“No, I know. I don’t give a shit about what he thinks I can do, but he doesn’t even—” The fae without magic grunted and thumped her hand on the sheets. “Now that I’m talking to someone else about it, it sounds so ridiculous. I’m lucky to even be alive right now, and that’s only because you were there that night to bring me here.”
“Well, we already called it good with that one.”
“Doesn’t mean I’m not grateful.” Ember gave her another small, strained smile.
Do I seriously have to claw information out of everybody today?
“And you’re welcome.” Cheyenne scratched her head and looked away from the tears barely forming in her friend’s eyes again. “Still, I missed the part where you wanting to go with this rehab program to help you walk again is ridiculous. Because it’s not. It makes more sense than anything else you’ve said.”
Ember closed her eyes and muttered, “My insurance doesn’t cover it, Cheyenne.”
“Oh. Shit.”
“Yeah. It barely covers me being here right now, and I’m pretty sure I have to be out of here tomorrow if I don’t want to start racking up a bill for a thousand dollars an hour just to sit in this bed. So I tried to get some help.”
“Oh.” The halfling nodded. “That’s why you called him.”
“Yeah, and he was a total dick about it. He said he’s barely keeping his business above water right now, and he’s expecting that to change with some big new deal or whatever. Then he told me I must be on too many pain meds if I thought he had enough to spend on rehab when he couldn’t even afford a plane ticket to come see me.”
“He actually said that to you?”
“Yeah. And trust me, that’s like number five on the list of Wesley Gaderow’s worst lines actually said out loud to his daughter.” With a bitter laugh, Ember rubbed the back of her neck and stared at the long lines of her legs stretching out in front of her beneath the hospital sheet. “So now I’m the idiot for thinking he even had it in him to at least pretend to care. And the therapy and rehab are off the table. So is the whole list of stuff Dr. Andrews laid out that would help me get back to life again, even just in my apartment. I’ve missed a week of classes, and they don’t call it kicking me out, but if my insurance won’t pay, one of those nurses is gonna wheel me out of this place any day now and just leave me out front.”
Another laugh of disbelief burst out of the fae, but at least she didn’t start crying again. “I don’t know how the hell I’m gonna make this work, Cheyenne.”
The halfling settled her hand on Ember’s wrist, which now lay limp and defeated on the mattress. “You shouldn’t be worrying about that right now.”
“I know that. You think I don’t know how nice it would be to not have to think about it at all?” Ember closed her eyes and shook her head. “Sorry. I’m not trying to drag you into anything—”
“I’d like to see you try to drag me anywhere.” The halfling snorted. “Don’t apologize for this.”
“Still. I feel like an idiot for making such a big deal out of it. You obviously have other stuff going on. Crazy shoulder stories. I really don’t wanna bother you with my ‘fae who can’t do magic or walk’ issues.”
They shared another wry chuckle because that was the best way to handle any of this.
But what she really means is she feels stupid for talking about money issues with me.
“You’re not bothering me.” The halfling gave her friend’s wrist a gentle squeeze. Ember tilted her head and didn’t look up from the sheets, but at least she pulled her hand back to give Cheyenne’s fingers a squeeze in return. “And don’t let all this crap bother you either, okay?”
“Way easier said than done.”
“Yeah, I know. You’ll have plenty of time to freak out about it later. So let’s make a deal.”
“A deal.” Ember chuckled. “Okay, let’s hear it.”
“You need to focus on getting better. Maybe ask that doctor if you need to worry about how many tissues you used today. Seriously.”
Puffing out a breath, the non-magical fae leaned her head back against the pillows with a smirk.
“For real, though. It’s a little concerning. And then just keep focusing on getting better, and by the time you’re outta here, I’ll have the most badass cane waiting for you when you get home.”
“Oh, jeeze. I won’t even be able to use it.”
“Nah.” Cheyenne grinned and slapped the side of the bed. “You will. However it works out. Just think about that instead, okay? Badass cane.”
“You’re ridiculous.”
“Yep. And you’re gonna look so cool.”
“Ha. Not as cool as you think you look, running around with all the flesh wounds.” Ember nodded at the halfling’s shoulder. “What the hell did that to you, anyway? A giant vampire?”
“Weirder.” After a quick glance at the two holes still surrounded by bright-red, raw, swollen skin, Cheyenne shrugged. “Kind of a cool story. At least the part about what happened to the guy who did this to me.”
After staring at Cheyenne, Ember jerked her hands up. “Seriously, you can’t give me all that crap about ‘just spit it out already’ and then sit there and not tell me what happened. Go.”
“You sure you wanna hear it?”
“Don’t be dumb.”
Hissing out a laugh, the halfling cocked her head in realization. “You know what? You might be the only person I can talk to about all this who won’t either lose their shit or try to use it against me.”
Ember grinned and spread her arms. “Major points for the fae best friend, huh? Even if I can’t use magic.”
“Okay, fair warning, though.” Cheyenne wiggled her eyebrows. “This is top-secret stuff. I think.”
“Yeah, sounds real professional when you put it that way.”
“Very funny. Seriously, though. The FRoE and Border reservations and
