Bluegrass Undercover (Bluegrass Brothers)

come in?”
    “Sure. But, it’s pretty late and you need your sleep.”
    “Would you stay the night?” Annie bit down on the right corner of her lower lip. She knew it was a big step, but it was a step she was ready to take. Cade would chase away any nightmares she might have.
    “I would love to. Come on, let’s go insideall. Let me take care of you tonight.” Annie walked inside, her cheek throbbing, her side aching, but she had never felt better.

Chapter Sixteen
     
    Annie tried to roll out of bed, but the sharp pain froze her in mid movement. The pain was from the bruised rib. When she moved a certain way, it felt as if someone was hitting her rib with a chisel.
    She closed her eyes and took a deep breath to force her muscles to relax. She swung her feet off the side of the bed and quickly stood, a hiss of breath escaping from between her teeth.
    Cade had made her see a doctor on Saturday after they woke up. The doc said that by Wednesday the pain would decrease and in a couple of weeks would be gone altogether. It couldn’t happen soon enough-- she hated not being one hundred percent.
    All weekend Cade had stayed with her. She had fallen asleep in his arms every night, and he had chased away all the bad memories that used to visit her in her sleep. But, it was time for her to do her own job. She had a meeting with Austin Colby that she didn’t want to be late for.
     
    Cade walked down the hall and couldn’t stop the grin from appearing on his face. He’d never been so excited to get to school before, but this weekend had been nothing short of amazing.
    “Hey, Coach.”
    “Hi, Austin. You’re here early. Don’t you normally run in while the bell is sounding?”
    “I had a meeting with Miss Hill.”
    “You did? How did it go?” Annie had failed to mention this meeting when he had left her after dinner last night.
    “Good. We went over my classes and talked about football. I’m really excited for Senior Night. I’m ready to show them what we can do.”
    “The team needs a leader, Austin. Trey can only do so much. If you help him, you all could go really far.”
    “We already thought of that. I talked to Trey on Saturday, and we’re having lunch together today to come up with a game plan to keep everyone motivated.” Who was this kid? Cade wasn’t going to complain though. “I better get to homeroom. See ya' at practice, Coach.”
    Cade nodded and headed to Annie’s office. Maybe she’d have found something out. Her door was open and he rapped his knuckles lightly on the window in the center of the door. Annie was at the filing cabinet with her back to him, and he watched as she slowly straightened. She was still be in a lot of pain.
    “Hey, Sparky. How are you feeling this morning?”
    “Still hurts, but the more I move around the better it gets.”
    “Make sure you take it easy. I’ll bring over some stuff the trainer uses on the players tonight and maybe that will help some.” He hated seeing her slowed down in any way. She was always so sure of herself and her movements that it seemed strange to see her hesitate in any way.
    “Thanks. I’m willing to try anything.” She slowly made her way to the door and stopped next to him to watch the kids hanging out by their lockers talking before the bell rang.
    “How did your meeting go this morning?”
    “Good. I tried to get some info out of him but got nothing. He’s clean though. I could tell. He wasn’t sweating , his pulse wasn’t jumping, his eyes were clear. It will take another week or so to get it all out of his system, but at least he’s stopped taking it. I’m hoping that when he’s fully clean he’ll change his mind and talk to you or me about it.”
    Cade heard the bell ring and watched as the kids started to slam their lockers and head for homeroom. He glanced down at Annie and knew if she looked up she’d see the wicked glint in his eye.
    “Well, I better get to class.” He leaned down and kissed her lips. For a moment he forgot where he was as he deepened the kiss. It would be impossible for him not to. Her lips were made for him to kiss.
    Whistles brought him back to reality, and he reluctantly broke off the kiss. He heard Annie groan and turn back into her office. Looking over his shoulder, he saw the students who had been so frantically getting to homeroom all staring at him instead.
    “Have a good day, Sparky.” He gave Annie a wink and then turned to his audience, “Aren’t you all late?” With