Stone Cold - Ashby Crime Family

His smile was polite and professional just like the hand to my shoulder. “Your memory will come back, Bonnie. You’ll be fine.”

Physically, I knew I would even if it took some time. I wasn’t so sure anything else would be fine. Then again, how much worse could it get?

As soon as Dr. Callahan was gone, Maisie rushed in, worry knotting her ebony brows and turning her pale skin pink. “Bonnie, holy shit how are you? What happened?”

“I don’t know what happened,” I snapped. “The doctor thinks I might have been mugged.”

“Well, you were found downtown in the middle of the night, so he’s probably right. What were you doing down there, Bon?” The confusion and worry in her eyes I could handle, the hurt was harder to swallow. Maisie was my friend, my sister, and I knew she cared about me. Deeply. But right now that just pissed me off.

“It’s where I live, Maisie. We all don’t get to live in a big mansion with rich mobsters.”

“Bullshit,” she spat back at me, surprising me. “I invited you to stay here or at Uncle Max’s and you threw both offers back in my face. Why? So you could live downtown with the street thugs? Awesome.” So many emotions were wrapped up in that final word. Anger and sadness and hurt. Sarcasm. Confusion.

“I just want to be alone.” I didn’t want to fight with Maisie, and I didn’t want to hurt her, but I just needed to be alone.

Maisie nodded but she wasn’t done. Not yet. “Are you upset with me for some reason?”

“No.”

“Do you blame me for something? For your arrest? For getting involved with Virgil and bringing the Ashbys into your life?”

“What? No. Of course not.” Virgil was scary but he loved her fiercely and protected her like she was everything to him. I wanted that. “I don’t.”

She nodded, sighed in relief. “Okay.”

“Okay?” Maisie was a firecracker, not the type to sit around and just take the crap the world threw at her. This was out of character. “What does that mean?”

“It means that this is grief. That this bitchiness is you trying to process everything that’s happened, and I can accept that. I love you, Bonnie, and I just want you to get past this. So do what you need to do and know that I’m here. Yeah?”

I blinked back tears and nodded. “Yeah,” I squeaked out, giving me time to swallow the tears that burned my eyes. “Thanks, Maisie.”

“I’ll leave you alone now.” Her smile was sad and her hug hesitant, but she squeezed gently, leading me to believe she knew more about my injuries than I did. “Get some rest.”

“Okay.” As soon as she was gone, I reached for the golden orange bottle and twisted the white lid, sliding one pill between my thumb and forefinger. I placed it on my tongue and washed it down with half a bottle of water. The doctor said it was for pain and right now, my heart hurt like it had been ripped out, trampled on and then sewn back in, all without anesthetic.

Speaking of pain, I sat up slowly and swung my legs off the bed, settling my feet into the plush cream rug that surrounded the bed. I stood slowly, happy to feel my legs solid and sturdy under me. Walking naturally was difficult, painful even, though Dr. Callahan said he’d already given me a painkiller. Hopefully, it would kick in soon, but in the meantime, I removed the silky rose pink pajama top and folded it on the edge of the bed before sucking in a deep, fortifying breath. Then I stepped in front of the cheval mirror in the corner and gasped.

I’d never liked the color of my skin because it was too pale for life under the desert sun. The kind of pale people called porcelain or alabaster when what they meant was ghostly or transparent.

Now though, it wasn’t so white. Purple was more like it, with swaths of blue and red, a dark angry red underneath all the bruises that had already formed and those that were still forming. They were everywhere. My chest and my stomach, all over my back, too, from top to bottom. And there on my left side, just like the doctor had warned, a large bruise bearing the distinct shape of a boot with a gripped bottom.

I couldn’t bear to look at the hideous spots any longer. I snatched my shirt without much pain. A small smile formed at the thought that the second pill was already starting to kick in as I climbed back into bed. I reached for the bottle and took one more, just to make sure I slept all the way through the night without pain.

No more pain.

I slept a good ten hours, but when I woke up the pain seared through my body. I popped another pill before taking a long hot shower and getting ready for the day. With a few interviews scheduled in the afternoon, I needed to be bright-eyed and ready to put my best foot forward. It was time to put the week behind me and focus ahead. On my future.