Page 44 of Rough Rider (Bad Boy High)
“Bam—” I’m trying not to have a total meltdown here.
"What caused the bruise on your hand?"
“What?” I cover it. These men notice everything. “You think I hit Niki?”
“No.” He shakes his head at me. “But I’m guessing he’s not happy about that bruise, so how did you get it?”
“Oh God.”
“Out with it,” Bam orders, his normal playful demeanor gone. No, this is that other side of him. The one Niki has when needed. I watched it take over that night outside the diner.
“Rico,” I say before spilling the whole story about what went down at the strip club.
“Then that’s where he is.” Bam grabs his keys off the table.
“I’m coming with you,” I tell him before he can tell me to stay here.
“No.”
“You’ll have to tie me up, or I’m following you.”
Bam debates this for half a second. “Fine, but if shit goes sideways, you stand back, and if I’m losing, you run. Got it?” I nod. “Words, Andy,” he barks.
“Got it,” I agree before we’re both heading out the door together.
I’m as scared as I have ever been in my whole life, but I know that is not going to help Niki, so I keep it together the best I can. But if something happened to him, I’m not sure I could ever forgive myself.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
NIKI
Awhistle wakes me up. I bolt to my feet, hands up in front of my face.
“Sleeping Beauty decided to join us. Told you food was the key.” Bam’s voice penetrates a fog in my head.
I give myself a shake and then tap one side of my skull as if I can thump loose the cotton between my ears. “Something wrong with my hearing. Can barely make out what you’re saying. Plus, you’re blurry.” I squint in the direction of Bam—or what seems like his direction. There are two figures standing by the stove. One of them looks vaguely girl-shaped. I sniff. Smells like Andy, too.
“You almost got your skull knocked six ways to Sunday by a baseball bat. It’s a miracle you were able to get an arm up to block it and even a bigger miracle that your arm isn’t busted. From what all we can figure out, the blow knocked you backward where you hit your head and lost consciousness. They decided to dump you in the river. Can you make it to the table by yourself, or do you need help, Grandpa?” Bam’s words are mocking, but there’s a hint of concern under all those jabs.
“I can make it.” I sound more confident than I feel, but my vision starts to clear as I trudge over to the kitchen. The smell of beef is too strong to resist.
The Andy-shaped person sets a plate with a giant burger and fries in front of me. I reach out and pat her ass. “Thanks, babe.”
“So you do recognize me.”
“Smells like you.” I pull her onto my lap, ignoring the pain in my ribs when she settles against me. “That peach and vanilla stuff you have in your bathroom.” I fill my lungs with it before picking up my burger. “Tell me what I missed.”
“I’m very mad at you, but since you can barely hold your hamburger right now, I’ll save my yelling for another time.”
I grunt because my mouth is full, and that seems to satisfy Andy. I have a hard head.
“Andy came looking for you.” Bam leans against the counter, a plate in one hand, a burger piled high with toppings in the other.
“Not to seem like I’m all that, but you didn’t text and you weren’t at the library, which didn’t seem like you,” she says.
I give her side a squeeze. “You are all that, and you were absolutely right to expect me to be there for you.”
“Pretty easy to guess you went hunting when I saw your girl’s bruise.” Bam picks up the story.
