Page 138 of The True Garza

With an irritated sound, he jerks his fingers from my grip.

“—but we never really stood a chance. Because my heart and my body belong to someone else.”

He takes a step back. “Get some rest.”

“What do you expect me to do with how I feel, True? Pretend it doesn’t exist?”

“Don’t care. Just…” A measure of misery flits across his eyes. “Just keep it to your fucking self.”

With that, he walks out.

Keep it to myself? I don’t think so. Hemademe fall in love with him, so I’m not going to bear the burden of this on my own anymore. I’m going to wrap it around his neck like a tourniquet and choke him the fuck out with it.

CHAPTER Thirty-Four

“You’re lucky you’re in a wheelchair.”

Lonny

“Whoa. What happened to myroom?”

Brook sighs. “Your Red Cage family are a bunch of bullies. They barged in and had your room redone, insisting that you have a comfortable recovery setup when you came home.” She wheels me farther into the room. “As you can see, this is a brand-new bed. Remote-controlled for reclining and elevating, with a built-in bookshelf here and a laptop-stand here. Over there is a massage chair. A mini fridge there. A giant flat-screen up there. And I told them you enjoy gaming, so they did this whole RGB setup over here for you.”

“Dual curved monitors,” I say excitedly. “I love it.”

She rolls her eyes. “I can’t believe you’re getting spoiled like this after that stunt you pulled.”

“Green isn’t your color, sissy. Let it go.”

“Whatever.” She picks up a tablet from the nightstand. “To ensure that someone is always here with you, I created this timetable in the cloud. We—the Bridges and Garzas—all have access to it. As we go, we’ll plug in the times that will work for us, so you’ll always know who to expect.”

“That’s not necessary. I can take care of my—”

“We knew you’d say that,” she cuts me off. “But you don’t get a say in anything regarding your recovery. Just so you know. I’m your guardian now. Your lord and savior now. Talk back to me and you’ll suffer the consequences.”

“You’re an idiot,” I mutter through a laugh.

Even though I was shot twice and suffered a head injury, none of it was detrimental enough to cause any long-term functional loss. No arteries or nerves were hit. No bone damage. All mostly tissue wounds and superficial vein impacts. As a result, the doctor estimated around six to eight weeks’ recovery time for my arm and two to six months for my leg.

I’m extremely fortunate, and I’m so utterly grateful. But the truth is, I think I went back to that house expecting to die. That day, I was in a lot of pain. Dennis had dumped me five days prior, saying he was still in love with his ex-wife. And while I had no feelings for him and was relieved that he ended things, it unexpectedly brought back memories of my ex-fiancé breaking off our engagement with similar words. Which then brought on the memories of losing my father. All the pain I thought was gone came rushing back. My heart ached. I missed my father to the point of rage. And I missed True to the point of madness. I’d been quietly abusing alcohol again, and I guess…I guess I just wanted it all to end.

As Brook assists me out of the wheelchair and into bed, I ask, “Who,exactly, ‘bullied’ you into all this? True?”

She shakes her head. “It’s that asshole Trent who was the ringleader. I wanted to deck him in the face so many times.”

A grin wrestles forward. “It wasn’t Trent.”

“What do you mean? Of course it was him. He’s a demandingdick.”

“Nope.” Why am Igrinning like a lunatic? “It was True pretending to be Trent. At any point, were both of the twins here at the same time?”

“Well—no. As a matter of fact, I only saw True at the hospital. For all this,”—she waves a hand around the room—“Trent was the one who was always here overseeing things.”

“Trent can’tstandme,” I say through a laugh. “The last time I saw him, he looked at me like he was contemplating finishing me off. He wouldn’t be here doing jack shit for me. Trust me, it was True the entire time.”

Brook frowns. “I don’t—that’s weird. Freaky. I like True, he knows that. So why would he pretend to be the twin Idon’tlike?”

“To hide.” I rest back against the pillows. “So I’d think he doesn’t care.”