“You’re certainly welcome. I’m glad I was on duty tonight. Mrs. Langley is a very charming lady.”

“Yes, she is.” Winter was reassured by the doctor’s confident words.

“I’ll find a room for Mrs. Langley. You’re welcome to stay with her, Miss…?”

“Winter James,” she introduced herself.

“Any relation to Loker James?”

“He’s my husband.” Winter wondered how the doctor knew Viper.

“He’s Dr. Matthews’ grandson,” Aunt Shay explained.

Dr. Matthews not only worked at the hospital, but he was the town’s primary doctor. When you saw him around town, he always had a cigar clamped between his teeth. His grandson didn’t look like his grandfather, who was short and stocky.

“I’m sure he’s happy you decided to move to Treepoint.”

“No, he wants me to move back to Minnesota. I made him give up his cigars.”

“That must have been hard work.” Winter grinned.

Dr. Price shrugged. “I’m still working on it. I found one hidden in a box of cereal the other day.”

Winter smiled. “My mother used to hide her cigarettes in a box of oatmeal when I made her give up smoking.”

“Your mother sounds as stubborn as my grandfather.” The doctor signed a form a nurse gave him.

“She was,” Winter said sadly.

The doctor gave her a sympathetic glance. “I’ll leave you two alone. The nurse will take you to your room, Mrs. Langley. If you need anything, just let me know.”

“Thank you, Dr. Price.”

“It was nice meeting you, Winter. Mrs. Langley, I’ll see you in the morning.” He waved as he walked out of the room.

“I think he likes you.” Her aunt turned her head toward her after he left.

“Shh… He’ll hear you.” Winter shook her head.

As the orderly arrived to take her aunt to her room, Winter asked the nurse to give Beth Aunt Shay’s room number. It took an hour for her to get settled in. Finally, the nurse allowed Beth to come inside.

Winter stepped aside, letting the two women talk. When Viper and Razer came in, Winter slipped out of the room, unable to stay in the room with her husband.

She wandered to the end of the floor, dismally staring out the window. The choices she tried to put off when she’d found Sasha’s text messages would have to be dealt with now that she had seen Viper with Sasha in the gazebo, confirming the suspicions that had been hammering at her.

“Winter?”

She didn’t turn around as Viper came up behind her. She stared at his reflection in the window.

“We need to talk.”

“Yes, we do. Just not tonight. I can’t make any decisions on our marriage when I’m so worried about Aunt Shay.”

“There are no decisions to make.” Viper reached a hand over her shoulder, resting it on her breast. “You didn’t see what you thought you did.”

“Maybe not, but I did see the text messages she sent you. I’m not imagining those. I’m not imagining she wants you. All those are things that you should have put a stop to, and you didn’t!” she hissed, blushing from being caught going through his phone.

“Which text messages are you talking about?” Viper moved to her side.

Unable to hide her hurt, she tried to keep her voice low, so the hospital workers walking past couldn’t overhear their conservation. “The one where she was giving Moon a blowjob and told you she will keep you company when you get rid of me. What did she mean getting rid of me?”

“I had told Moon that I wanted to take you on a vacation, and Sasha overheard. She was only joking, that she could come back to Kentucky while we’re gone.”

“It wasn’t very damn funny to me.”

Viper’s somber attitude had her trying to get her anger under control.

“She didn’t text the picture to you; she texted it to me.”

“She shouldn’t have texted that picture to you!”

“She has a warped sense of humor. I saw it when I got out of the shower, and I deleted it as soon as I saw it. Pretty girl, watching a woman give a blowjob is nothing new to me. It only gets me hot when you’re sucking my dick.”

“Then you’re going to be taking a lot of cold showers. I’m staying at Aunt Shay’s until she feels better.”

“I think that’s a good idea. Aunt Shay will feel better with you there. Dr. Price talked to us while she was being taken to her room. He thinks the reason she’s losing weight isn’t only because of a medical reason. He’s worried she may be depressed.”

She had expected him to at least put up a token fight about her not coming back to the clubhouse, yet he didn’t. In the text message, Sasha had mentioned getting rid of her not going with Viper. Something wasn’t ringing true about his explanation. Each of their marriage vows was being shredded. She was afraid none would be left to hold on to.

“I do, too. I’ll ask Beth to pack me a suitcase. She can drop it off at Aunt Shay’s house. I know she’ll want to see her after she’s released from the hospital.”

The thought of having to see Sasha so soon after seeing Viper and her together was more than she could deal with right now. With the way she was feeling, she was likely to rip out her hair.

Winter wondered if Viper would find the skank attractive with a bald head.

“Afraid I’ll pack the wrong clothes?” His dark eyes studied her with a glint of humor.

“No, I’m afraid you’ll pack them all.”

7

Winter slept on a chair beside her aunt’s bedside, waking intermittently whenever she heard Aunt Shay call out her name.

“I’m here. I told you I’m staying. Go back to sleep.” Dragging the uncomfortable chair closer to the bed, she sat quietly until her aunt fell back to sleep. Then Winter fell asleep with her head resting on the bedrail.

Waking when the morning sun began filtering through the blinds, Winter straightened her aching back.

A nurse came into the room, throwing a sympathetic glance her way. “We gave her the potassium last night, so she will be much better today. If her blood work comes back normal, she can go home.”

Winter yawned. “She was restless last night. She couldn’t remember I was with her.” Lovingly, she brushed her aunt’s gray hair away from her face.

“When they get low on potassium, they can have hallucinations and heart palpitations. That’s why they thought Mrs. Langley was having a heart attack,” the nurse explained, as she checked her aunt’s vital signs. “Let her rest. The doctor will be in to see her before she’s released.”

“Thank you.”

The nurse left them alone. It was another hour before her aunt woke up, seeming more alert than the night before.

Winter stepped out into the hall to find coffee when an aid came in and offered to help Aunt Shay shower. The hallways were a bustle of activity as new patients were admitted and breakfast trays were passed out.

Winter went to the cafeteria, finding a small table, where she drank her coffee, giving the aid enough time to shower and dress her aunt.