“Yeah, oh, sweetheart.” He spanked me three times hard, tears stung my eyes and I bit my lip to keep from crying out. We were in a hospital for Christ’s sake. He was spanking me, that asshole, not that I was protesting or disagreeing, shocked was more like it.
The door opened and our friends barged in like the dynamic duo. “Uh, we can come back if we’re interrupting anything.” I looked up half slung over Hunter’s lap into Damien’s smirking face and Kristen looking as shocked as I felt.
“Shut up, Demon.” Kristen slapped him hard against his chest, and internally I cheered yay for my bestie!
“He told her not to drive.” I couldn’t believe Kristen wasn’t on my side on this one. Damn traitor.
Damien crossed his arms over his chest, likely to protect himself for anymore unsolicited abuse from Kristen. “Hey, if you’re into that kinky shit, who am I to judge?”
Hunter helped me to stand up and cautiously rubbed my jean clad butt that was stinging fiercely. He leaned over so only I could hear his words. “I’m not done with you.”
I nodded, but I wasn’t in agreement. He wasn’t punishing me like that again, even if I did deserve it. “How?” I asked wondering how he even knew if I drove or not. He fished out his phone and held up a photo message sent to him from Evan Rooney.
That cop was an asshole. I was suddenly feeling Team Damien on this one.
“He should have pulled you over.” I didn’t need any favors from the town cop, I needed my dad to be okay, and I needed Hunter and me to be okay again, whatever that meant.
“Miss Bryant?” We all looked toward the doorway with the surgeon standing there.
“Yes, that’s me. My dad?”
“He’s going to be okay, but we need to talk.” That hopefulness I felt? It was back to being a pit of dread in my stomach again.
The surgeon lead us to another room, this one was more of a conference room and he waited until we all sat down and I nodded that it was okay for Hunter, Kristen, and Damien to stay. Hunter kneaded my shoulders and helped me to a seat in the room.
“How is he?” I asked letting Hunter drape his arm over my shoulder though my ass smarted in the seat. Kristen grabbed my hand and squeezed gently.
“Your father has a heart condition. It would seem he’s had it for some time, but has left it mostly untreated. Why is that, Miss Bryant?”
The news shocked me because we hadn’t discussed his health besides him consuming less salt and more vegetables since I’d come home. He’d been keeping more than the financial problems from me and now I wondered what else had been kept from me.
My gaze slid over to Hunter who was looking down at the table, his eyes fixated on the striations of fake wood that must have been pissing him off because it wasn’t something he could carve or mold with his capable hands. Hands that had held me, cared for me, and up until this moment, I hadn’t questioned if he lied to me.
So I asked the one direct question I could, “Hunter, did you know about this?”
I watched his throat bob in a swallow. It was his tell–the thing he did when he didn’t want to lie to me. The movement was so subtle and yet it brought back everything, especially that moment at prom right before he got ready to leave me and break my teenage heart. Now I was older, supposedly wiser and my grown up heart was fracturing all the same.
30
Hunter
“Daddy.” Taylor Jane catapulted over the table to get to her father’s room once the surgeon directed us outside into the hallway with directions up to the Cardiac floor. I followed closely behind to see how this was going to play itself out. The surgeon cautioned that Alan needed extensive rehab after his stroke and to take care of himself including his heart medications. Medications I was already paying for because the stubborn man wasn’t going to the pharmacy like he should and filling them as prescribed.
Taylor Jane continued to ignore my physical presence at her side and I couldn’t blame her. I didn’t say how much I had known about Alan’s condition, but she was smart enough to put the pieces together. Her father had been protecting her. I had been protecting her, but I was also the only safe person she could rail at right now with the unfairness of what we had both done. Resigned, I accepted this.
She was inside the room and with a dark glance in my direction I gave her space, but not enough to let her think I was leaving her here. I still was pissed about her driving here upset and that was a demon of my own to deal with.
Her father was groggy but slowly coming around which was good to see. “You look just like your mother,” he said and they hugged and cried while I stayed outside the room keeping the pair of misfits in line.
“So you knew about this?” Kristen poked me in the back. I had not only one female pissed at me, but the whole damn population of New Paltz by the time news of this got out. The saving grace was that I didn’t care for the opinions of others, just one stubborn blond who stole my heart.
“Stop it.” I grabbed her hand to make her quit with the jabs, but she was an evil woman.
“Did you?” Damien asked.
“I sort of found out a while ago.”
“How long is a while ago.” Kristen stood like a sentry her arms crossed over her chest.