Page 17 of Love Me Back
I saw the tears well in her eyes, and I cursed myself for being an asshole.
“I’m sorry, Addie.” I closed my eyes and lay back on the grass.
It wasn’t her fault, and I shouldn’t be taking it out on her.
“I should leave your ass there,” Carson growled.
“You probably should.”
“Let’s go.” Carson and Hudson lifted me from the ground, while Emerson held the chair in place. Once I was fully seated, he began to push rather than let me move myself. I leaned my elbows on the armrests and clasped my hands together.
It was my job to take care of them. Instead, I was a fucking invalid that had to be wheeled around like a goddamn baby in a carriage.
We got to the house, and I glared at the steps I had walked up and down every day more than once in the past thirty-plus years. I’d never realized how many everyday things I’d taken for granted until I couldn’t do them anymore.
“We’ll get a ramp built tomorrow,” Hudson said behind me. I ignored him. I didn’t want a fucking ramp; I wanted to walk. What I wanted was for my brain to tell my fucking legs to move.
“Luckily, you sleep in the master bedroom on the ground floor, so we didn’t have to move shit around. We got a shower chair, but I guess you’ll need help to get into it.”
Emerson was babbling. It was what he did when he was nervous. Hudson hadn’t said a word since we entered the house, and Addie wouldn’t look at me. I might have thought it was because I yelled at her, but she looked guilty.
“What aren’t you telling me?” I asked when they stopped the chair in the living room. “And where the hell is Tyson?”
“Tyson is at the clubhouse. King has him doing shit as a punishment for what he did,” Carson explained.
“Well, that’s not fair,” Addie muttered.
“Girl, be thankful you aren’t in the club or you’d be right beside him.”
“As if King would ever allow a girl in the club.”
I looked at my baby sister. It wasn’t the first time I had wondered if she wished she’d been born a man.
Carson sat on the coffee table in front of me. He waited for me to meet his eyes before he said, “We’ve hired someone to help you around the house.”
“What the fuck for?”
“Because you need physical therapy and you need to learn how to adjust to being in that chair if, God forbid, you don’t get your legs back.”
I glared at my oldest brother. “I will get my fucking legs back.”
“I hope you do. But we have to be realistic. What was it Dad always said? ‘Expect the best but plan for the worst.’ That’s what we’re doing.”
My shoulders slumped against the back of the chair. Carson was right. No matter how hard I worked, there was a chance I would never walk again.
“Fine, who did you hire?” No sooner was the question out of my mouth, but the front door opened, and the woman I was in love with walked in.
Chapter Seven
Jessie
“Can I get you anything else?”
The waitress stared at me, waiting for an answer. I wanted to say yes, you can get me a tall, gorgeous cowboy who still wanted me. But that wasn’t on the menu here at the diner.
“No, thank you. Just the check.” I smiled back at her as she set the paper down on the table.
“I’ve got that.” Addison Powell snatched the check from the table before I could pick it up and sat down in the booth across from me.
