Chapter 15

Tori didn’t even have to ask how Delon’s session on the spur board had gone. First thing Monday morning, he called to say that yes, he did want to go ahead with the MRI. Beth worked her magic to get him an appointment with radiology on Tuesday morning and get the results to Tori by the time they were wrapping up his therapy that afternoon. Tori summarized the report, then pulled up the images and scrolled through them, hitting the high points as he sat silent, stone-faced. This, the same man who had once tied her to the showerhead with a pair of bandanas and…

She squeezed her eyes shut, glad she was facing the computer so he couldn’t see her face until she’d scrubbed it blank. Scrub. Crap. Not the best choice of words. The memories had been blindsiding her left and right since that moment at her place when he’d touched her, looked at her that way. And then Shawnee had to go and make that crack about how her leaving had messed him up. As though he’d actually cared. Like she’d hurt him. But if those same memories were torturing him as well, he was doing a stellar job of hiding it.

“So what does all that mean?” he asked, tilting his head toward the MRI images.

“Short answer? There doesn’t appear to be anything that could be addressed surgically.”

“Pepper can’t fix it.” Delon’s fingers curled around his knee, knuckles whitening.

“Not with a scalpel. There’s another option.”

“Which is?”

“Manipulation under anesthesia.” She faced him, keeping her gaze steady and professional. “We can’t tell by the MRI, but if adhesions between the folds of the joint capsule are the problem, they have to be broken. He could knock you out and force it to bend.”

Delon winced. She didn’t blame him. It wasn’t a pleasant procedure to contemplate, even if he would be unconscious at the time.

“Will it work?” he asked.

“I can’t say—”

He made an impatient noise. “You’ve done all your tests, felt it with your own hands. Do you think he can free it up?”

She hesitated, then said, “You’ll gain some motion. I would be surprised if it restored the full range.”

His jaw tightened a notch. “What’s the downside?”

“You’ll be sore afterward.”

“I’m sore now. Not much to lose.” He stood, his face still impassive. “Tell Pepper I want to give it a try. I’ll grab my own ice packs.”

When he was gone, Tori leaned against the wall and massaged her aching forehead. Damn, damn, damn. Why couldn’t there have been a bone spur or a handy chunk of misplaced cartilage that could be plucked out. Voila! Not that she’d expected it to be that easy. She sighed and went to tell Beth to set up the appointment with Pepper. A boy of about five was perched on the reception desk, chattering excitedly as he pointed to a handheld computer game.

“And then you press this button and the ship shoots fireballs and BOOM! That’s the end of the sea monster.”

“Cool,” Beth said.

“Wanna give it a try?” the boy asked.

Beth glanced over and saw Tori in the doorway. “Not right now, kiddo. Gotta get back to work.”

“Let me guess,” Tori said. “Guardians of the Sea?”

The boy’s head whipped around and Tori nearly gasped out loud. Dear Lord. It was Delon, in miniature. The abstract awareness of a child was a damn sight different than the reality flashing his daddy’s grin at her.

“You know about video games?”

Tori couldn’t help but smile back, despite a weird twinge in her chest. “I had…um, have…eleven nieces and nephews.”

“This is Beni.” Beth’s eyes were as bright as the boy’s, measuring Tori’s reaction. “He’s been keeping me company while his dad has therapy.”

“I’m Tori. Your dad’s therapist. Do you come along often?”

“Nah. I’m not so good at not bothering anyone.” Beni cast a guilty glance at the chair in the waiting room where he’d abandoned his jacket and a backpack. A bag of microwave popcorn was tipped on its side on the floor, a few kernels spilling out around a Coke can. “Mommy had to pick Joe up at the airport and his flight got delayed, so Daddy had to bring me.”

Tori moved closer and held out a hand. “Can I see?”

Beni passed over the video game and she studied the screen, then clicked a couple of buttons. “Want me to show you something awesome?”

“Sure!”

He scooted over, his shoulder pressing against her arm as he peered at the screen, the cowlick on the top of his head tickling her cheek. Shyness was definitely not an issue. Tori breathed in the scent of popcorn and the same manly soap his dad used, along with the familiar hint of grease and diesel fuel.

She ignored another twinge and pointed at the screen. “See this lever? Pull it.”

Beni guided a character over and did as she instructed. A box opened with a choice of power-ups. “Whoa. Cool. I never saw that before.”

“It doesn’t appear until you have enough tokens. Now you can choose fireproof armor for your ship or add ice bombs to your arsenal.”

He pinched his chin between thumb and forefinger, giving it serious consideration. “What would you do?”

Armor, of course. She left the ice bombs to her mother.

“Either is great,” she said. “When you get another two hundred tokens you can come back and get the other one.”

Beni pondered for another moment, then clicked. “If I have ice bombs I can win tokens faster, so it won’t be long before I can get armor, too.”

Impressive logic. Willy’s nephews would’ve chosen based on which made the loudest noise. “How old are you, Beni?”

“I’m gonna be six. My birthday is Saturday. Wanna come to my party?”

Tori’s gut splintered as if hit square with one of those ice bombs. She was pretty good at math, and six years plus nine months added up to Tori, you total fool. Beni Sanchez had been conceived more than a month before she’d stopped sleeping with his father.

“Are you okay?” Beni asked. “You look funny.”

Behind him, Beth was eyeing her with equal concern, her curiosity dialed up to ten.

“I…um, yes. I just thought you were younger.”

Beni made a sour face. “’Cuz I’m little. And I’m not in school, because I was a preemie so Mommy said they shouldn’t rush me.”

“I see.” Premature? That might explain… “Do you know what preemie means?”

“Grandma says I didn’t wanna wait my turn, just like always. My birthday was s’posed to be in March.” His eyes narrowed, turning shrewd. “I think I should get to have two birthdays, but Mommy said no, I only got born once and she should know ’cuz she was there.”

March. So Delon hadn’t knocked up some other girl while he was popping by Tori’s place for the occasional roll in the hay. Just immediately after she left, which only made her feel slightly better. And puzzled, because no matter how rushed or wild the sex, Delon had always been careful to the extreme when it came to condoms. Knowing his brother’s story, she understood why.

The door to the waiting room swung open and a couple walked in. The woman was tall, strong, both muscular and curvy with brown hair that just brushed her shoulders. Tori should have recognized her immediately, but she had no reason to expect to see that face here. When it clicked, it was like the cocking of a trigger, sending Tori’s defense mechanisms into red alert.

Violet Jacobs. The man held the door for her, the hand he curved around her waist blatantly possessive. Tori had only an instant to register that he was also familiar before Beni stuffed the video game into her hands and vaulted off the counter to fly across the room.

“Joe!” He grabbed the man’s arm and tugged. “I’ve been waiting and waiting to show you the new trick I can do on my trampoline. Can we go now?”

“As soon as we talk to your daddy.” Violet ran a practiced eye around the room, taking stock of the belongings Beni had scattered. “And you gather up your stuff. Where’s your game?”

Beni waved toward Tori. “Over there. Joe, when we get home can we—”

Beni’s voice was drowned by a roar in Tori’s ears, the whoosh and crackle of a fireball that started in her gut and billowed upward to consume her entire being. Violet fucking Jacobs. Beni’s mother. Delon’s so-called friend, girl most likely to have warned him away from Tori—for his own good, of course—and then, apparently, jumped him the minute she was out of the way.

Violet stepped forward, extending her hand with a polite smile. “Hi, I’m Violet. You must be—”

“That’s Tori,” Beni cut in. “She’s Daddy’s new therapist and she kicks a—I mean butt—at Guardians of the Sea.”

“I know your mother,” Tori said, spitting the words out like red-hot tacks.

Violet froze, her hand wavering in midair. Then her eyes widened and her arm dropped to her side. “Tori Patterson?”

“Yes.” Her voice hissed like a tongue of flame.

They stared at each other, the air buzzing with tension. Beth put one hand on the phone, as if to call for help in the event of a brawl, and even Beni had gone still, those sharp, dark eyes bouncing from one grownup to another. Joe’s shoulders tensed as he rocked onto his toes, ready to defend against a threat. Which was ridiculous. She had nothing on Violet. But her name meant something to Joe. And why did Violet look like she’d been whacked upside the head with a two-by-four?

Joe hooked an arm around Violet’s waist and pulled her back, his smile cautious as he slid into her place. “Joe Cassidy,” he said, offering the handshake Violet hadn’t been able to complete.

Tori shoved the video game into his outstretched hand instead, the flames licking her throat, her cheeks. Her voice, though, was ice cold.

“We’ve met, but I doubt you remember. My husband Willy was on rodeo committee at Cheyenne. We hauled you and Wyatt back to your hotel from the beer garden one night.” Tori sharpened her mouth into a razor-edged smile. “Much to the disappointment of the rest of the crowd, but Willy was afraid you would bring down the whole tent, doing that stripper routine with the poles.”

Joe shot a chagrined look at Violet. “Uh, yeah. That was right after Wyatt’s wife left him.” His expression went sober, his voice rough with sincere regret. “Aw, shit. You’re…you were Willy Hancock’s wife. I’m sorry. He was a great guy.”

“Yeah. He was.”

Tori had to work to take in air. After weeks of emptiness, her chest couldn’t expand to accommodate all the emotions flying around inside her. Silence fell again, stretched so thin by the tension in the small waiting area it felt as if the air might pop like a balloon if anyone dropped a word into it.

“Daddy!” Beni exclaimed. “Look! Joe’s here!”

Tori jerked her head around to find Delon standing behind her, in the open doorway to Beth’s office. His gaze was fixed on his son, the way Beni clung to Joe’s side, and for an instant there was something raw and vulnerable in his eyes. Then he blinked, and his stony mask slid into place. His gaze moved to Violet. Her shock had faded, but she couldn’t hide her dismay at the sight of Tori and Delon in such close proximity.

She attempted a smile. “We, um, thought we’d swing by here to pick Beni up. Save some time.”

Before Delon could reply, Tori fixed Violet with a long, deliberate stare, then let it slip down to Beni as she poured sugar into her drawl. “And Lord knows, you don’t waste any time.”

As she sidestepped Delon to leave, she fired him a look designed to skewer him straight through the guts. His eyes flinched away. Dammit. She couldn’t believe he had…with Violet…and…and…

She stomped back to her office and slammed into her chair. She’d been right on the money. Delon Sanchez wasn’t a nice guy at all.