Shutting the folder, I closed my eyes and covered my mouth, but the words bombarded me in the darkness. Did Jackie think this was proof Bruiser was a bad person? Exhaling a shuddering breath through dry, stinging nostrils, I squeezed my eyes shut tighter.
Jackie sprung this on me like there was absolutely no way I would keep seeing Bruiser if I knew, but I did know.
“Nicole . . .” Bruiser’s deep, gruff tone wrapped around me like a shield, alleviating my dense, heavy emotions off of my heart and head. He crouched down, and I cracked my eyes open. He panted hard, his face flushed, sweat soaking his t-shirt and hand when he cupped my cheek tenderly. Sitting across from me, he looked away, and the world lost focus again as my brain scrambled to come to terms with the present. “Thanks for helping her. Here, for the fajitas.” Bruiser’s voice echoed through the room. I looked over to him and saw him handing a woman cash.
“Bruiser.” Mumbling softly, I hold up my mangled hand as sharp eyes capture mine. “I can’t. My hand hurts.”
“I’ll feed you, then. Don’t worry about anything, baby. We’re gonna be stuck at the ER for a couple of hours, anyway, before anyone gets around to your hand.” Very gently, Bruiser took my broken hand in his palms and frowned under tightly knit brows. “Your sister’s got a thick skull, doesn’t she? It’s definitely broken.”
Chapter Thirty
Nicole
“Hey.” My head snapped up, and Cole waved from the doorway of my small room before leaning on the archway leisurely. “Heard what happened. You okay?”
“I just got the x-ray done. It’s definitely broken. How’d you know I was down here?” I knew Parker was upstairs, in a coma, and Cole chuckled lightly. Wandering into the exam room, he sat next to me on the cushioned table to lean back on his arms and sigh.
“Bruiser’s my best friend. You think he wouldn’t tell me you were here and why?” Peering at Cole, I wondered if he’d always looked so haggard. Dark bags hung under his eyes, and his upbeat tone sounded forced to me. Puffing out my lips thoughtfully, I tensed when Cole met my gaze to shake his head. “I’m good. I mean, as good as I can be. Anyway, I’m here for you, not to lament my own problems that aren’t really even my problems. Bruiser told me what was in that folder.”
“Oh, yeah . . .” I winced as images flashed in my mind’s eye, holding up my abused hand. No one had gotten around to giving me a brace or anything, and my fingers twitched without my moving them. “She was way out of line. I looked it up. Canada’s arrest records and stuff aren’t public. She had to actively search for them, maybe come up with a lie about why she needed them, and track people down that could access them. That’s not okay.”
“Spyder, Bruiser, and I have been friends since we were teenagers, way back when his uncle first sent him here.” My lips parted in surprise, but Cole held up a hand to stop me. “He was an illegal alien before obtaining citizenship through his father. Anyway, Spyder’s uncle and Bruiser’s Uncle had this weird thing going on, so Bruiser got sent here to learn some new tricks and make nice.”
“Well, it obviously lasted a long time?” Cole nodded at my probing, and I folded my legs under me as he stroked his sternum and neck absently.
“Bruiser was supposed to go back. He was never supposed to stay in America, let alone get citizenship. His uncle was pissed, threatened to disown him, the whole shebang. But Bruiser refused to go back until he learned his mom had gotten kicked out of the mental hospital up there.” Why’s Cole telling me this? But I didn’t have an opportunity to ask when he continued almost listlessly, his voice holding a myriad of memories. “He went up to kill her. Shot her dead and turned himself in. Really, for us as teenagers, he just disappeared for a few months. In the end, they decided he had the man’s equivalent to ‘battered woman syndrome’ where they basically acknowledge that he was abused almost his whole life and that they were gonna treat it as self-defense.”
“Why are you telling me? He told me the basics. I don’t need the whole story.” Cole cracked a small, sympathetic smile at me, and I frowned lightly. My mind whirled, and he sat up to rub his palms together. “Why are you here, Cole?”
“I just told you, Bruiser’s my best friend. I came to check up on you, and he told me about the folder your sister managed to get her grubby hands on, so I figured I’d elaborate on the situation. Your sister’s not wrong to think Bruiser’s dangerous. He is. A lot more than I think you realize, Nicole. But where your sister went wrong was thinking that being dangerous equates to being heartless.” My frown deepened, and Cole reached to pat my knee before the door opened. Bruiser immediately scowled at his best friend, and Cole stood up to stretch his arms high over his head. “Well, I’ll be upstairs waiting for Sleeping Beauty to wake up. Doctors say it should be any time now . . . even though it’s been that way for a few days.”
“Your sister call you at all?” Cole shook his head, and Bruiser grunted lowly as his friend left the room. Shutting the door, he locked eyes with me before they slipped down to my swollen, purpling hand. “They haven’t given you anything for that yet?”
“Not yet, but they should be back
