King keeps an arm around me. Now that I’ve calmed down a bit, I feel ready to ask her. I’ve been putting it off making sure she’s alright and talking to all her doctors. Even then I couldn’t get myself to voice my concerns or hear what took place to land her here. With King’s presence, I feel like I can finally take a deep breath.
“What happened at the diner?” King asks my grandmother. I lean onto him for support—needing a connection with him. I already know, but I let him talk to her.
“I showed up early at the diner like I always do. I was in the back of the kitchen getting things ready for the morning rush. I know I locked the doors to the front when I came in, but I heard something out front. I thought maybe someone came in thinking we were open. Before I could go see what the noise was, something hit me in the back of the head. I vaguely remember hearing steps right before I got hit but didn’t have time to turn to see who it was,” my grandmother explains. “I don’t remember anything else. When I woke up, Jay was leaning over me just before the cops and ambulance arrived. They wouldn’t even let me stand up. They treated me like an old lady.” Her frown tells me she gave them hell the whole way here.
“Do you have security cameras?” King asks.
I’m too busy trying to swallow the lump in my throat to answer him. Thinking about my grandmother lying unprotected and vulnerable breaks my heart.
“I already talked to Jay. They’ve been erased and the hard drive from my office was ripped out.”
“Fuck,” King mutter under his breath. “Don’t worry. My club will get to the bottom of this.” The conviction in his voice has shivers running down my spine.
“Why would you do that?” I ask King. The question falls from my lips before I can hold it back.
“Baby, you’re mine and that means Billie is too,” King says, softly.
“I am not! I’m too damn old to be adopted,” my grandmother argues.
King shakes his head. The doctor comes in before he can respond and that may be a good thing.
“Hey Shelby,” Dr. Martin says, when she comes in.
“Hi,” I respond, waiting to hear what she says.
She pulls open her chart and turns her attention to my grandmother and holding her chart in her hands. Ms. Rush you’re a very lucky woman.”
“I’m not feeling it, Doc. I feel like I got hit by a baseball bat.”
I wince as a tremor goes through me because that very well could be what happened. King pulls me in closer and kisses the top of my head. “It’s okay, beautiful,” he murmurs.
“Everything is checking out okay and your stats are doing good. The nurse reported that you are still suffering from bouts of nausea, though.”
“If I move, but you people are making me lay down so it’s no wonder. A body’s not supposed to stay in bed constantly.”
“We’ll start getting you up some, but we’ve decided to keep you here over night. You have a concussion, and we need to monitor you and make sure everything is okay before we send you home. As long as you keep improving, we will probably send you home in a day or so.”
“The hell you are,” my grandmother argues. “I have people to feed and things to do.”
“Grandma, you need to stop arguing. You can’t come home until they make sure you’re alright. You’re being too stubborn for your own good. You know what happens when you start arguing like grandpa,” I warn her.
“You wouldn’t dare,” she barks out, crossing her arms over her chest. She’s complained since she got here about her hospital gown. She hates feeling exposed.
“Try me,” I tell her, pinning her with my stare.
“My head is too hard for there to be much damage, Shelbers.”
I don’t relent. I keep staring at her until she looks away. “Okay, fine. I’ll stay.”
I walk over and kiss her cheek gently.
“Thank you, Grandma.”
Chapter20
King
Ilook over at Shelby. She’s leaning on the passenger window, unnaturally quiet on the way to her house. I didn’t take my bike to the hospital because I want to keep attention away from her. Having my bike at the hospital or her house is a sure way to get her noticed right now. I was careless before, but now that I have BMRR’s eyes on me, I have to be diligent to keep her safe.