THE CRAZY GOOD SERIES - Rachel Robinson Page 0,254

been a struggle because I was doused in beer, and then Queen Morganna deciding to take matters into her own hands. It happened so quickly. Seconds. All I remember is the rage I felt at seeing the STD threatening her…with a gun.

High heels on polished concrete make a very specific sound. I hear her before I see her. My parents look over their shoulders. Mom smiles. Dad shakes his head.

“Hey killer. He’s awake,” Dad says. Morganna stays silent.

Reluctantly, Mom rises from the bed. “We’ll give you two some time to talk. But don’t talk too much. It hurts, remember?” She presses her lips on my forehead and leaves, taking my father with her. I’d talk to Morganna, regardless of pain, until I ran out of oxygen and died…again.

Morganna takes a few more steps. She comes into view, her tight blue jeans and black fitted t-shirt accentuating her beautiful curves. Her gray eyes glass over as she sniffles and brings a tissue to her eye. I clear my throat.

“I always figured you’d be the figurative death of me. Never thought you’d be responsible for my actual death,” I quip. It’s probably in poor taste, but I want her to know that I can joke about it. She breaks down, tears flowing wildly, sitting next to me on the bed, unsure where on my body is safe to touch. “You’re not in handcuffs. That means that didn’t arrest you?” I ask.

She shakes her head, irritated with me already. “I don’t even know what to say. I’m sorry seems weak in light of what I’ve done to you,” she whispers, her soft hand trailing over my hand and arm. “I never deserved you, Steven. Never. I’m sorry for everything. For everything.”

I take a deep breath and relish the burn. “I’m going to make this easy on you. I love you. I want you to be mine forever. We’ll start over…again, beginning now.” Leaning down, she places her lips on mine. It’s a perfect kiss. It says more than “I’m sorry” ever could. It says she accepts my offer. It says we’re still connected despite everything we’ve been through.

She pulls away and her gaze is deep as she looks into my eyes. “ How can you forgive me that easily?”

“You didn’t do anything malicious, M. I should have known you wouldn’t need rescuing.” I grin. “It’s probably eighty percent my own fault. I drank too much,” I admit turning my face away. Her cool hand against my cheek forces my face toward hers again.

“Alex or David is a crazy lunatic, Steven. Even if you weren’t drunk he would have been nuts. He literally, and I do mean literally, has nothing left to lose,” Morganna says, her hand still on my face. I like it.

With the hand that doesn’t have an IV, I pull her down next to me on the bed. She curls her legs in and snuggles next to me, careful with my stomach. “He should be six feet under right now,” I growl into her ear.

Anger spreads quicker than the pain meds I’m hooked up to. I meet her gaze, then think better of it and focus on the ceiling.

“I’m sorry I wasn’t there, M. I should have checked my phone. I should have done a lot of things differently. Overprotective to a fault…except when I need to be.”

When we were young I saved her, just barely, from getting her lights punched out by the head cheerleader. Something about Morg telling her that her brain was as short as her skirt really pissed her off. Morganna is a lot of things, but a scrapper isn’t one of them. We can add not sufficient in a gunfight to that list.

She shakes her head vehemently. “No. I should have done a lot of things differently. I was the flaming idiot. I still don’t know how I overlooked something so large, and come on…my shooting?” She closes her eyes. “Horrendous. I wasn’t using logic or common sense. Emotions took over.” Blinking away tears, she changes the subject. “He’s in jail. That’s next best to six feet under. He won’t get out…ever. Especially if I have anything to do with it,” she proclaims. “The new guy, Dax, came in after you and was able to get the gun away from him before the police arrived.”

Adrenaline makes you do crazy things. Morganna is a testament to that. I owe Dax a thank you. His stripes are officially earned. He did sober what I was barely managing to