Rising Storm (Westin Force #2) - Julie Trettel Page 0,40
Micah’s too for emergencies if you can’t get in touch with me first.”
I nodded. It was a lot to take in, but I could handle it. I wanted to prove to my mate that I could care for him when he needed me.
“What time is the briefing today?” Painter asked.
“Eleven.” Grant looked at his watched. “Shit, we’re going to be late.”
“Okay, let’s go.”
“You’re not going anywhere,” I protested. “You heard what they said.”
“I can’t miss this briefing,” he told me.
I shook my head.
“He’s probably right,” Taylor said. “They’re giving the update. He needs to be there.”
Micah laughed. “Good luck Emma. Keep his leg elevated and iced.”
Taylor gave her mate a knowing look. “Fine, but you’re using the wheelchair and keeping it elevated,” he said, caving to their requests.
“Like hell I am.”
“Then you don’t go,” I said with a shrug.
I started stripping out of my clothes, but he growled to stop me.
“What?”
“What are you doing? We said clothes on when company was here.”
“Yeah but I need to shift.”
“Why?” he asked, suddenly looking alarmed.
“I can’t move you in this form and you need to get to the couch so I can change these sheets and you can start elevating and icing.”
“No, I have a meeting to go to first,” he argued.
“Grant said, no.”
“She just threw me under the bus,” Grant told Taylor.
I looked around the room confused. It must be another saying because there was definitely no bus in the room.
“Just get the wheelchair. Emma can come down too. I mean we wouldn’t even have this information if it weren’t for her.”
I wasn’t sure what Taylor was talking about, but if it had anything to do with the information I’d given them on Keeley, then I definitely wanted to be there to hear it, too.
Grant huffed but left. Taylor stayed so I assumed he was getting the wheelchair as she asked.
“It’s just a scratch. I’m not riding in a wheelchair,” Painter argued.
“You’re a terrible patient, aren’t you?”
Taylor laughed at us. “With the exception of Silas, he’s probably the worst of them all. I figured it was a gorilla thing.”
I shrugged. “Maybe.” I wasn’t exactly good with that sort of thing either. It didn’t matter how weak I was, I never wanted to look that way. That was too dangerous in the wild. The others would rise up or put me out of my misery. So, I could understand where he was coming from.
Grant returned with the chair. It took some persuading, but I finally got Painter to concede. He sat in it and was grumpy but okay, until I reminded Grant that he needed to keep his leg elevated. I ran to the kitchen to grab some ice, but couldn’t find anything to put it in, so I took a bag of peas instead.
“Will this work?” I asked.
Painter wanted to protest. I could see it all over his face, but he didn’t. With one leg sticking straight out in front of him and his thigh now covered with a bag of peas, Grant and Taylor instructed me as I pushed him out of the room and down to the elevator.
“Emma doesn’t like the elevator. We should ditch the chair and take the stairs,” he grumbled.
“Good try, but that was in my gorilla form. It doesn’t bother me as much in my skin.”
He stared up at me like I was a traitor and I laughed.
Once in the basement, Grant, and Taylor each flashed their badge against the square pad on the wall. I took Painter’s and scanned it too.
They held the door open for me as I pushed my mate through the door, careful not to bang his leg against anything.
The second I crossed the threshold, Archie jumped up and ran over.
“She’s not cleared to be in here. No more gorilla exceptions.”
Grant and Taylor both argued with him while Painter started giggling.
Several minutes passed by before Silas came storming down the hallway.
“Meeting started five minutes ago. Why is half my team standing around like it’s social hour?” He looked down at Painter. “What the hell did you do this time?”
“Archie’s adamant that Emma can’t pass without going through a full background check,” Taylor said. “Painter just came out of surgery and is heavily medicated but determined to make today’s briefing.”
“And let me guess, Emma’s not letting him out of her sight,” he said.
“I was given strict orders to keep an eye on him,” I protested.