Page 97 of Forever Mine
I brace myself because I know what’s coming.
“Hey.”
“Jesus Christ, Elijah?—”
I hold the phone away from my ear when his shout almost deafens me.
“Dad…”
More yelling.
“Dad…”
I wait for him to bluster out.
“I’m fine. Julien and I are fine.”
“I sure as hell am not fine. I’ll be there in a few hours.”
“You don’t have?—”
“Hold on… what?!” he yells at someone.
Lots of disjointed, static crackling. I look up when someone stops in the doorway to the room, and a tsunami of relief hits when I see that it’s Fallon.
“Elijah,” Dad says.
“I’m here.”
“As soon as Fallon gets there, tell him to call me.”
“He’s here.”
“Put him on.”
Dad’s clipped command has me frowning, but I hold my phone out to Fallon. “Dad wants to talk to you.”
Fallon moves to the opposite side of the room, his eyes never straying from me as he talks to Dad. I don’t know what Dad is saying because Fallon doesn’t say anything back. It must not be good because he abruptly walks out… with my phone.
“Fallon!”
I’m off the bed and in pursuit. The ER corridor is a buzz of activity. Medical staff and orderlies rush back and forth between rooms, but I focus on Fallon’s blond head. He starts talking to a woman in uniform, and I make a beeline for the nurse’s station, wanting to hear what’s being said.
Ryder intercepts me. “Jules is in room ten. Did they discharge you already?”
I switch gears, needing to see Julien more than I want to get my phone back.
“Not yet. Fallon is here.”
Ryder gently eases me out of the way of the foot traffic and guides me to a quieter corner.
His focus goes directly to the bandage above my eye. “Don’t try and placate me with a bunch of bullshit. How are you, really?”
A migraine makes itself known, and I rub circles on my temples to try and stave it off.
“Nothing a Band-Aid couldn’t fix,” I reply.
Ryder is usually the epitome of calm, but he keeps stealing uneasy glances toward the nurse’s station.
