Free Fate Succumbs by Tammy Blackwell

“Everyone is fine.”
    “ Everyone?” I bit the
inside of my lip so hard I tasted blood. “The news said he was in
critical condition.”
    We were at a stop light, so Talley was able
to turn to look at me. After some consideration she said, “Can you
promise to not make a single sound?”
    I shook my head, but was truly confused
where this was heading until she punched some buttons on the
console. After a few seconds the pop music, which had been pouring
through the speakers, ceased and a trilling filled the car.
    He answered on the third ring.
    “ Hello?”
    “ Hey, Chuck! How are you
feeling?” To my knowledge Talley never called Charlie Chuck. In
fact, as far as I knew, I was the only person given that
honor.
    “ Talley?” He sounded weak.
Not zombified or sad, just not strong. Like maybe he wasn’t really
used to talking and needed a nap.
    “ Yep. It’s me. Jase and I
decided to head into Eastern Kentucky for the weekend. He needed
some air, and I wanted to look for bears.”
    Bears…?
    “ Did you find
one?”
    “ Two actually.”
    There was a rush of air over the speakers
and when Charlie spoke his voice was clenched. “And how were
they?”
    “ Good.” Talley spared me a
glance which I really wished she wouldn't do since she was
navigating an overly curvy road. “Really good. A little tired and
cranky, but they’re bears. They’re supposed to be tired and cranky,
right?”
    “ Cranky is exactly how I
like my bears.”
    With considerable effort, I swallowed my
giggle.
    “ Speaking of cranky bears,”
Talley said, “how is your therapy going? You’re not still giving
the physical therapists a hard time, are you?”
    Charlie was giving the physical therapists a
hard time? That didn’t sound like Charlie. Jase? Yes. I’ve actually
seen him go head-to-head with a trainer over a basketball injury,
but Charlie is usually more laid back.
    “ I’m not giving them a hard
time. I just don’t understand why we can’t go ahead and increase
what I’m doing if I’m ready. Anyway, they should want to push me harder.
The sooner I can walk, the sooner I can go home and get out of
their hair.”
    I gasped before I realized what I was doing,
causing Talley to shoot me a shut-the-heck-up look.
    “ Well, surely someone is
there to keep you in line,” she said, more for my benefit I think
than Charlie’s.
    “ Yes, Mama Talley. Bob and
Cory have been very good babysitters in your absence.” It sounded
patronizing and sarcastic, but both Talley and I knew he secretly
loved Talley’s overprotective, Mother Hen-like tendencies.
“Actually, Cory is waving hello to you right now.”
    If Cory the Canadian, an Alpha Pack
Taxiarho, was still around, either Liam was right about that whole
Charlie-is-beloved-by-the-Alpha-Pack thing, or he was being treated
to the same around-the-clock attention I enjoyed back in July. If
it was the second, I wondered how they kept the gun trained on
Charlie’s head without the nurses and doctors saying anything.
    “ Hey, Tal. You remember
that girl who quit high school and became a truck stop waitress? I
think her name was Flo?” Talley raised her eyebrows at me, and I
nodded. Leave it to Charlie to remember a random rant from a year
ago. “If you see her, tell her I miss her. A lot. Is she still
living with that guy?”
    “ I don’t think they’re
getting along too well, but yeah, they’re still
together.”
    “ Tell Flo to lay off him.
He’s a good guy. He’ll take care of her.”
    He’ll forget to tell her
that her brother didn’t really betray her and let her walk around
with a shattered heart for no good reason. That’s what he will do. Not a good guy. Not someone I want to
take care of me.
    Talley must have been able to see my
thoughts etched across my face. “You know, I can imagine what Flo
would say to that. I can’t tell you though, because I think it
would involve a lot of cuss words.”
    Charlie laughed and it was one of the single
most beautiful