Page 35 of El Segador

I smiled. “You’re good for Liam,” I said. “A remarkable woman. No matter what happens tonight, Swan’s going to need friends. I’m a jealous bastard, but I want her to have all the friends she can stand.”

“You can count on me. Anything either of you need, I’ll be there.”

With Jezebel gone, it left me and Liam with Swan. Neither of us spoke for a long time. It was a couple of hours before either of us said anything. Then it was me who broke the silence.

“Until I got the call from Doc, her illness was an abstract thing. It was there, but I could see improvements in her appearance with just rest and food and good care. I’d forget about it sometimes unless her leg hurt.” I gave a soft laugh. “I mean, we went to the other side of the fuckin’ world, for fuck’s sake. She never had the first bit of trouble. Never complained about anything other than the occasional bit of pain when she’d been on her leg too much.”

“Doc made it real.”

“Yeah.” I scrubbed my free hand over my face. “Took me out of my fairy tale.”

“We’ll make it through this,” El Diablo said. “How much did you get done on her bucket list?”

“Everything but the fucking shit at Disney World. And getting her drunk and high. Thought she might like to go to Disney with the girls. The other I wanted to wait until we were back here. Need to know exactly what I give her to get her high. And that I can trust it.”

Again, we fell into silence. Holding vigil.

Swan stirred, moaning in her sleep. I stroked her hair softly. “Shh, baby. I’m here.”

“Hurt,” she said, her eyes still closed.

“I’ll go see if Fury can give her something,” El Diablo said softly.

“Thanks.”

I leaned forward and placed my lips on her forehead. “My precious Swan.”

“Reaper?”

“I’m here, baby. I’ll always be here.”

“You promise?” She sounded sleepy, but also scared and utterly miserable.

“I do, sweetheart. I’ll always be with you. No matter what.”

Fury entered the room, a small syringe in hand. “I’ll give her a small dose. Doc said to keep on the pain but to let her get good and awake.”

“Where is he?” I asked, wishing I could talk to the bastard. I needed to know what was going on.

“With the pathologist. He said to give him a few hours, and he’d know exactly what we were dealing with.”

“It’s already been a few hours,” I grumbled.

“Figured you’d be impatient.” Swan’s words were slurred, but she had a faint smile on her face.

“Always when it concerns you, baby,” I said, kissing her hand. “Fury’s brought something for pain.”

“Ah, good. Hip hurts like a mother.”

“I expect it does,” Fury said with a smile.

His woman, Noelle, sat beside Swan on the bed. “Hey, honey. Doc bein’ mean to you?”

Swan grinned sleepily. “Yeah. Have someone cut off his balls for me, will you?”

“Yeah,” Noelle said with a chuckle. “I’ll see if I can get Shadow or Millie to get on that for you.”

“Nah. Don’t really do that. I know he’s trying to help.”