Moving On (Rolling Thunder #7) - P.J. Fiala Page 0,38

and I wasn't going to make her live with that."

"Oh my God. Wasn't that self-defense?"

"No, ma'am. I killed him in his house. When he tried raping my little girl, the police let him go. No evidence. He lived just down the street from our house, and she barely could make herself leave the house she was so afraid she'd see him. I waited outside for him one night. He came home drunk. I was enraged that he could roam the streets, drunk and unafraid while my little girl was home cowering in the corner of her bedroom afraid of every noise and every minute. I followed him home, shot him, then turned myself in to the police."

"Oh, Joseph, I'm so sorry."

He turned and looked into her eyes then. "She killed herself five years later. She blamed herself for me going to prison."

Tears sprang to LuAnn's eyes and she took a deep breath to stop the sob that threatened to escape.

"I'm so sorry, Joseph. I simply can't imagine living through that."

He nodded once, parked the truck in the lot and unfastened his seatbelt.

"There are worse stories than mine and there are better stories than mine. Make yours a better story, Miss LuAnn."

24

Beep. Beep. Beep. Chase’s head throbbed and that damned beeping wasn't helping it. He heard soft voices. Dog. JT. They were talking about the kids, the beach where JT and Kayden had gone for their honeymoon and just small talk. But that damned beeping continued to drill into his brain.

He lifted his right hand to rub his temple but was unable to. When he couldn’t lift his hand, he tugged his arm harder and felt something tighten around his wrist. Jerking repeatedly to free his arm Dog's voice came closer.

"Hey, hey, hey. Easy buddy. You're restrained because you kept yanking on your IV's and pulling them out.”

His heart rate sped up as he listened to Dog's voice. "Why?"

His throat was dry, his head hurt, his mind was scrambled, and he couldn't remember why he was here. Also, where was here?

"Dry." He managed to say. His voice didn't sound like his and he felt as if he’d swallowed a five-pound bag of sand.

"You were in an accident with your truck. A drunk driver blew the stop sign and broadsided you. Your truck went careening into a ditch and rolled over a few times. You hit your head and have a concussion, some contusions, but luckily no broken bones."

"Water?" He croaked out again.

"JT just went in search of a nurse to see if we can give you water."

He nodded his head slowly. Even that hurt. He tried swallowing again which did nothing at all.

"I understand you've woken up and would like some water," a female voice said.

He tried opening his eyes, but the lights felt like a sharp, hot poker searing through his skull. He closed them and the nurse spoke again. "Maybe we should turn the lights off until he's recovered enough to stand the light."

He heard the soft click of the switch as the nurse lay her fingers on his pulse. He could hear clicking, beeping and soft noises as she checked his pulse, his heartbeat, his temperature and finally, after what seemed like an eternity, she asked, "Would you like some ice chips?"

"Yes." He managed to rasp; it simply hurt too much to nod his head.

She slowly raised the bed a couple of inches which caused him to feel dizzy, even with his eyes closed. Cracking his lids open slightly he saw only dim light coming from the window and a low task light over on the stand where the computer sat.

He felt a napkin rest against his chin, then the woman's soft voice. "I've got a few ice chips in this cup, which should help some of your thirst. I can't give you water until we know your tummy won't reject it. The last thing you want to do is vomit with a head that’s been beat up."

"Yeah," he managed. He chewed the couple of ice chips in his mouth and enjoyed the cool trickle of water as it slid down his dry throat. The stark contrast of the coolness of the melted chips against his throat which felt like it had been on fire was cooling.

Venturing another glance around the room through narrowed lids, he tried opening his eyes again. He was rather pleased for being able to open them fully this time. He saw JT grinning at him though the crease in between his eyes was

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