The door to the ER opens, and a nurse with light brown hair in braids steps out. The three of us turn, and she looks at us, then directly at me. “Are you Bryn Myers?”
I nod.
“Your grandmother has been asking for you. You can comeback and see her now,” she says, holding the door open for me.
My world rights itself, my shoulders melting away from my ears.
She asked for me.
“It’s about time,” my mom says, stepping forward as though she’s the one who has been sitting here for hours.
The nurse’s eyes flicker to my mom, and she smiles politely. “One at a time, please. We don’t want to overwhelm her.”
My mom blinks at the woman, but my dad steps forward. “Would it be okay if I came? That’s my mom, and we’ve driven the last couple of hours to get here.”
The nurse assesses the situation, and from the way her eyes move between all of us, I can almost see her calculating if it’ll be a problem. “Sure. But only the two of you for now.”
Glancing in Wyatt’s direction as I follow the nurse, our gazes connect and the look he’s wearing has my stomach swirling with unease. Enraged. Nearly the same murderous look he wore the night in the bar when that asshole yelled at me. And I fear, as I leave him and my mother in the waiting room together, what might await me when I come back out.
Chapter 20
Wyatt
Howthefuckthewoman, now sitting across from me, can look like the woman I’ve taken on dates, but be so completely opposite her, is well past my level of comprehension. I’m completely flummoxed by what I witnessed. Bryn said they paraded her around, which given what I just saw I have no doubt about, but she also said they were lovely.
Her dad? Maybe. But this woman who, for whatever fucking reason, has sat across from me and down a chair? I’m not sure the word lovely lives in the same galaxy as her.
I itch to crack my knuckles. It’s not something I normally do—it’s a Beau thing—but there’s a lot of pent-up rage inside me right now, and that feels like one of the only constructive ways to get it out. Beating a wall probably wouldn’t go over well.
A million times I wanted to jump out of my seat as this woman came down on her daughter. Even if I didn’t know Bryn, I would have wanted to, but given the way I feel about her, it took everything—absolutely every ounce of self-control I possess—to sit by and listen. Watch.
The look on Bryn’s face when they first showed up told me there was no way I could say a word. Terrified wasn’t quite what I saw, but there was an element of fear shining in her red-rimmed eyes, a warning that needed no words. Stay put. Don’t talk. Let me deal with this.
“Ungrateful little shit.”
My eyes dart to Bryn’s mom. It’s only for a second, but it’s a second too long, because her eyes flick to mine. Nostrils flaring, lips curled in a sneer. Disgusted, resentful.
“Do you have kids?” she barks in my direction.
I blink, not expecting the question. Why is she talking to me? Fuck. Why did she choose to sit near me? There are other chairs available, other people to sit near.
She flips a hand. “Well?”
My teeth grind together, and I fill my lungs with air, smoothing out my facial features as I shake my head. “No, ma’am.”
A dark eyebrow lifts, and she gives me a once-over, seeming to reassess me. “Manners. Your mother seemed to teach you well. Unlike my child, who… a word of advice—”
“Unsolicited,” I mutter, but she doesn’t seem to hear me.
“—don’t have them. They’re ungrateful, don’t listen, and… do you know that child had the whole world ahead of her? Could have had everything she ever dreamed of. She was well on her way to becoming Miss America’s Teen.” She sits back in her seat with a huff. “She could have had any man she wanted. Been married with babies by now. But you know what she did instead?”
Cracking each knuckle on my left hand, one by one, with deliberate slowness to keep myself in check, I shake my head as the fury inside me builds.
“Cut off her gorgeous hair, snapped her beautiful teeth I bought her—you should see that awful front tooth of hers—and tore up her evening dress. Right before she went on stage! With her bare hands. Like some savage.”
I lean forward in my seat, my arms resting on my legs, hanging my head for a moment to find strength and some kind of guidance to deal with this woman. I’m torn between wanting to respectBryn and what she clearly wanted from me, and wanting to protect her and destroy this woman in front of me.
“I didn’t raise her to be some feral animal.”
