Page 6 of Guarding Glenda

Rolling my eyes, I said, “Semantics. And that makes it worse.”

“Which part?”

“Both.”

“I’m not going to push you to hash this story out with me now. But I've been here every day waiting for you to wake up. Whatever there was between you, he’s in love with you, Glenda.”

My chest tightened and my stomach churned at the same time. “So he thinks.”

“Well, I know he’ll take care of you. And I’ll be back after we drop her off in the morning. But you gotta just let him help you until then.”

I didn’t want to burden Linny with taking care of me. “You have your own shit to deal with.”

“I do, which is why I need to leave for a while. But I’ll be back in the morning. Until then, you gotta promise you’ll suck it up and let Leigh take care of you.”

“Fine.”

She leaned down and kissed my cheek. “Hey, I didn’t say you had to be nice. I just said you needed to let him help you.”

“Don’t make me laugh,” I said, fighting off a cough. My ribs hurt like hell and so did my throat.

“Sorry. I’ll send Sam back in. Do you need anything from me before I take off?”

“Just a hug.”

Linny sat on the bed and leaned down. I lifted my arms to her sides and she grabbed my shoulders.

Tears squeezed from my eyes and I let out a huge sigh. “Thank God you’re alive.”

“Same to you. I was sure you were dead when they dragged me away,” she said, her voice cracking as her hands shook.

“I’m too stubborn to let some Scorpions kill me. I guess I should have known you were, too.”

I still didn’t know what happened to her. I’d get that story eventually but now wasn’t the time. I was just happy she was alive.

“I love you, Linny,” I said as I squeezed as hard as I could.

“I love you, Glenda.” She kissed my cheek again. “I’ll be back in the morning.”

“Okay. Tell Sofie goodnight for me.”

She nodded as she headed out of the room. Then Sam came back, closing the door behind him. “You gonna let him help you?”

“Sure.” I sighed. “I’m starving, so I guess I don’t have an option. Let’s get this tube out.”

Couldn't be any worse than being here.

Chapter 4

Leigh

Bama took his family home and Sam finally left. Bruce’s head lifted, the hair on his back raised.

“It’s alright, boy. Just her food.”

I stood to meet the driver at the door. Bruce stayed, but he was on high alert.

The driver handed me two bags. “Sorry for the wait. Here you go.”