Total pages in book: 69
Estimated words: 69537 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 348(@200wpm)___ 278(@250wpm)___ 232(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69537 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 348(@200wpm)___ 278(@250wpm)___ 232(@300wpm)
I turned to fully face him. “Does this mean that you’re allowed to be around me?”
There was a pause and then, “Yes.”
“Then will this count as a date?” I continued.
I could hear the smile in his voice when he said, “I’m sure hoping so.”
“And where will this date lead?” I asked.
Now I could tell there was a smile on his face. “I’d say at my place, but I was informed by my mother before we left that you had to be at work at eight in the morning. And to not make you exhausted for your first day on shift.”
I held out my hand to him, and he threaded his fingers between my own. “You won’t regret it.”
“What?” I asked.
“Giving me a chance.”
I squeezed his hand hard. “Why wouldn’t I give you a chance, since you gave me a whole lifetime of them to give?”
He sighed. “I didn’t save you so you’d date me.”
I gave him a tug. “Come on.”
He tugged me right back and said, “The door’s in the opposite way.”
I laughed. “I would’ve figured that out…eventually.”
We walked inside, and they seated us at a booth. I sat down, fully expecting Rooster to get into one with me, but Garrett stopped me with a hand on my hip. “How about we give him the whole side of the booth. You can sit next to me?”
That sounded lovely. “Sounds good.”
It was fifteen minutes into our meal that Garrett said, “I didn’t know how much I needed to talk about Gable until you got me to.”
My heart immediately melted.
“I don’t really feel like you’re being very fair to yourself,” I admitted. “I mean, it’s not like you invited any of that. From what I understand, not even you getting stabbed was your fault. It’s also not your fault that you were targeted instead of Gable. I mean, why was your name even leaked? All the crime shows I watch that have undercover agents, the whole point is so that they can continue to be undercover. It’s why the world doesn’t know who any of the Navy SEALs are until they’re actually done with their service.”
He sighed. “True.”
“How did it get out, anyway?” I wondered.
“Well, the media storm there at the hospital was wild. What I do know is that when they didn’t want to treat me because I was a ‘gang banger,’ they all left me there to die in the hallway. When the baby doc, Val, the other doctor’s wife, went to working on me, everyone refused to help her. She had to have a patient from another room and a third-year nursing student help her stop the bleeding. After that was a whirlwind, and the hospital CEO went fuckin’ nuts because of the other doctors and nurses refusing to work on me. A lot of people were fired, even more were put on unpaid leave pending investigation. And I think there were a few nurses that were mad. They started talking out of turn, and all of a sudden, there my name was in the media for everyone to see,” he explained. “Needless to say…”
“You should’ve sued the pants off of that hospital,” I snarled, my hands clenching on the table in an attempt to control the desire to pace after hearing his words.
The small smile that I could hear in his voice was everything.
“Oh, we did,” he promised.
My brows rose. “Really?”
“That’s how I was able to pay for all of my brothers’ mortgages,” he explained. “The hospital settlement was significant. But truthfully, their negligence almost got me killed. And though I couldn’t really blame them for hating me due to them thinking I was part of a gang, that doesn’t mean that I agree with how they handled that. I have a lot of people I run into on a daily basis that I can’t fuckin’ stand, yet I deal with them anyway, because that’s my sworn duty. To protect and serve. I don’t get to choose when I follow that oath.”
“I agree.” I nodded my head vigorously. “I’m sure they fully expected a lawsuit.”
“They did,” I confirmed. “That’s why we settled out of court as fast as we did. They already had a number in their minds. I didn’t agree to it at first, because my parents and siblings were still livid. They bumped it up several hundreds of millions, and I had to convince them to settle.” He paused. “Don’t ever tell them that I was the one to pay for their houses. I had an agreement with my parents that they made up some excuse about a death benefit and money from our grandparents’ estate.”
“That’s really sweet of you,” I said softly. “Side note, but I also got a settlement from the Harris Estate.”
I could hear his subtle intake of breath at my declaration, but he didn’t voice any questions.