And Seeley did a lot of good.
He kept the clinic running on lean months. And they were all lean. He helped me serve the community that so desperately needed it.
“Besides, this meeting they are having tonight, the way I hear it, it’s going to keep the guns out of the hands of locals moving forward. So, there’s that,” Eddie said before getting up to put all the leftovers in the fridge and do the dishes, leaving me to think about everything he’d said.
Eventually, I passed out on the couch while Eddie fretted over the contents of my minuscule pantry.
I woke up to the sound of him talking a while later, realizing he’d taken one of my throw blankets and draped it over me at some point.
Looking over, I saw Eddie in the doorway, saying his goodbyes to Seeley who was inside the apartment.
I don’t know what overcame me when he turned toward me right then.
But whatever it was had me climbing off the couch and walking toward him.
His whole body tensed at my approach, making me feel like crap that he felt there might be something to brace himself for with me.
“Ama…” he said, voice tense as I kept approaching.
I didn’t stop to think about the consequences.
I just gave into the urge to wrap my arms around him and rest my face on his strong chest.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Seeley
I needed to get my head in the game.
Even though I knew she was safe with Eddie, though, my mind couldn’t seem to focus on much else but her as we all convened in the kitchen, then climbed on our bikes and took the drive toward the meeting spot.
“You good?” Cato asked, giving me a hard look to the side of my face as we waited near the swamp that, for some unknown reason, was where this gun runner wanted to meet.
“Yeah,” I said, nodding.
“Eddie’s strapped, right?” Cato asked.
“Yeah.” He didn’t always carry a gun, but I’d made it clear I wanted him to have one, even though, rationally, I knew that Ama was relatively safe in her apartment.
“So then, what’s got your jaw all ticking?” Levee asked, never one to dance around a topic.
“I don’t know,” I admitted.
I didn’t, either.
What can I say? Ama was someone who made a lot of shit come up, shit I hadn’t needed to think about in a while. On top of all that old love and pain was the goddamn attraction that was so intense, I swear it was hard to breathe around her.
Mix all that in with the fact that she was still bitter and angry for what I’d done all those years ago, and the decisions I’d made for my life since, and, yeah, you could say I was all kinds of conflicted.
“Regardless of all that, you gotta get your head in the game,” Cato said, and he was right about that.
Huck relied on me.
Not just for my connections, but for my ability to read people, and to make the best decisions in the moment.
He was a great president not just because he himself had great qualities, but because he relied on his men who had them as well.
Alaric and his shooting skills.