Up in a Blaze by Alice Brown

together. Going up against his brother-in-law, and his whole group of good-doer cronies by himself was suicide. No, he needed some help. Luckily, it was never hard to find a few like-minded men who would join his cause. Yep, he grinned as a plan started to form in his head. Bring in a few and teach them a few of his tricks. Then send them out to do the dirty work. If they got caught, well, that was on them, not him. He would still be free and could always find replacements easy enough. First things first, find a way to Texas.

Chapter Three

     
    Cassandra woke hearing voices coming from another part of the house. She slowly stretched, enjoying the luxurious comfort of the soft bed. Recognizing Betty’s voice, she reluctantly crawled out of bed, almost wishing she hadn’t as she went to sit up and her ribs protested the movement.
    She breathed through the pain, sitting on the side of the bed, startled when a knock sounded at the door. Betty poked her head in. “Hey, hon, are you okay?” She opened the door and walked on in, being sure to close the door behind her.
    Betty walked over to the side of the bed. “Hon, I am so sorry this happened to you. I feel so bad. If I had any idea Gregory would come after you, I would have at least tried to talk you into coming here sooner.”
    Cassandra placed her hand on top of Betty’s, noticing it was rather cool. She wondered if she was running a fever herself because of the difference in body temperatures. “This is not your fault, hon. You can’t take responsibility for his actions.” She looked into her friend’s eyes, trying to convey that she didn’t hold her responsible. “Seriously, you can’t control what he does. This is on him, not you.”
    Betty gave her a relieved smile and a gentle hug. “Feel like coming out into the living room?”
    “Yeah, once I stand up, the pain eases. It’s just getting there that proves difficult,” Cassandra replied to her friend.
    Betty held out her arm for support, and soon the two of them were walking into the living room where Walter, Sissy, and Donte all sat around. Donte immediately stood and walked over to her, as if he wanted to do something to help but didn’t know what.
    His face looked like he was concentrating on trying to take on her pain, walking alongside of her, well, shuffling actually. She eased down on the first available seat she came to, which happened to be the sofa. “Do you need something for pain?” Donte asked solicitously.
    “Not right now. I probably should try to put a bit of food in my system before I take any more of those painkillers.” Her ribs were definitely telling her it was time to take medication, but she wasn’t going to do that on a dead-empty stomach and pass out in front of everyone. She could just deal with the pain for a little while.
    Betty reached down on the floor and picked up a couple of bags. “Well, we remembered after we left that you had pretty much shown up here with nothing, and Donte tends not to cook a lot. So we went shopping. I picked you up some toiletry items and a couple of sets of clothes. Then we headed over to the grocery store to pick up some food for you.”
    Cassandra stared wide eyed at her friend for a second, just now realizing she had been whisked straight out of the hospital, onto a private jet, and flown several states away without much more than her purse. Geez, the painkillers must be messing with her mind a lot more than she thought. Thankfully, Betty was thinking with a straight head and had made sure she was taken care of.
    Betty handed over the bags to her friend. “Thank you,” Cassandra stated graciously. What in the world she would have done without her friend’s help she didn’t know. She peeked into the bags and spotted what looked to be several shirts, pants, one skirt, and undergarments. She glanced back up at her friend and gave her an appreciative grin.
    Donte walked into the room carrying a plate and glass. “Here, sweetheart, I