Sin City Baby

And I’m so glad his gut knew better than mine in that moment.

“Hello?” I asked.

“Kyra Lancaster?” the familiar voice asked.

“Yes? Who is this?”

“This is Dr. Alister, from the hospital. Do you remember me?”

Of course, I remembered him. That voice. Those eyes. He was the doctor that treated my mother up until her death.

“What’s happened?” I asked as I slid off Owen’s lap.

“It’s your father,” he said.

“What the fuck has happene

d to my father?” I asked.

I’d never seen Owen move so fast in all his life. He tucked himself into his pants and zipped himself up. He raked his hands through his hair before he threw the truck into reverse, skidding out onto the road while I tried to stuff my breasts back into my bra.

“He’s in the E.R., Kyra. Your father’s had a heart attack.”

CHAPTER SIXTEEN - OWEN

The moment I heard the word “doctor,” I knew exactly where the fuck we were headed. I gathered myself up and willed my dick to go down as I careened out onto the snowy road. I turned on my lights and wiped my windshield wipers, blowing cool air inside the truck as I tried to get our sex-tainted fog to clear from my windows.

And the moment Kyra dropped the phone, I reached over and held her hand.

I could feel her shaking. She wasn’t saying anything but I’d heard the doctor loud and clear from her phone. Mark had a heart attack and I knew Kyra was automatically blaming herself. Blaming herself for being with me instead of with her father. Blaming herself for indulging the idea of not picking up the phone in favor of my cock that I had ready just for her. I traced comforting circles along the top of her skin while I throttled it to the hospital and, all the while, she stayed silent.

We pulled into the parking lot and I pulled her into my lap before she could get out of the truck. She tried to wiggle away from me, tears forming at the crests of her eyes as I held her to my chest. I wrapped my arms around her and pressed kiss after kiss to her beautiful forehead and, finally, I felt her release herself into me.

“Calm down, Kyra,” I said gently. “Everything’s gonna be okay.”

“My father’s had a heart attack, Owen,” she said.

“I’ll call my brothers. They’re gonna wanna know. Then, we’ll go inside. Together.”

She sniffled into my neck as I grabbed my phone. One by one, I dialed my brothers and, one by one, I listened to them tell me they were on their way. I got out of the truck, holding her close to my body before I set her down onto her feet. She was unsteady, like someone had just knocked the wind out of her. The moment we got into the E.R., they let her go see him.

I heard her shriek before she started sobbing. I pushed past the doctors who were trying to hold me back, growling at them as I pushed them off to the side. Nothing was keeping me from Kyra right now. Not when she needed us the most.

I rounded the corner and gathered her off the floor as I took stock of Mark.

He was hooked up to oxygen with a flood of I.V.’s running in and out of his arms. He was completely unconscious, with drips and medicines being pumped into every inch of his body. The sight was startling and I felt Kyra turn herself into me and all I could do was continue pressing kisses into the top of her head while I held her tightly.

Kyra began crying massive heaving sobs into my chest. She soaked my shirt while the doctor talked to me, trying to get above her wailing. He told us Mark had a stroke and that the heart attack was because of the stress the stroke put on his system. The doctor said he would be recovering for months, if not years, and that we would have to wait in the waiting room until they could set up his room in the intensive care unit.

I scooped Kyra back up into my arms and cradled her close while she fisted my shirt and sobbed.

My brothers arrived one by one and, each time they did, I recounted what happened to Mark. They all gathered Kyra into their arms, peeling her from me. I didn’t want to let her go. I wanted to hold her and shield her from all of this. I wanted my steady breathing to prompt her to steady her own and each time they fucking passed her around, I got angrier and angrier.

But I knew she needed their support. I knew she needed us all right now.

“What am I gonna do?” Kyra asked breathlessly.

“We can’t answer that,” I said. “But whatever you choose, we’ll be here to support you. All of us. No matter what.”