Hearts and Aces (Kelsey's Burden Series Book 7) by Kaylie Hunter (dar e dil novel online reading txt) 📕

“Why does everyone look so freaked out?” Maggie asked, walking into the dining room. Maggie had showered and changed. Her make-up and hair were done to her normal perfection.

“Is that my dress?” I asked, looking at her outfit.

Maggie did a slow spin, swinging her hips back and forth. “I raided your closet. I needed something fabulous to wear to impress my new fake boyfriend.”

“Nailed it,” Bones said, earning himself a whap in the gut from Bridget.

Lisa pointed at Donovan. “Eyes anywhere but Maggie’s ass, Donovan!”

Donovan leaned back in his chair and stared up at the ceiling.

“Well?” Maggie asked. “What did I walk in on that looked so serious?”

“Alex can explain. Lisa, send Doc upstairs when he gets here. Anne, can you stall the kids?”

“We’ll handle it,” Anne answered before I started climbing the private stairs.

~*~*~

The door to the bedroom was open, and I heard Pops and Hattie laughing as Wild Card told some story in his slow-drawling cowboy voice. “I honestly don’t know if Kelsey can take anymore of Tweedle’s rainbows and sunshine shit. She was grinding her teeth so bad I thought she’d break a molar.”

I leaned against the wall and listened.

Hattie giggled. “Someone needs to warn Tweedle.”

“We’ve all tried,” Wild Card said. “She’s convinced she’ll win Kelsey over to her perky side.”

“Not my baby girl,” Pops said, chuckling. “She’s a fighter, not a cheerleader.”

“She’s definitely scrappy.” Wild Card laughed. “I don’t know how she keeps everything going. On top of everything else, she arranged for a client to come this weekend so she can prove the woman is faking her stalker. Maggie’s going to pretend to be the security guard’s girlfriend so Kelsey can see how the woman reacts.”

“Oh, I want to see that,” Hattie said.

“No can do,” Wild Card said, shaking his head. “Even if you were feeling well, Kelsey’s drawn a line at the highway. Only a handful of us are allowed to cross back and forth.”

“How did Jackson and Reggie end up on the other side?” Pops asked.

“Can’t say. It’s classified.”

“You can tell them,” I said, climbing the last two stairs and joining Wild Card on the other side of the bed. “I trust them not to say the wrong thing to the wrong person.”

“Good. Because I really wanted to tell them,” he said, laughing.

Wild Card explained how Jackson was pretending to be mad at me, but how he was really faking it to spy on Grady and Sebrina.

Hattie rolled her eyes. “Who else stayed on that side of the line?”

“Most weren’t given an option,” I answered. “Wayne chose to stay at Headquarters, which I expected.”

“I’m assuming Mr. Tyler made sure the security on this side understands that the order was not to shoot to kill?” Hattie asked.

“Yeah,” I said, laughing. “Tyler explained to everyone that the order to shoot Sebrina or Grady if they crossed meant to use a tranquilizer gun or wound them, not to shoot-shoot them.”

“Good.” Hattie nodded. “I’m surprised Wayne didn’t figure that out.”

“I’m glad he didn’t. Grady would’ve thought it suspicious if Wayne chose my side.”

“Am I interrupting?” Doc asked from the top of the stairs.

“Not if you’ve got answers for us,” Pops said, standing to shake Doc’s hand.

“I do, but first,” Doc said, turning to Hattie. “Do you want to talk in private?”

“Not necessary,” Hattie said, shaking her head.

“All right then,” Doc said, pulling a chair over from the small table. “I got the blood test results back.”

Wild Card laid his hand on top of mine. Pops was already holding Hattie’s.

“You have hypothyroidism by the looks of it. It’s perfectly treatable. In a nutshell, your thyroid isn’t getting the right amounts of hormones to the rest of your body.”

“How is it treated?” Pops asked.

“A simple pill. It might take a few weeks before she’s back in the swing of things. We’ll retest her blood every few weeks to make sure we have the dosage right, then after that we’ll test every six months.” Doc patted Hattie’s arm. “You’ll have to take the medication every day, likely for the rest of your life, but I assure you that once you’re feeling better, you won’t care. I already called the prescription into the pharmacy.”

“And next time,” I said, fake glaring at Hattie, “you won’t wait so long to tell us you’re feeling poorly.”

Hattie smiled at me. “Yes, sunshine.”

I shifted onto my hands and knees, leaning over to hug Hattie. “Don’t scare me like this ever again. I can take a lot of things, but worrying about something happening to you is too much.”

“I’ll do my best,” she said, patting my cheek.

I crawled over to the far edge of the bed to get up. “Do you feel up to having a few visitors while I go pick up your pills?”

“If everyone’s not too busy that would be nice. Should I go downstairs?”

“Nope,” Wild Card said, walking over to the top of the stairs. He whistled loudly and a dozen people, including the kids, ran up. “She needs to take a pill. That’s it. She’ll be back to her normal self in a few weeks.”

Everyone cheered as they converged on Hattie and Pops, climbing on top of the bed or taking their turns leaning over to hug her. I snuck out and down the stairs.

“I didn’t want to intrude,” Maggie said from the bottom of the stairs. “Seemed like a family moment.”

“She’s going to be fine. I’m heading to the pharmacy for the pills she needs.”

“Do you think it would be okay if I snuck upstairs?”

“Hattie would get a kick out of seeing you in that dress. Wild Card told her about your undercover assignment. She seemed disappointed she wouldn’t be able to witness it. Can you talk to Tech about