone like this. I was reaching up for a pan when I heard the sound of the key in the door.
In spite of everything I had said to myself, I felt my heart leap with joy.
With the help of the counter’s edge, I leaned up a bit from the chair to reach for the handle of the saucepan on the top shelf, but it toppled over and the entire set of metal pans came crashing down upon me.
I collapsed back into the chair just as she came into view. “Bone!” Della cried and hurried over. “You’re in a wheelchair?”
“Yeah.” I picked up the pan I needed from the floor and slammed it on top of the stove.
She stopped just before she reached me. She could see that I was in a bad mood and she didn’t know how to proceed.
I let her know. “I told you not to come back.” I dumped the contents of a can of soup into the pan.
“There’s no need to eat that,” she said to me. “I got you better food. Steak and fries.”
I wanted so much for her to stay that I became angry with myself. To hide my face, I bent and began to pick up the pots and pan within my reach on the ground, but she instantly came over to help me.