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I couldn’t get to her fast enough if something had happened to her dad. She’d need me right fucking now.
“He had a stroke.” She let out another sob. “Mom called me. They’re at the hospital.”
He wasn’t dead. He could live after a stroke.
“Okay, listen. I’m coming. Do not try to drive like this.” I was already at the door, about to leave.
“You’re leaving? Seriously?” Echo asked from behind me.
I turned and glared at her. Making it clear that she needed to shut the fuck up. Genesis did not need to hear her. Then, I swung open the door and left.
“Quinn is driving me. We are already on the road. Just meet me there. Please. Go check on Mom. She’s alone.”
“I am getting on my bike now. I’ll be there with her. Tell Quinn to drive carefully. I’ve got this,” I assured her.
She sniffled this time, and I seemed to calm down. I wished I had driven a car so I could keep talking to her. The bike would make that impossible.
“Thank you. I’m sorry if you were busy.”
I winced. She’d heard Echo. Dammit! Not that she didn’t know I fucked around. She knew me better than anyone. It was just that it felt wrong—her hearing the woman I was with when she was so upset and needed me.
“I’m never too busy for you. You know that, Baby Doll. Never.”
Her breathing was stuttered, as if she was trying not to cry some more. “Tell Mom I love her, and I love you too.”
I threw my leg over the Harley. I’d finally paid Huck the last payment on it and could call it mine. “Love you, Baby Doll.”
When I ended the call, I slipped my phone into my pocket, then took off to the hospital in Ocala. This was not the way I wanted to get Genesis home or how I wanted to see her, but, damn, knowing she’d be here soon did feel good. Nothing could happen to her dad though. It would destroy her.
That stupid piece of shit who had broken up with her was left back there while I was here to make sure my girl would be okay.
I stood, looking out over the lit parking lot from the window of the waiting room. Alice, Genesis’s mom, had finally been allowed to see her dad, Theo.
Alice had been so relieved when she saw me that she threw her arms around my neck and wept. It had been heartbreaking. Growing up, I had known my parents didn’t care much for each other, but I’d gotten to watch Alice and Theo. It had always made me happy to know that Genesis had them. That she got to experience having two parents who loved each other. They were good people.
“Kye!” Genesis’s voice called, and I spun around as she came rushing into the waiting room. Her eyes were red and swollen from crying as she made her way to me. “Where is Mom? Is Dad okay? What have they said?” She shot off her questions frantically.
I cupped her face in my hands, hating to see how much crying she’d done. “Your mom got to go see him, but just for a moment. He has to go into surgery now that they have the bleeding under control. The doctor called it a hemorrhagic stroke. He had an aneurysm burst. They are going to have to go in and repair the broken blood vessel. But that’s the good news. That they can repair it and get to it.”
She pressed her face to my chest and sucked in a deep breath. I wrapped my arms around her just as Quinn entered the room.
“What happened?” she asked in a whisper. Her eyes went from the back of Genesis’s head to meet my eyes.
“He’s going to be okay. He’s got to have surgery to repair the blood vessel that ruptured. Alice is with him now, but the doctor said she’d only get to see him a few minutes.”
Quinn’s shoulders sagged in relief, and the worry in her gaze as she looked back at Genesis was clear. She called herself the backup best friend, and she fucking was. She wasn’t taking my place. But I was thankful Genesis had her.
I looked back down at Genesis and held her tighter. “What can I get you? Have you eaten anything?” I asked her.
She sniffled and shook her head, then turned her head to lay her cheek against my chest. “No. I can’t eat.”
“Thirsty?” I asked.
She didn’t respond at first, then finally nodded. “Yeah. Water would be good.”
Quinn held up a hand. “I’ll get it. That’s the calmest she’s been since she got the call. Keep doing whatever it is you’re doing. I’ll go get us all water.”
I nodded. “Thanks.”
She turned and left the room. I ran my hand over her back, trying to soothe her any way I could.
