Page 10

Chapter 9

Issues

Boone

I managed to get the paperwork completed without hassle and was at Legacy Field with ten minutes to spare.

“Man, you don’t have to be here,” Logan says as I walk in.

“I do. This is my job.” I look at him, and he cocks his head and arches a brow. “Her family is here, and it is already causing stress.”

“Yeah, I heard.”

“You heard?”

“Snot Clark stopped at your place? Hate the fucking asshole.” He nods toward the doorway that leads out of the locker room. “Go to Dad’s office. Have been reaming SPD and the State boys out all morning. You should have a report. Might have to fight with her parents for the phone.”

“Shouldn’t be a fight—it’s in my name. They shut hers down the minute she left to move here. They did that shit while she was traveling with our daughter.”

“Whose name is the Rover in?” he asks.

“Hers. Everyone needs something that belongs to them, yeah?” I don’t explain that her parents took hers away when she ended things with her fiancé.

“You’re a good man, Boone.” He nods to the door. “Take care of home first, yeah?”

Taking the stairs two at a time, I head to Lucas’s office and see him sitting at his desk, a grandkid on each knee.

“Skipping school?” I ask Logan’s daughters, Aria and Addison.

Lucas chuckles. “Dentist appointment today.”

“And if we brushed real good, Pops is gonna meet us in Skaneateles and take us to lunch before we go to school.” Aria smiles at him.

Lucas stands, tucking the giggling twins into his sides in a football hold.

“Pops!” they squeal and giggle, and then he finally sets them on their feet.

“I need a minute with Boone. Do me a favor and go see if you can figure out who your aunt Ava is teaching a lesson to?”

“Like super spies?” one asks.

He reaches down, opens his desk drawer, pulls out two magnifying glasses, and hands them to the girls, agreeing conspiratorially, “Like super spies.”

As soon as they’re out of his office, he waves to a chair and sinks down in his. “How are you?”

“Rough question. I know who I am, just not how I am.”

“I get that.” He pushes a file forward. “Accident report’s in there. Summary, road conditions, and it says the vehicle’s tires were severely worn, which may have contributed to loss of control on the wet pavement.”

“That’s—”

“Bullshit, I agree. With your permission, I’m going to send my guy over from the dealership in Syracuse to look over the vehicle, and then you and I are going to go meet him.”

I nod.

“I’ll send him on his way now before anyone can fuck with anything.”

“You think someone fucked with her ride?” I ask.

“I’m not sure what I think. I do know that I don’t like the report.” He reaches across his desk, flips open the folder, and points. “The officer is no friend of this family. Sydney doesn’t talk much about what happened that ended them, which is unlike the women around here. They share everything, so Tessa and I suspect there’s something a little bit deeper. His name is on that report, and he was off duty showing up there?” He shakes his head. “I’m not buying it. And if I can get him gone from law enforcement, I’m going to be an even happier man, and I’m a fucking happy man, Boone.”

I don’t tell Lucas everything I know about this shitbag officer, which is little. Regardless, I wouldn’t betray Sydney like that. But I do tell him that the officer in question stopped at the house yesterday. Told him that I think he was there just to lay eyes on her. A pathetic excuse since he had nothing for me. I told him Sydney even questioned why he was first on the scene.

After practice, I meet Lucas at the garage where Lindsey’s SUV was taken—Town and Country Tow. Inside, a man in his sixties stands up, reaches his hand out, and shakes mine. “Jerry Johnson. I was just talking to Lucas here, and since you’re the insured, you can decide where to have the vehicle fixed.”

I glance at Lucas. “What would you do?”

“I called Jerry because he owns a dealership, knows Rovers. He’d be the one I’d choose.”

“All right then.” I glance around at the men wearing shirts with the Town there’s no fixing it,” the bald one says then spits on the concrete floor.

I glance at Jerry, who states, “Always worth a second pair of eyes.”

I turn to Lucas, who winks and nods toward the door. “I know you need to get to the city. I’ll take it from here. Let me walk you out.” He looks at one of the men and asks, “Do you need his signature?”

He shakes his head.

“You sure? Because you insisted you did, and now I’m fucking pissed you wasted his time when he could have just headed to the hospital.”

“He’s good,” the lanky, bearded one states.

“Jerry, call for that tow?” Lucas asks.

“It’s two minutes out.”

“We can tow it,” Baldy huffs.

“Well aware of what you can do,” Lucas growls.

“Am I missing something?” I ask Lucas as soon as we’re outside.

“The vehicle has five thousand miles on it; there is no way that it has bald tires. It’s clear that the report has been falsified.”

“Which means Officer Dipshit messed with it. I need to know why.” I scratch my head.

“Any idea if they have communicated?” he asks.

“Why would they?” I respond.

His brow arches a bit. “You hang around Sydney. If he’s stopping at the house just to get a glimpse of her, why wouldn’t he?”

“Social media. Lindsey hates it, but maybe she’s back on and he slid into her DMs?”

“Get to the hospital. When I hear anything on the vehicle, I’ll let you know.”

“Thanks, Lucas, I appreciate it.”

The drive from Skan to ’Cuse was spent on the phone with the insurance company, who were pissed off because the vehicle was moved to a different shop. Might have lost my shit on the asshole at the other end of the call. Might have asked him if he knew who the fuck he was talking to.

Walking in Lindsey’s room with a picture of sunflowers that Lily had drawn, I tell her, “Hey Linds, you’re looking better today.” A total lie—she looks like hell. “Lily drew you a picture of sunflowers. They have smiles because she wanted them to look happy for you.”

I guess I didn’t realize how hard it would be not to mention the letter, because fuck, it’s eating me up inside.

“Not a lot has changed today, but that’s not a bad thing, either, because it hasn’t gotten worse. You’re resting, you’re healing, you’re going to get better for us. I mean, for Lily. We’re going to call again tonight and say our prayers with you. Your nurses do twelve-hour shifts. Sally’s working right now. She’s a grandma of four. She’ll be leaving at seven, and then Joey will come on. He’s a Knights fan. I got him tickets to bring his girl to the playoff game. Gotta treat the people looking out for you right.

“They’re pretty amazing. I try not to bug them too much, but end up calling every couple hours. I wanna know if you appear like you might wake up so I can be there, ya know? I don’t want you to wonder where you are and why no one is with you, because Lindsey, you are so fucking loved, babe.” I clear my throat and force a laugh.

“Red, you gotta be all fucked up. When you wake up, you gotta tell me what to do for Sally. She’s not a football fan, and I have no clue. Another thing you gotta do when you wake up is tell me what color. That tree did a number on it, Linds, so you gotta get a new ride. Maybe we won’t get you a Land Rover this time; maybe we’ll get you a fucking tank. Hell, maybe we’ll get me one, too.”

I exhale as I sit down, hoping I’ll stop pacing, and slide my hand under hers. “I get to pick up Bossy today. I’m not sure how she made it out without as many scratches and boo-boos as you, but she did.” I run my thumb over her hand, avoiding the area where the IV is sticking in it, a tube connected to her, one of the many. “And they mentioned possibly taking the ventilator out tomorrow afternoon, see if your lungs are ready to do their thing on their own. Your blood pressure, your O2 levels, your heart rate—they all look good. You’re on the mend.”

Walking down the hall toward the nurses’ station, I see Walter and Madeline Bellemont, and they’re not alone.

Lindsey’s brothers, Walter Jr. and Mitchell, I expected to be here but was kind of surprised they weren’t yesterday, but her ex-fiancé being here now? Fuck that.

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” I mumble under my breath when I see the crew gathered around the station.

“How you holding up, doll?” comes from just behind me.

Looking over my shoulder and lifting my chin, I give her the truth, “Seen better days, Sally, but today’s not the worst. How are you?”

“It’s been a good day, and now …” She tilts her head forward. “Lindsey has brothers?”

“Two are her brothers; the other’s her ex.” I have no clue why he’s here.

“The rules are straightforward here in the ICU. Visiting hours end at seven p.m., only two at a time in her room, and if you’re not immediate family, you don’t get in.”

“Her brothers and the ex are lawyers. I got your back,” I joke … sort of.

“You and that little girl of yours don’t need any more issues, and we have security. Go on home. I’ll call you if anything comes up.”

Not that I don’t trust Sally or appreciate her giving me the green light to leave, it just doesn’t feel right to do that to the staff or to Lindsey. So I head to the waiting room just across the hall from the desk, pop in earbuds to look like I’m not eavesdropping, which I am , and check my texts.

“Per hospital policy, we can only allow two people of Lindsey’s immediate family in at a time, and?—”

“The football player isn’t her immediate family,” one of her brothers gives the nurse attitude, which pisses me off.

Douchebag.

“Mr. Boone is her emergency contact and healthcare proxy, which gives him that right.”

Sally with the mic drop.

“It’s fine, Junior. We’ll file for more paperwork when we file to get custody of?—”

“That’s not happening.” I stand and pull out my earbuds. “Lily will remain with me, and when Lindsey is awake and healed, she’ll have both of us again.”

Lindsey’s brother Junior steps forward. “If you think for a minute that you’re going to raise a Bellemont if Lindsey doesn’t pull through this time, you?—”

“What do you mean, this time ?” I ask through my teeth.

“She’s not capable of being alone. She has mental?—”

“That’s enough,” Bellemont Senior cuts his son off.

“I don’t think it is. I think I should know if there’s an issue with the mother of my child.”

After that highly uncomfortable confrontation, I decided to leave before it got any worse, and to be honest, it’s good to know that Lindsey is in a safe place and that even though I think her parents and brothers are douchebags, she’s not alone when I can’t be there twenty-four seven with a child. Those are the facts, and that is the reality of our situation.

As soon as I get in my vehicle and plug in my phone, I get a couple texts.

Max

Checking in to see how our favorite Jersey U family is doing. Let us know if you need anything. We’re feeling like we should be there and not here in Jersey.

Mila

We’d like to come up and visit you and Lily. Be there when Lindsey wakes up. Call when you can. We wanna help.

I hit them back with a voice-to-text group message.

“You can come up here anytime you want. Lindsey’s house is available. Her parents decided not to stay there, so …” I pause, trying to get my thoughts straight. “You all can visit anytime; stay as long as you want.”

As soon as I send the text, my phone rings, and I hit answer . “Boone.”

“How is Lindsey doing, Beau?” Liam Ross asks.

“She’s fighting the fight, holding steady.”

“That’s good to hear,” he says then clears his throat. “We have no problem keeping Bossy another night, but was?—”

“I think Lily’s missing her pup.”

“Gonna guess her pup’s missing Lily, too.”