Draw (Gentry Boys #1)(68)
“Sit.”
“Stop scratching me! Stop looking at me! Little lions everywhere. Fucking everywhere!”
Chase rolled his eyes and shouted over the curtain. “It’s okay, Larry. They’re all filing past on their way to the litter box. They’ll be gone at least ten minutes. Take a breather, buddy.”
I heard the old man grumble but he quieted down.
Chase’s expression was sober. “What’s going on, Say?”
“You mean with Cord?”
He sat up a little. I saw sweat beading on his forehead from the effort. “Yeah, with Cord. And Creed. What the hell are they up to?”
“You think they check with me before they make plans?”
Chase sighed. “So they are making plans?”
I felt my heart sinking. “I believe they are.”
“Goddammit,” he swore, balling his fist. “What good do they think it will do, going off on some bullshit blood mission?”
My heart began to beat faster. Hearing Chase say the things I only suspected brought it home. I’d seen Cord’s wild wrath yesterday. The monster in him was subdued, for now. It might not stay that way for long.
Chase shook his head miserably. “Stop him, Saylor. Creed doesn’t hear much of anybody but Cord will listen to you.”
“You think so?”
He leaned forward eagerly and grabbed my hand. “Yes. He’s head over heels for you, sweetheart. If anyone can bring him around it’s you.”
I felt a lone tear escape and travel down my left cheek. “I kind of like him at this point too.”
Chase’s wiseass grin returned. “Aw, you love him. You want to make cute little babies with him and shit.”
I blushed, not answering. I could scarcely articulate the crazy roller coaster of emotion Cord Gentry had taken me on.
“Hey.” Chase poked my knee.
“What?”
He cleared his throat, looking a little uncomfortable. “There’s something you should know. That mess back in Emblem with you and Cord?”
I waved him off. “We’ve been over that. It’s over. It doesn’t matter.”
“Well, I’ve got to tell you something anyway. It was all my idea, Saylor. I was the one who brought it up, who thought you’d be easy to get to.” He paused, looking sadly down at the bed sheet. “And I’m the one who made sure it was news. I told everyone who had ears. I mean, Cord did what he did, obviously. Can’t excuse that. But he wasn’t the one who spread the gossip around everywhere. He wouldn’t have. That was all me.” Chase cleared his throat painfully. “I’m sorry.”
I was quiet for a moment. If I tried, I could summon the hurt and humiliation of those long ago days, but what for? It was a long time ago, in another place. Back then I didn’t really know the three of them any more than they knew me. But I knew them now. Chase and Creed were my friends. And Cord was my heart.
Chase was waiting for me to say something. Maybe to tell him to go to hell or to sigh and say I’d already forgiven him.
“What’s yours mean?” I suddenly asked.
He was confused. “What?”
I pointed to the tattoo on his upper chest which was visible around the neckline of the hospital gown. “Cord said you’re the one who has a thing about Latin. So what’s yours mean, Chase?”
He looked down at himself and pulled the hospital gown away with a slow smile. “Read it.”
“Vivo pro hodie.” I shrugged. “Something about living.”
“Loosely translated it’s ‘Live for today’ although there is some academic disagreement as to the English to Latin formatting.”
“Hmm. Live for today. Very prescient.”
Chase gently prodded his bandages. “Seems so, doesn’t it?”
“I’ll try,” I whispered. “To keep him from doing something stupid.”
“Try hard, Saylor.”
“Hard as I can.”
“And if verbal persuasion doesn’t work, feel free to use your tits. By the way, being as how I’ve suffered so much, may I see them just for a quick moment?”
“Asshole,” I laughed. “No.”
I heard my phone buzzing in my purse and glanced at it. “Shit, it’s my mother. I’m sure she’s wanting to remind me about her wedding tomorrow. Oh well, that’s what voicemail was invented for. Did you know my mother is marrying Gary Chavez?”
Chase cocked his head. “The Gnome?”
“The one and only.”
“Speaking of hot McCann chicks, your mom can certainly compete. I remember this one time she and my uncle-“
“Stop,” I begged, shuddering. “Just stop. Some memories ought to be buried in the molten crust of the earth’s core and never revived.”
“Okay. Will you still spoon feed me my cereal?”
“Better than that. I’ll let you eat straight from my palm.”
Creed happened to walk into the room at the tail end of that conversation. He gave us a perplexed look and then jumped a foot in the air when Larry from beyond the neighboring curtain began shrieking about invisible cats once again.
Chase yelled back. “It’s cool, Larry! Animal Control was just here and took all the animals away.”