Rome (Marked Men #3)(76)
Author: Jay Crownover

“You are everything to me, Cora.”

Seriously … and I worried about him not being the perfect guy? If that was what imperfect got me, I was the luckiest girl in the world. I was going to tell him I felt the same way but he tugged me over him, grinned up at me, and told me to climb up and straddle his face so that he could tickle me the rest of the night. I wanted to laugh but I was equal parts turned on and angry that once again he got the last word.

EPILOGUE

Thanksgiving

“We need to go to the hospital.”

I dropped the Allen wrench I was using to put the crib together on the floor and jumped to my feet. Cora was in the doorway to the nursery twisting her hands together.

“The baby?” I didn’t want to ask; the worst thing I could think of started chasing through my mind even though she had just had a checkup and come away from it the epitome of good health. We also knew we were having a little girl, which blew my mind and already had me in a state of perpetual panic.

“No, it’s Phil. Nash just called. It’s bad. Dad’s already in the truck waiting on us.”

Cora’s dad, Joe, had finally flown out for the holidays and to my relief I got on with the older sailor just fine. Instead of going to Brookside with Rule and Shaw for Thanksgiving with my folks, we had stayed in town and done the holiday thing with just the three of us. Cora had tried to get Nash to bring his uncle, but Phil was still acting strange. He was still avoiding Nash and not showing up at the shop, which had prompted Nash to plan a surprise Thanksgiving invasion of his uncle’s fishing cabin on the outskirts of Boulder.

“What’s wrong?”

She shook her head and I could see the worry etched on her pretty face. I pulled her into a tight hug and her arms immediately went around my waist.

“Nash didn’t know. He said when he got to the cabin he thought it was empty, but Phil’s bike was there. He broke in the door and Phil was unconscious on the floor. He had to call Park Service to get help to get him out. They apparently airlifted him here. I called Rule and he and Shaw are on the way down the mountain. Rowdy, Jet, and Ayden are at the bar with Asa, doing Thanksgiving for the vets, but it’s almost over. Ayden said they would meet us there, but if it’s as bad as Nash made it sound, I don’t know that he’s going to want a crowd around. Dad and Phil go way back, so there’s no way I can keep him from going.”

“If I need to run interference I will, Half-Pint. You know it.”

She gave me a hard squeeze and I saw her put her protective mask in place. She was a warrior in her own right, always ready to march into battle and protect the ones she loved from anything she thought could do them harm or hurt them. I gave one last look at the delicate, white crib and followed her out the bedroom door. Disarming a roadside bomb was easier than putting together baby furniture. All the little parts and pieces were not designed for a guy with paws like mine. At least Cora found it hilarious every time she walked in to find me swearing and threatening death upon inanimate objects.

We put the nursery in Asa’s old room because Jet and Ayden still had a few months until the remodel of his studio was done. Jet was gone so much and Ayden was so busy with work and school I hardly saw either of them. In fact, aside from my girl and brunch on Sunday with the family, the only person I really saw a lot of was Asa. I was busy with the bar because the bar was busy and he was simply my right-hand man. I didn’t know if we clicked because we both filled the role of big brother, or if it was because we were both men trying to redefine how we saw ourselves and how others saw us, but we just did. I knew enough to know that he was wily, and crafty; the last two bar fights I had been forced to break up had been because of girls he left high and dry or who hadn’t bothered to remember they had a boyfriend before going home with the Southern charmer. There was no doubt he was trouble, but so was Rule. I knew all about how to handle it and I liked to consider the guy a buddy.

I hoisted Cora up into the cab of the truck and roared on to the hospital. She was quiet and her dad was tense. I didn’t bother with platitudes because one military man didn’t try and fool another. The situation was unknown, but with Phil’s strange behavior and the way he had been avoiding everyone who loved him, it didn’t bode well. I grabbed Cora’s hand and felt the way it trembled in my own. She was scared, but she would power through it like she always did.

We filed into the hospital, following behind her dad. He had a take-no-prisoners kind of demeanor that was very similar to Cora’s, and he got us to the emergency wing way faster than we would have had we been on our own. We came around the corner of the waiting room and there was no missing Nash. That shaved head with the flames tattooed on either side of it was bent down and he was staring intently into the gray eyes of the very pretty redheaded nurse. I kind of considered her a good-luck charm, so I was glad she was there. Cora called his name and his head jerked up to look at us. Something twisted in my chest when I saw that there were very obvious tracks of moisture on his face. Those periwinkle eyes were liquid with sorrow and heartache.

The nurse put a hand on his cheek and he reached up to wrap his fingers around her slim wrist. She said something to him and he nodded solemnly. She pulled her hand away and walked the opposite direction down the hallway. I inclined my head in the direction she went and tapped Joe on the elbow.

“You might want to talk to her. Let your little girl handle Nash. She’s good at dealing with her boys.”

He gave a sharp nod and took off after the nurse. Cora pulled free of my hold and went and wrapped herself around Nash. His big body gave a shudder and he buried his face in the curve of her neck. I didn’t know what to do with myself, but when he looked up, those lapis eyes locked on to mine.

“Cancer. Fucking lung cancer. They’re calling in an oncologist right now, but it’s bad.”

I sucked in a breath and saw that Cora was shaking, too. That wasn’t good news.

“I’m so sorry, man.”

He blinked like he was in a daze and pulled away from my girl. He scrubbed his hands roughly over his bald scalp and started to pace back and forth like some kind of wild animal in a cage. I pulled Cora back into my arms and ran my hands up and down her back when I felt her tears slide against my neck where she shoved her face.

“I knew something was wrong. For months and months he’s been acting weird, not returning calls. He was all gung ho to get a new shop opened, and then that just fell off the map. I let it go and let it go. Hell, I thought he had a new girlfriend he didn’t want anyone to know about, but no, it’s motherfucking cancer. Jesus Christ, smoking. All from goddamn smoking.”