the room keeps, which is usually close to the wall or in a corner. Her blue eyes follow mine as I stand against the wall.
“How did you know?”
“She said… your… energy… buzzed the room every time…you entered it,” she coughs, then licks her dry lips.
I come around the edge of the bed and grab the water pitcher off the stand and pour her a paper cup full. I bring it to her mouth and she greedily chugs it down. “Thank you,” she croaks.
If the desert had a voice, it would be Tina’s right now.
“Do you know what’s going on with Daphne?”
She shakes her head and swallows.
“She doesn’t remember anything about me, us, or Vegas. She found out her dad wasn’t her dad. Come to find out, her mom had a thing with Mercy, a close friend of the club. Then her piece of shit father calls and tells her to come home because you’re in the hospital. Why can’t she remember?”
“She shuts down… when… she thinks… she’s protecting herself, when the truth is… too close to the… surface.”
That has me straightening my spine. “You knew how her mom died?”
She nods and a tear runs down her cheek. “I… tried… to get her away… but… I had no proof. Her dad… brainwashes her somehow and she… believes everything he says.”
“She’s a daughter looking for her father’s love,” I say in sadness.
Tina agrees and I pluck a tissue from the Kleenex holder and dab her cheeks dry. She hisses when I apply too much pressure. “Sorry.” It sounds like a weak apology, which means it probably is. “Did you know about Mercy?”
Her lip trembles and she stares at the ceiling, her eyes filling to the brim. “Yes.”
“Why didn’t you tell Daphne!” I hiss, and I mean to sound as deadly as I can, because I’m close to taking a pillow and killing her for what she did. How long did she let Daphne suffer needlessly?
“Michelle… made me…promise not to say a word… I didn’t… know… he… was alive.”
“Very much so, and he has an axe to fucking grind. You people have got to start telling the truth.” I lace my fingers behind my head and wonder what position this puts me in now. If she feels like everyone has lied to her, she’ll close herself off from everyone, and who knows what her mind will conjure up to scare her. “Why didn’t you tell her about the money?”
“She was determined… to work hard… for herself. Money wouldn’t have mattered.”
I worry my bottom lip as I stare out the window into the parking lot. My mind whirls with how to protect Daphne, but I don’t know how anymore. Everyone around her has lied. I don’t want to be lumped in with those people. If there is one thing our relationship has been built on, it’s honesty.
“I’m giving her time to remember me on her own without trying to push her, but you and her dad and her mom… you guys are making that really fucking hard.”
“I’m sorry…”
“Sorry doesn’t fucking cut it. Sorry doesn’t make her worries go away, does it? Lying to her all her life, what the fuck is wrong with you?”
“I was… protecting… her too. In… my own way.”
I get in her face, my arms gripping the sides of the hospital bed to cage her head with my arms. The whites of her eyes are red from busted blood vessels and she has a busted top lip. “You chose wrong.”
“I… know.”
I straighten, not expecting her to admit her wrongs, but she does.
“You’ll take… care of her? She’s… never had that.”
“She will always have that with me,” I say honestly, just as a doctor hurries into our room, slams the door and leans against it. He’s sweaty and pale.
And reeks of fear.
When he sees me, his eyes widen, and he stays low to the ground, then dives to the right to get hidden by a wall. “Don’t panic,” he stammers.
While panicking.
I’m impressed with no one here. Everyone is a goddamn pussy.
I stomp over and pick the twig up by the collar of his white jacket and slam him against the wall. His toes drag along the ground. “How about you don’t panic and tell me what has your panties in a twist, doc.”
“The hospital is on lockdown. No one in. No one out.”
“Why?” I growl.
“There’s a man with a gun and he has a hostage. He’s on this floor,” the doctor squirms.
A gunshot echoes outside and the hallways act as tunnels to