Page 86 of Romantic Hero
Wrapping me in a thick towel, River carries me over to the bed, carefully putting a pillow behind my head and one underneath my foot.
He starts to pace around the tiny room, hat almost pitching the ceiling. ‘So, you’re saying the boys are on board with her?’
I nod, but that makes my head start to thud again. I squeeze my eyes shut for a moment. ‘She’s got it all in hand, so you don’t need to worry so much. She’s protecting the ranch, she’s got a plan for the land auction, she—’
‘What?’ River’s face pales. ‘What about the auction?’
His voice is sharp. This is too much conversation. My ankle hurts. My head hurts. Everything no longer feels beautiful.
‘She’s going to bid on it in your absence,’ I say quietly.
‘She can’t do that!’
He’s freaking out, exactly like I knew he would.
River shakes his head, eyes wide. ‘Ethan Calhoun’s uncle is Buddy McGinty. He’s a crook dressed in an expensive suit. With that man in her ear, Cassidy could be forced to sell any land she buys to the developers.’
‘She would never!’ I protest, sinking my head down into the pillows. ‘She loves that place.’
River swipes his hat off, running both hands through his hair. ‘I can’t risk believing that, based on whatever hazy insight you might somehow have into her nature. This is myfucking life, Gertie. My literal, actual real life. I’ve given everything to Oakley Ranch. You should have told me as soon as you knew. Fuck.’
‘What good would it have done, me telling you? It’s not like you can do anything from here. I didn’t want you to worry. Ugh, my mouth is all dry.’
‘You should have told me and let me decide whether I ought to worry. This wasmyproblem to fix. I can’t have gone through all of this –’ he gestures at me – ‘for Bedlam to go down the pan because Cassidy thinks she’s got any business working Oakley Ranch.’
I prickle on her behalf. ‘You underestimate her.’
River glares at me then, eyes blazing with hurt at my keeping this from him. ‘Perhaps. And it seems Ioverestimatedyou.’
And with that he grabs the keys from the hook by the door and storms out of the flat, slamming the door behind him so hard that the whole room shakes.
Fuck.
CHAPTER FORTY
With the crutches the hospital provided way over on the other side of the room, I very much hope that River is planning to take a short stroll around the block to clear his head and then return. But after two hours with no sign of him, I have to face the fact that unless I figure out a way to get to the bathroom, I will be topping off the most insane couple of weeks of my life by pissing myself in bed. And while I can and have endured much embarrassment in my life, I don’t think I could recover from that.
It occurs to me to shout as loudly as possible for Mrs Casablancas, but then I remember that I took my spare key back from her after she used it to come in unannounced and almost caught me doing solo Christina Aguilera karaoke after a few too many Tucci concoctions. I stare mournfully at my phone. Still in a coma, still stuck in rice, a small bouquet of buttercups River assembled at its side.
I’m just going to have to help myself.
The best of the morphine has now worn off and my ankle is throbbing horribly. Muttering a series of curse words I’ve never before said in my life to help ease the pain, I use my arms to slide myself down off the bed and onto the floor ofmy apartment. I try to keep the towel wrapped around me but as I slide down the side of the bed it gets caught up in the duvet and by the time I reach the floor I am naked.
‘Maaan.’
With a sigh, I slowly begin my nude bum-shuffle across the floor towards the bathroom, pondering, as I do, whether I did the right thing by not telling River about Cassidy’s plans. Historically, in an argument, I immediately think that I’m in the wrong, but something in me feels different these days. More sure of myself. And while I hate that I upset River, I conclude that I did the right thing in keeping it to myself. All my accidental revelation has done is cause a whole lot of worry and strife that is literally impossible to fix until I finish this book. And the simple fact is, no matter how strong my connection with Cassidy feels right now, we don’t one hundred per cent know how accurate I am. Surely the most important thing here is that we get River back home in one piece?
‘Ow. Ow. Crap. Ow,’ I grunt as each shuffle brings me closer to my final destination. Once in the bathroom I use what I realise now is embarrassingly feeble upper body strength to haul myself up, squeaking in pain as I do. Finally, in a most undignified way, I manage to make it onto the loo.
There.
I did it.
Independent woman right here. Josie would be proud of my oomph. And probably quite embarrassed on my behalf.
It takes about another fifteen minutes and some very strange noises to manoeuvre myself back onto the floorwithout knocking my ankle. By the time I’ve managed it I’m sweating buckets. With a growl of frustration I start my bum-shuffling back towards the bed, noticing as I go that I really do need to be better about cleaning under the sofa. To my relief, I hear the sound of keys jangling from outside the door.
‘Thank God,’ I mutter, lying back against the wall.
