her twenty seconds longer to figure it out. Her body snaps straight in the space of a single heartbeat. “You did not call an ambulance!”
“I did. Geo did. We’ve gotta go in, Bert.”
She spins in my arms so fast, Bobby whines at being jostled and neglected. “What the hell is the matter with you! We can’t afford an ambulance. We definitely can’t afford an ER visit. I’m fine!”
“Momma.”
Spinning angrily, she sits up on the bed cross-legged and pulls Bobby into her lap.
A knock at the apartment door makes her snarl into the dark.
Then a knock at the bedroom door has her fiery eyes killing me where I lie. “Stupid move, Kincaid. So fucking stupid! Where’s your brain?” Standing with Bobby in her arms, she strides to the door and flings it open before the EMT’s break it in. “I’m fine! See, I’m standing, I’m talking, I’m fine. Please, leave and pretend you never came here. We can’t afford you.”
Helplessly, I look up from the bed as the EMT’s stare her down.
As she stares them down.
As Geo watches from behind.
There was no right choice for me tonight.
Call an ambulance and spend every last cent we’d worked so hard to save.
Don’t call and risk a concussion, or so much worse.
The only right choice was going to bed an hour ago when she asked.
I should’ve fucking listened.
Chapter 12
Geo
I pull up out front of Reilly’s shitty apartment and slam the car door.
Running on adrenaline and rage after watching my best friend lose his fucking shit, after watching my best friend’s wife get put down more brutally than a mongrel dog, I sprint the path toward his front door ready to smash it down and steamroll in to tell him what the fuck’s up, but instead skid to a stop at the sight of him sitting on the front step with his face in his hands and his broad back fighting for breath.
Rage courses within me.
But so does compassion for a broken man.
But rage…
But his chest heaves.
But Nelly and the baby… “What the fuck, Reilly?”
His red rimmed eyes come up and meet mine. World weary after only two hours, pale faced and shaking hands, he looks up at me helplessly. With my eyes only, I follow his arms to the very ends, until I stop on a long blue strip clutched between work stained fingers.
I’m a twenty-five-year-old man. Practically an old man.
A man my age comes to know what that strip is.
He also knows what those two little blue lines mean.
“You’re choosing her.”
Shaking breath, he drops his head into his hands and howls like a baby. “I have to, G. I won’t leave my baby. Not for you. Not for Bry. Not even on Bry’s kid’s life.”
Chapter 13
Bryan
The wrench snaps away and slams down on my finger so hard it brings tears to my eyes.
Fucking tears!
“Motherfuck!” I spin and peg the heavy wrench across the garage, missing Geo’s face by mere inches as he pokes his head up from beneath the hood of a ‘79 T-Bird.
He ducks again, though the wrench has already passed. “What the fuck, Bry? Jesus, you could kill a man tossing those things around.”
I bring my hands to my face and scrub to try and reset my week.
My month, even.
I should’ve just gone to fucking bed when she asked.
Standing, Geo wipes greasy hands on a rag and steps toward me. “Talk it out, Bry. What’s up?”
“Money. Fuckin’ money!”
“Mo’ money, mo’ problems, bro.”
Snarling, I spin until we’re chest to chest. “This isn’t a fucking joke, George! I’m broke. I can work the next two years straight, not spend a cent, and still be fuckin’ broke!”
His smile turns to regret. “You got the bill from the ER?”
“Yup! She was right. She’s always right.” I swear, tears of failure burn my eyes. “I fucked up, Geo. I fucked up bad, and no matter how hard I work, I won’t be able to pay it off and still feed my family.” I slam my fist into the steel beam of the car lift. “I don’t know how to dig my family outta this mess.”
He sighs and rubs a thumb to his forehead, though that only leaves a smudge of grease where he scratched. “You’re already working fifteen, sixteen hour days, Bry. You can’t take on more and still keep your family.”
“You think I don’t know that? You think I enjoy not being with my wife and kid? Fuck, Geo. You spend more time with her than I do. You think I enjoy knowing that?”
He lets