“You’re quiet, Rory.”
“I still don’t see why I need to be here. I don’t know what you and Mr. Dawson—”
“Crusher.”
“Crusher. I don’t know what the two of you are thinking, but I can assure you that I’m the last person that Noah will want to see. I don’t see why I couldn’t just leave. Ryan is what is important here.”
“There’s no way I could let you go. You haven’t told me a lot, but Diesel’s men have and as near as I can figure it out your brother is a fucking time bomb and you are in his line of fire.”
“That’s my problem not yours.”
“You’ve lost a lot, Rory. You did it protecting Ryan. That puts me in your debt.”
“Why? Ryan’s not yours.”
“According to what I’m hearing, he’s not Diesel’s either.”
“He is in every way that counts,” Rory growls, her head jerking to look in the back seat of the rental where Ryan is sleeping in his car seat. “And keep your voice down, if Ryan was to hear you it would destroy him.”
“You’re awfully protective over a boy that you’re willing to hand over and leave without a second glance.”
“I love Ryan. I’m not handing him over to anyone. I’m giving him back to his father and his family,” she defends.
I take a breath and look at the road in front of me, while I figure out just how much I should tell her. Crusher asked me to keep her in the dark until she got to the hospital. I didn’t agree with him, but I was willing to do it. Then, I found out how much Rory had lost. I’ve grown to respect her and I can tell that her and Ryan have a deep connection. If Diesel doesn’t pull through this shit, Ryan is going to need her and Nicole told me this morning that Rory definitely needs Ryan and she’s right.
I come to a split-second decision that Crusher will probably fucking bitch about, but he doesn’t know the hell Rory has been through.
“Diesel is in a coma,” I tell her, not looking at her. I can tell by the quick inward drawn breath that my simple statement delivered a gut punch. Guilt immediately hits me. The last thing Rory needs is more shit thrown her way. Unfortunately, there’s no way I can stop it.
“Will he… Do they think he will—”
“His kidneys have stopped working. They’ve put him on dialysis. He’s been there so long that he’s been hooked up to fucking machines over the amount of time doctors advise. It’s not good, Rory.”
“Then why?” she whispers, her voice agonized. It is clear Crusher was right about one thing. There is something between her and Diesel, you can hear it in her voice.
“Why?”
“Why drag us all the way up here, if he’s gone? Why put me through that? Why put Ryan through that?”
“Ryan deserves to say goodbye to his father while he’s still breathing—even if it is with the help of a machine.”
“I’ll disagree with you on that. Noah wouldn’t want his child to remember him like that. There’s no way, after he fought so hard to protect him? He wouldn’t want this.”
“There’s another reason,” I tell her, because I don’t exactly disagree with her.
“What possible reason could there be?” she asks. I take a quick glance in her direction and find her staring out the passenger window. I can only see the profile of her face, but the pain reflected there is easy to see.
“Love,” I answer.
“What?” she asks, her head quickly turning around to look at me.
“Crusher is hoping that there’s enough of Diesel left that he can hear the people he cares about the most. He thinks that will make him fight—that he will come back that way.”
“He’s crazy,” she whispers.
“Maybe, but I can’t deny that I’ve seen love bring someone back from death,” I tell her, and memories of a time when I almost lost Nicole invade my thoughts and I swear, it doesn’t matter that it’s been fucking years since it’s happened, I can still taste the fear.
“Well it doesn’t matter. Crusher is wrong.”
“Love is a powerful thing, Rory. You shouldn’t underestimate it,” I tell her. If nothing else I’ve learned that lesson the hard way.
“Well your friend is overestimating my connection with Diesel. He doesn’t care about me,” she whispers. I look over at her and she looks more than a little lost.
My gaze shifts back to the road. Damn. Crusher might be on to something. It’s clear that Rory has feelings for Diesel, and if I have to wager from just looking at her face right now, I’d say those feelings run deep. I know she was going to have his child. All the information we’ve gotten on her and from just meeting her, I believe she’s a good woman. Maybe Crusher is right. Maybe whatever is between them, the unfinished business that still exists, will be enough to bring my man back. I hope like hell it does. I’ve buried men before, I don’t want to do it again.
“He doesn’t care about me at all,” she adds a little while later, after we’ve drove in silence for a bit.
“Funny,” I murmur.
“What’s funny?”
“How you assumed I was talking about the feelings you and Diesel shared. When I was actually talking about him and Ryan. Makes a man think there are a lot of issues that you and he need to work on.”
I glance over at her as I tell her that and I notice her face goes slightly pink with embarrassment.
“There’s nothing to work out,” she whispers. “And besides, it’s too late now,” she adds.
I frown as I stare out at the Montana road. We’ll be at the hospital in a little over an hour. We flew in to the nearest airport we could find at such short notice. I know every minute is precious and I just hope like hell that Rory is wrong.
I hope like hell Diesel is still hanging on to even hear anything Rory might say to him. Then… I hope like hell he can somehow fight his way back.