AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The one closest to the computer looks at me with wide eyes and says, “Calm down, sir. Let me look.”
Fucking tell me to calm down!
“She’s here, but unless you’re family, you can’t go in there,” she says, looking a little scared of me and pointing to the door leading to the back.
“What room?”
“Sir, I’m paging her doctor...”
“What room!” I roar.
“Carter,” I hear.
I look over to see Declan signaling to me from the door. I quickly follow him through it and down a long hallway and to a room.
Taryn is sitting up in a bed, a large oxygen mask over her face. She looks groggy but smiles at me weakly. I rush over to her and fling back the covers, checking her for injuries.
“What are you doing?” she squeals.
Declan grabs my arm. “Stop. She’s not injured.”
“What happened?” I ask, evening out my breathing and trying to calm down now that I can see she’s alive and well.
She flops the covers back over her legs and adjusts herself in bed. “Carbon monoxide poisoning.”
My eyes bulge out of my head. “What! You give me that condo manager’s name right now, I’m gonna sue him—”
“I was at my mom’s,” she interrupts.
“Fuck!”
Declan lets go of my arm. “She’ll be fine, I talked to the doctor. She just needed a strong dose of CO2 and oxygen. She’ll be okay, bro.”
I blow out a breath and rake my fingers through my hair. “Thanks, man. Sorry. I’m just really freaked out.”
He pats me on the shoulder. “I’ll call you later.” He walks out of the room.
“Surprised to see you here,” she says quietly as I stand at the foot of her bed. “Come to drag me to work?”
“Stop it,” I say, pulling up a chair and scooting it next to her. “I’ve been out of my mind, Taryn. We had the perfect July Fourth and then I thought my life was falling apart. Why didn’t you just come to me? Talk to me?”
“I...” She starts, then stops.
“You didn’t have food poisoning, did you?” I ask.
She shakes her head and looks at her lap.
“I didn’t think so, otherwise, because you’re usually a kind and caring person, you would have called to check on me to make sure I wasn’t sick as well, since we ate at the same barbeque. I mean, you did tell Lisa you got food poisoning from the Fourth of July festivities. And of course I contacted Lincoln and was a little embarrassed to ask if anyone else was sick. Implying his food was—”
“I was avoiding you,” she blurts out.
My brows raise. “Why?”
She hesitates and being that my patience is already an unraveling thread away from snapping, I say, “Spit it out. What did I do?”
“A woman...” She clears her throat. “A woman came by to see me Tuesday night after you dropped me off after the fireworks. She... she... shit.” She rubs her hand across her forehead.
I’m becoming alarmed at her mention of a woman, and my anger ebbs a little. But I stay quiet, hoping the uncomfortable silence will get her to fill it with words because I feel like I know where this is headed.
