Marty's Horrible, Terrible, Very Bad Day Read online

  Swallowing her emotions, Rocky made herself smile. “You know, in all the time I’ve been here, I don’t think we’ve been formally introduced.”

  He motioned her into their beautiful bedroom and patted the chair next to the bed. “Then allow me.” He took his wife’s hand in his, holding it to his lips. “Marty, honey, this is Rocky McNally. The woman who was supposed to cart you off to someplace I’m sure you would have been curious as all hell to see, but I’m damn glad you didn’t.”

  Rocky smiled at him again, tucking her arms to her chest. “It’s a pleasure, Marty, and can I say something here? You guys? You’re my idols. I’ve heard so much about you three. You’re a bunch of legends where I come from, and I can’t wait until you’re well enough to let me gush over all the amazing things you’ve done.”

  Keegan’s head fell between his shoulders, his chin touching his chest. “She’s pretty amazing, isn’t she? She’s the best accidental decision of my life.”

  “The amazing-est,” Rocky whispered, hoping her voice didn’t tremble. “Absolutely the amazing-est.”

  Shaking off his sadness, he lifted his tired eyes to meet hers. “Hey, listen. I know it’s been a rough couple of days for you, with your dad and all. You okay? Do you need anything?”

  She reached a hand out and placed it on his broad shoulders. “Everything’s fine. I’m fine, but you’re not fine. So listen, I’m up anyway—all night long. Why don’t you take a small break along with everyone else and let me sit with her. If that’s okay, I mean. I won’t leave her alone. Promise.”

  Keegan grabbed her hand then and gave it a hard squeeze before letting go. “You’re a good soul, Rocky McNally. No matter what happens with…” He paused and swallowed. “No matter what happens with us, with Hudson, you’ve always got a friend in me and mine. If you ever need anything, all you have to do is say the word and I’m there—we’re there.”

  She’d never experienced this kind of loyalty before, not even from Pepper…or, for that matter, her father. This ride-or-die mentality, and it warmed her heart to overflowing.

  Her heart clenched inside her chest. She liked these people so damn much. She liked everything they stood for, and she’d never forget her time with them.

  “You know what? Under normal circumstances I’d say thanks in a no-thanks sort of way, but when I say thank you this time, I mean it. No matter what happens, I’d like to stay in touch.”

  Keegan smiled wearily as he rose and whispered “always…” before he took three or four strong strides and left the room, leaving her alone with one of her idols.

  Taking Marty’s hand for the first time since this had all begun, Rocky squeezed it and closed her eyes, leaning forward to whisper in the werewolf’s ear. “You don’t know me, Marty, but my name is Rocky, and I’m a reaper. A grim reaper, and I guess I only know you through the stories people tell about you, and through your friends, but I want more than anything for you to live. I was the person who was supposed to take your soul, but I… I just couldn’t. You’re too important to the world—humans and paranormals alike.”

  As the life support machines rose and fell, as Marty’s chest rose with them, Rocky opened her eyes and gazed at this beautiful woman, so adored by so many, and sent a silent prayer into the universe.

  She didn’t know if prayer worked, but she was willing to give anything a shot at this point. “I swear to you, I swear on everything I have, which isn’t much, mind you, but I’ll swear on it anyway, I’m going to do whatever it takes to right this wrong. I just need you to keep fighting, Marty. Wherever you are, keep fighting, and I’ll keep fighting, too. Whatever has you in its clutches, fight it with every damn thing you have.”

  She sat that way for a long time, holding Marty’s hand, telling her all about her dilemma with Hudson, about her life, about what she liked to watch on TV and her favorite foods, until Greg came in and offered to relive her.

  As she left the opulent bedroom, even though Marty hadn’t spoken a word, Rocky somehow felt they’d shared something regardless.

  On her way to the bathroom to dry the sudden bout of tears she was having, Rocky heard Hudson’s warm, gravelly voice coming from Hollis’s gorgeous purple room.

  Just the sound of his voice stirred her heart, made her ache from head to toe. She wanted so much to talk to him. To explain why she’d avoided him, but clearly, he needed time to process what he’d remembered.

  And how could she blame him? They’d shared something incredible and intimate and she’d been acting as though he were nothing more than an inconvenience. Her only defense was she’d done it to protect him, to protect her father, but that didn’t change the pain in her heart or how much she wanted him—or the fact that their kiss had blindsided him.

  “Milady.” Hudson held up his teacup to Hollis and clinked the purple cup to hers before taking a sip.

  Rocky deciphered whatever was in the teacup was probably distasteful to Hudson’s taste buds, by the widening of his eyes when he took his first sip, but he swallowed whatever it was like a champ and smiled at the little girl, throwing the fluffy blue feathered boa over his shoulder. “How delightful!” he cooed in a fake British accent, taking another sip and making a fuss over choosing a sprinkle cookie.

  Little Hollis, an exact mini-me of Marty with hair down to her waist, batted her long eyelashes at him and giggled. “Do you really like it?”

  Straightening his floppy white hat with the yellow and purple flowers around the brim, he nodded. “It’s simply divine,” he twittered, followed by a devastatingly handsome smile.

  Hollis grinned at him and rose to pour some more then sat back down and cupped her face in her hands, giving him a thoughtful look. “Are you going to fix Mommy?”

  Hudson didn’t miss a beat, he kept right on smiling, his eyes bright. “I’m sure going to try, Hollis. I promise, I’m going to try as hard as I can.”

  Hollis looked down at her cup of tea, the fringe of her eyelashes brushing her cheeks. “I miss her a lot. She used to have tea with me all the time.”

  As a tear began to roll down her cheek, Hudson leaned forward and brushed it away with his gentle fingers. “And that makes you sad, right?”

  Hollis nodded her head, her long pigtails bobbing. “Uh-huh. Really, really sad.”

  Resting his elbows on his knees, Hudson said, “You know, Hollis, it’s okay to be sad. If you want to cry, or even if you want to be mad, it’s okay. I don’t mind a bit.”

  When Hollis looked up at him, her eyes swollen with unshed tears, Rocky thought for sure she’d die right there—that her heart would explode right from her chest.

  “Really? I try not to cry because I don’t want my aunties to see or for Mommy to hear or Daddy to be sad, too, but…”

  “But sometimes you just have to let it out or you’ll explode,” he replied, making a blowing-up motion with his fingers, giving her permission, the permission she so clearly needed to let it all go.

  And as she began to cry, Hudson rose from his teeny-tiny plastic purple and pink chair, knelt in front of her and wrapped his arms around her small frame. Hollis cried while he swayed back and forth until she was done.

  And when Hollis’s tears subsided, he wiped her tears with his boa, poured her some more tea and continued their tea party as if he wasn’t the most amazing man on the entire planet—and it made Rocky more determined than ever to figure out how to fix this terrible, horrible, very bad thing that had happened to him and Marty.

  Hudson made his way back to the kitchen after checking on Marty and his tea with Hollis, planning to make mention that maybe Hollis should see someone professionally about what was happening.

  There wasn’t a more loved little girl, of that much he was sure. She had a houseful of people who would die for her, but they weren’t experts when it came to the inner workings of the mind of a little girl whose mother was very sick and unable to communicate.

  He thought about that all while he poured himself a cup of coffee and fought t
o keep from thinking about his personal problem. Not the one about someone wanting him dead. He didn’t have a clue who wanted that, and he was so wrapped up in his guilt that Marty had allegedly become mixed up in this because of him, he couldn’t attack the issue rationally just yet.

  What he was really upset over was Rocky. That pull he felt toward her, that unreasonable, insane desire to kiss her without even knowing who she was, actually wasn’t unwarranted at all.

  In a sense, he did know her, and if the memories he’d had when she’ kissed him—the ones that had rushed through him like a tsunami—were even a small indication of what they’d shared, he felt cheated.

  Because even if it had only been one night, their conversation, their lovemaking, had spanned this invisible bridge between them, making it feel as though they’d known one another forever.

  And he just couldn’t shake that. It had been real. Vivid. And it had filled him up like nothing before.

  As angry as he was with her for not telling him who she was, what they’d meant to one another, now that he’d had a couple of days to process what he was feeling, he’d softened.

  Rationally, he realized she’d had no idea that kiss would jar his memory. But the kiss had rocked his world, had changed the game entirely, and now that he could see past his haze of anger and disappointment, he realized he wanted more. So much more, and he’d do whatever it took to make that happen.

  There had to be a way around this shunning, and he was going to find it—if she’d have him after he’d stormed off like a five-year-old.

  “What in all of fucking reincarnation is this shit?” Nina yelped from the living room, where he’d last seen her with her laptop.

  He hurried through the kitchen to the living room. “Nina? What’s up?”

  She held up her laptop. “You’re never gonna believe this shit—”

  “Niiinaaa!” Wanda screamed from the top of the stairs, making them both jump.

  “What the hell, Wanda?” Nina yelled back.

  Wanda’s footsteps sounded on the staircase as she hobbled into the living room as fast as her big belly would allow. “He’s got her!” she yelled, running for the door.

  Nina’s beautiful face went dark and her eyes went wide. “What the fuck are you talking about, Preggers?”

  “Someone just drove up in a dark sedan and threw Rocky inside!”

  Chapter 13

  Rocky’s breathing was strained due to the cloth stuffed in her mouth, and at first she fought it, but then she remembered a show she’d watched where the person had managed to get their tongue around the material and push it out of their mouth.

  Instantly, she began to push at the material, fighting her gag reflex while her mind raced

  As she managed to open her throbbing eye and get her bearings, Rocky strained against whatever held her in place.

  A chair. She was tied to a chair by some scratchy rope, she realized, as whatever she’d been drugged with began to subside, and she felt the hard surface beneath her butt.

  Shaking off the residual haze, Rocky really looked around for the first time, her eyes opening wide in horror.

  What in all of Michael Myers was this place?

  First, it smelled like someone had died and it looked like this was the place they’d done it. Second, there were tons of Bunsen burners and vials and…and…her father…

  Her father?

  Rocky squinted into the dark space, leaning forward as far as the rope that tied her to the chair allowed to get the lay of the land. The floor was goopy, with dust and debris mixed into the puddles scattered throughout the room. Old gurneys lie in clusters with dusty, torn sheets. IV poles long abandoned sat sprinkled throughout the room, and it was cold. So cold she could see the breath coming from her nostrils…

  And that was when she recognized where they were. The old psych ward the hospital intended to tear down and rebuild this year. She’d been on the cleanup crew for the fundraiser they’d held.

  Did it get any creepier?

  Finally, she managed to push the cloth from her mouth, spitting it out and calling into the dank room, “Daddy? Daddy, is that you?” she squeaked.

  There was some rustling before she heard, “Roxanne?”

  Using her weight, she tried to lift the chair with her knees and hop it toward the outline of her father. “Daddy! Oh my God, Dad, what did they do to you?”

  “Him. What he did to me.” Her father, usually so somber and stoic, neatly dressed and coiffed, coughed, and as her eyes adjusted further, she realized he was bound to a chair, too. “Who is he, Roxanne?” her father rasped.

  “Did a man take you, Dad? Are you sure it was a man?” she asked as she managed to get her chair even closer to his.

  “Yes. It was a man. The size of a Sherman tank,” he hacked out, blood spewing down his shirt. “He grabbed me just outside the house. Steamrolled me, he did. Plowed right into be, covered my mouth with something and knocked me out. When I woke up, I was here, wherever here is. Who is he?”

  Rocky could tell he had to push the words out, by the forced movement of his lips.

  If she got out of this alive, she was dead meat. He was never going to forgive her for whatever she was mixed up in…and she had a funny feeling it had to do with Marty’s reap.

  But she still couldn’t answer her father’s question. “I don’t know. I didn’t see anything either. One minute I was outside, just catching a breath of fresh air after a tough couple of days, the next, someone was drugging me and stuffing me into a car.”

  And then she explained her theory on what had happened to Marty and to Hudson, and how this kidnapping was likely connected.

  “Oh, Dad, I’m so sorry.”

  She knew what he was going to say before he said it. Don’t be sorry, Roxanne, be better.

  But he surprised her.

  “No, Muffin,” he groaned, his tone reflecting his state of misery. “I’m sorry. I don’t know what’s going on here, but I should have realized long ago how much you hate the reap. I wanted to call you after I left the other night. We shouldn’t part like that—so angry. Not ever, but…” He cleared his throat. “I’m proud of you, Roxanne. I’m proud of you for standing your ground about this Marty person, and even if I don’t always agree with you, I still love you.”

  Tears pricked her eyes. She’d waited all her life to hear words like that.

  “This reap was wrong, Dad. I tried to explain, and I know you don’t understand it all because it’s complicated, but I swear to you, it’s wrong.”

  Clinton let his chin fall to his chest, his voice gruff when he said, “I believe you, Muffin. I believe you. I’m sorry I didn’t listen.”

  Another tear slipped from her eye, making it sting. He hadn’t called her muffin in hundreds of years. Instantly, her heart clenched and contracted. “Do you mean that, Dad? Seriously?”

  “I mean it. If we… When we get out of here, we’ll talk. I’ll talk to whomever I have to and we’ll see if we can fix this. Find you something else to do besides collecting souls. I’ve been so wrong for so long…and I’m sorry.”

  Rocky made a snap decision then. If she was going to die, she wanted someone to know how she felt not just about hating the reap, but Hudson. The night they’d shared at the In Between was the night she’d fallen in love with him, and she wanted someone to know in case she didn’t have the chance to tell him herself.

  On a gulp, she whispered, “There’s more, Daddy. It’s not just about Marty. I…I think I’m in love…and it’s not with another reaper.”

  “The doctor?” he rasped.

  She blinked in surprise. “How did you know?”

  “Because when a man looks at you the way he did that night, it’s obvious. I don’t want to know where you met him, but I suspect it was at the In Between.” When she began to speak, he stopped her. “No! Don’t tell me, Roxanne. I don’t want to know the details about the rules you’ve broken.”

  Her heart glowed with Clinton’s words, but
there was more to consider, like the shunning—her father’s shunning. “I’ll be shunned if anyone finds out, and so will you. But worse, he could face punishment, too. I can’t let that happen.”

  “Not if you met him after you left your job as a soul escort and took a desk job…which I’m certain is when your meeting happened,” he suggested, his tone sly.

  “What?”

  His laughter gurgled from deep in his chest. “It’s a tough job to fill. No one likes paperwork, Roxanne, and I hear it’s piled high at Reaper Central. Why, it’s piled so high, I bet you could negotiate your terms of employment with them. I’d also lay bets they’re going to be very, very grateful you saved this woman Marty’s soul because she’s an immortal, and there could be big trouble if her soul’s taken by mistake. And I also bet when you negotiate, you could negotiate a nice doctor into your contract. No one has to know when you met him, Muffin.”

  For the first time in a very long time, she wanted to hug him. Hug him so hard, his eyes bulged from his head. As she wiggled her way even closer, she whispered, “I love you, Daddy.”

  “And I love you, Muffin.”

  Once Clinton came into clear view, Rocky had to fight not to gasp. He looked like he’d run into a brick wall. His nose was bleeding, his nostrils covered in dried blood, and he was missing a tooth. His knuckles were scraped and his jacket torn.

  “Oh God, Dad,” she whispered in fear. As she finally got close enough to him to lock their pinkies together and hold on for dear life, she asked, “I don’t understand why you’re mixed up in this!”

  “Insurance,” a voice she recognized said. “I brought your father for insurance. To ensure the doctor who’s so sweet on you would show up, and to make sure you’ll do what I’m going to ask of you, Miss McNally. Or your father dies.”

  Rocky felt like all the air had been sucked out of her lungs when her eyes met their captor’s.

  Seriously? Man, had he played her but good. But. Good.

  All of them, in fact.