Moving On (Rolling Thunder #7) - P.J. Fiala Page 0,39

deeper than normal and the stiffness of his shoulders spoke to the fact that he was worried.

He chewed a few more ice chips, then pulled his arm up again.

"Can you take this off?" he said to anyone who would listen.

"If you promise not to pull out your IV's I will."

His head barely moved, but he did his best to nod just the same. He must have gotten his message across because JT loosened the bindings on his wrists. He lifted his arms and tested the soreness in his arms and shoulders only to feel pain in every muscle. At least that's what it felt like.

"You're going to be sore for a while, Mr. Matthews. That's to be expected. I'll leave you all to visit and let the doctor know you're awake. He'll come in and talk to you to explain everything when he can."

He watched through the slits of his eyes, as he feared opening them further again might be too painful. She left the room with the whoosh of the door and Dog came to stand closer. JT scooted his chair nearer on the opposite side of the bed, and he waited as still as he could be for them to say something.

JT started, "You gave us quite a scare, buddy. You've been out of it for almost three hours."

"What day is it?"

Dog responded, "There's still an hour or so of Wednesday left."

He closed his eyes. Wednesday. Why did that seem significant?

"Where was I going?"

JT said, "You were coming back to Rolling Thunder after leaving the farmers market. You, Ryder and Gunnar went to the sign shop to pick up signs and Emma and Molly wanted to stop at the farmers market."

"Yeah." He remembered that. Then he remembered LuAnn. He'd kissed her and made a date for tomorrow. He missed her. Ryder saw them kissing and was mad. He wondered how much Dog and JT knew. It was beginning to come back to him now. Gunnar looked like he would wring LuAnn's neck and he’d stepped in and said, "Not now." Gunnar shot him an angry look. Then Ryder saw him kissing LuAnn. He knew once he got back to the shop they'd likely be ready to tell him off. Even now though, he didn't care. Not really.

“What happened?”

Dog looked down at him. “A drunk driver ran a stop sign and hit you. They’ve got him in custody somewhere in this hospital.”

“Fucker.” Chase managed to mumble.

“Yeah. Fucker.” Dog repeated.

He felt so fucking tired the idea of laying back and resting took over all other thoughts. He closed his eyes and JT started saying something about the Veteran's Ride, but he didn't hear anything more.

25

Her heart was heavy as she quietly entered Linda and Tanner's dark house. Though it was only 10:00 o’clock, they both woke early to get to work so they usually went to bed early as well. Locking the door behind her, she took her tennis shoes off at the door, picked them up and carried them in her arm to the basement door. Silently easing herself down the basement steps, she sighed a little when she saw her bed across the room. It had truly been a long and emotional day. Relaxing her body and sleeping for a few hours sounded like a little slice of heaven.

Using the bathroom and changing into a pair of sleeping shorts and a tank top, LuAnn slid between her sheets and sighed again. Picking her phone off the table alongside her bed, she pulled up Chase's number and texted him a good night message.

"It was great seeing you tonight. Looking forward to tomorrow."

She smiled as the whoosh sounded of her message being sent, turned to the bedside table and plugged her phone in for the night. Before another thought came to her, she was fast asleep.

***

Sounds from upstairs woke her. Linda and Tanner's morning routine was now familiar and oddly comforting. She lay staring at the ceiling listening to the clinking of their forks tapping on their plates as they ate breakfast, the faint murmur of their voices as they chatted about their days. Tanner scooted his chair from the table, walked to where the coffee pot sat, walked back to Linda and likely poured her a bit of coffee to warm her half cup. She'd watched this routine dozens of times, even before she went to prison.

She rolled over to her side and checked her phone. No return message from Chase. Incredible sadness weighed on her heart as she