Always Room for Cupcakes (Cupcakes 1)

“Please…”

I watched Amy May take a deep, cleansing breath, then plaster on a fake smile.

“Better?”

“Much,” I said gratefully.

“Well, your Adonis outside said they’re about to let you go, so I guess I’ll skedaddle … I just wanted to see for myself that you’re okay.”

“I will be,” I assured her. “I just need a little time. But, Amy May? Thanks for coming … and for the cupcake.”

Amy May gave me a nod, and even though she was wearing sunglasses, I could tell she was about to break, so I didn’t say anything else as she pushed open the door and left me alone.

This time when the door opened, it was the nurse coming to discharge me. I did my best to stuff the empty cupcake wrapper under my butt, but when her gaze hit mine, an eyebrow raised, I knew I was busted.

I grinned sheepishly, then listened as she went over instructions for the next couple of days.

After she left and I was finally able to dress in the clothes Bea had brought by for me on her visit, I walked out of the bathroom to see Cade standing by the door.

“Where am I taking you?” he asked, his exhaustion apparent, making me wonder if he’d slept at all since Hector had snatched me outside of my apartment building.

“I’d like to come back to your place, if that’s still an option.”

Cade’s face cleared and I took his offered hand.

“I wouldn’t have it any other way, darlin’.”

I made it all the way to Cade’s couch before I lost it.

We’d driven in relative silence, which meant my mind had the opportunity to wander, to remember.

I’d jumped down from his truck and walked to his front door with visions of Moose blurring my vision. I could actually feel the weight of the sledgehammer and hear his kneecap bust as I hit it with full force.

I sprawled on the couch, tears streaming down my face, as sobs began to rack my body. I felt the cold wetness of Rufus’s nose pushing on my arm, then I was being lifted as Cade sat on the couch and settled me in his lap.

His arms held me tight and I burrowed in, my nose in his throat as I bawled.

“Get it out,” Cade said against my hair, his hand doing those wonderful circles on my back again.

“I busted Moose’s kneecaps,” I wailed miserably.

“I know, darlin’, I’m sorry.”

“He begged me not to do it, and his screams … God, Cade, his screams … Before Hector shot him, Moose told me he was sorry…” I was rambling, but he told me to get it all out, so I was.

“He was sorry for pulling you so deep into shit that heavy,” Cade assured me.

I nodded against him.

“That shit was so crazy, Cade,” I said, pulling back so I could look at him. “While I was on it, it was like I didn’t care. Not about anything. They could tell me to do anything and I would have.”

Cade reached back, pushing his pelvis up off the couch so we both rose slightly, as he grabbed something. When we settled back down, he reached his hand out and said, “Here.”

I looked down at the white fabric, confused. Then, when it hit me what it was, I got a big grin on my face.

“You carry a handkerchief?”

Cade’s lip tipped up, his eyes roaming my face, and I knew I must look a huge snotty mess. I grabbed the hanky out of his hand and brought it to my face.