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“I’ll speak to you soon.”
“Okay.”
The line went dead.
It wasn’t that long ago that the only people in my life I had to call were Teague, Beau, and Daniel. Their voices hardly ever held the excitement Eric’s did . . . like I was someone worthy. Like his entire day was better because we’d talked.
I hadn’t thought I needed that sort of affirmation. Turned out I liked it.
If I could have anything at this very moment, it would be strawberry ice cream on the sofa with a woman in a cotton ball sweatshirt, a guy who made the best of any situation, and two demanding dog-treat hogs.
I’d stopped looking forward to anything. There was a certain value to living in the moment I wouldn’t give up, but the possibility of a future that was better than today was . . . something that had seemed out of reach.
Now I had a reason to do my damnedest to stay out of jail. A reason to think beyond today, beyond Teague and Beau’s happiness.
What if I could be happy too?
Or at least try to be.
I wasn’t entirely sure what that looked like, but lately I’d had a better idea. And peeling carrots would’ve never occurred to me.
Was it selfish of me to think of these things while Lexie was lying unconscious just down the hall?
If anything happened to her—I couldn’t think of that. Couldn’t understand the unsettled feeling it brought.
Sure, I’d been concerned for Teague every time he went into a burning building. And I worried for Beau being alone so far away from home. Those things had kept me up at night on more than one occasion.
But this . . . the helplessness. The desperation.
It had been festering for hours. I was used to high stress situations, but none of them compared to waiting in a hospital with bated breath for Lexie to return to me.
I was completely at the mercy of the medical staff and a higher power I was more than willing to beg to save her.
The only person to ever control me had been my father. Now I seemed to be nothing but a puppet.
“Want a cup of coffee?” One appeared in front of me.
I turned and shook my head at Daniel. “No. Thanks.”
“My contact reached his person inside the department. The other inmates say Lexie was just standing there, almost in a trance. She screamed, then passed out. No one touched her, though I’d suggest a drug test to rule out that possibility too.”
I’d seen her like that once before. She’d had a panic attack, and I’d been there for her to lean on. She hadn’t wanted me then.
Did she want me now?
I cleared my throat. “I’ll speak to the doctor.”
Father strode over and slung an arm over my shoulder. “You okay?”
I hated the show for the outside world. He was the caring father. The best friend.
I scowled.
The asshole.
Did he honestly believe Daniel and Zegas didn’t see right through his act?
When I didn’t answer quickly enough for his liking, he squeezed my shoulderhard.
