Page 44 of Jett

“Raine, honey, are you okay?” Indie sets a box of toiletries on the bathroom floor and I turn and face her.

“Yeah, I’m ... I’m just overwhelmed, that’s all.”

Indie smiles. “It’s weird, isn’t it? Life before the MC, versus life after? One minute you’re locked in a warehouse being tortured, and the next you have an instant family who would all go to ground to protect you because you fell in love with one of their brothers.”

“Well, things are a little different for you. Being an old lady and beingthe helpare really not the same.”

“Oh, honey. You are so delusional. Do you think any of us are here right now because we think of you as the help?” Indie sits on the closed toilet seat and fluffs up her hair. “We’re family. And Jett? He’s in love with you.”

I shake my head. “He and I are—”

“Let me guess, complicated?” She smiles and shrugs her narrow shoulders. “No shit. You’re in love with the president of an MC.”

“I’m married,” I blurt, and then take a deep breath as my tears finally fall over my lashes.

Indie’s brows practically reach the roof of my en suite. “What?”

“He’s ... he’s sick.” My phone vibrates in the pocket of my jeans and I pull it out.Shady Acres. Shit. “It’s the nursing home where he lives. I have to take this.”

“Nursing home?” Indie demands as I step out of the room and answer my phone.

“Hello?”

“Mrs Cole?”

“This is she.”

“It’s Helen from Shady Acres.”

“Is everything all right?”

“Joshua seems to be a little distressed. His vitals are fine, but he has pneumonia—”

“Oh, God. Is he okay?”

“We have him on antibiotics and he’s been steadily improving, but the discomfort is making him unusually difficult. He’s refusing to eat. I checked the logs and noticed it’s been some time since you’ve been in.”

Oh, Josh. God. Not only am I a home-wrecking whore, but while I was busy fucking a man who didn’t belong to me, I neglected my mentally disabled husband. Guilt worms its way through my belly, making me nauseous. “Yeah. I ... er ... I had to go away for work.”

Somehow, I don’t think telling Helen that I was almost raped, held at gunpoint, nearly blown up, and forced into lockdown with a motorcycle club would go over well.

“Well, as you know, patients like Joshua benefit from routine. Is there any chance you could come by now and see him before visiting hours are over?”

I glance at the ceiling and nod. “Sure. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

I hang up and turn to find Grim in the doorway of my new bedroom holding several boxes I don’t remember owning. “Hey, can I talk to you ... shit, are you okay?”

I shake my head. “I need to go see Josh.”

“Wait, he knows about this husband?” Indie leans against the en suite door with her arms folded across her chest.

Grim cants his head. “You told her?”

“Clearly, I’m the last to know anything.”

I press my fingertips to my eye sockets to ward away the headache I’m getting. “Can we just take a rain check on this conversation?”

“Sure,” Indie says, but her full lips are pulled into a pout.

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