Riot novel · Chapter 17 of 24

Chapter 17: Bex's Terms

Rhys's POV

I found Bex at seven in the morning in the hospital cafeteria.

She was at the end of her night shift, eating scrambled eggs out of a foam box.

She saw me coming and did not stop chewing.

"If you're here to buy me off," she said, "I take cash."

"I'm here to ask for your terms."

She put down the fork.

"My terms."

"Joss won't take anything from me, and you're the person she listens to. I'd like to know what I have to do."

Bex looked at me for a long time over the eggs.

She was five foot eight and wore scrubs with cartoon cats on them, and I had never been so afraid of anyone.

"One," she said, holding up a finger. "No gifts bigger than a sandwich. Not a crib, not a car, not a building."

"Understood."

"Two. She tells you when the checkups are, and you show up early with your phone off."

"Yes."

"Three." The finger wagged. "You tell her everything, the day you know it."

"Even at night?"

"If you find out something nasty about your mother at midnight, you wake her up."

"Yes."

"Four." She leaned in. "If you ever call her a name in front of a room again, I will put the mop where you'll need surgery to find it."

I almost smiled.

"I believe you," I said.

"Good. You should." She picked the fork back up.

"She almost didn't forgive you the first time. You don't get a second round."

"I know."

"Do you know what she said in the car last night?" Bex said. "'He said all right.' Four times."

"Is that bad?"

"It's the best thing you've done." She pointed the fork at my chest.

"Do it again, and don't turn it into a boardroom."

I thanked her.

She told me to leave before her eggs got cold.

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