“We need to get you to the hospital,” Joe said.
“I’m fine.”
“You’re not fine. We’re not even sure how long you’ve been out here. Did you leave yesterday?”
Yesterday… Yesterday I’d seen my real mother. Ruby had been with me. God…Ruby. I’d gone to her place. We’d made love…if I could even call it that. I’d damn near forced her. How could she ever forgive me? But she had. She’d gone with me to see Wendy. And Wendy had told me—
“Christ!” I stood, stumbling.
Jonah grabbed my arm. “Easy, Ry.”
“I got a phone call.”
“You remember something?” Talon asked.
“I got a phone call. From…Dad.”
“What?” Jonah nearly let me fall to the ground.
“At least he said it was Dad. He said, ‘Ryan, this is your father.’”
“Was it Dad’s voice?” Talon asked.
My mind was muddled, and my head felt like someone was jackhammering it. “I don’t know. I was going over a hundred miles an hour. I almost missed the vibration of my phone.”
“You answered the phone at that speed?” Joe looked toward the sky. “Jesus, Ry.”
“I know. I…wasn’t in my right mind.” I still wasn’t. I might never be in my right mind again.
“Ryan, think,” Talon said. “How long have you been out here? When did you leave?”
“I saw Wendy. Then I got home.”
“And?”
“I went on a drive.”
“Shit. You’ve been gone since yesterday. Did you spend the night out here?”
I had no idea. My head hurt like a mother. Had I spent the night out here?
“He’s been out here all night,” Joe said. “Look at him.”
“You’re lucky you didn’t freeze to death,” Talon said. “This time of year, the temperature can go either way. It was mild last night.”
Sweat emerged on my brow, yet I shivered. I looked from Joe’s face to Talon’s, to Joe’s again. Hair, jawline, eyes…so like my own.
Blurry. So blurry.
Then, blackness.
* * *
I opened my eyes, my body jiggling.
“What the fuck?”
“He’s awake,” Talon said from the front seat.