Page 96 of Filthy Player
None of it came.
“You okay with that?”
“No,” I whispered. “I’m not okay with any of this. And I can’t believe it happened. But God, does it make me a bitch to feel relieved she can’t hurt anyone anymore? I wouldn’t want that for her though.”
“Yeah, I know.” His voice was cold as steel and thick as molasses. I looked back at Beaux, jaw tight, muscle popping his jaw, one throbbing at the side of his neck and I reached for him, placed my hand at the muscle on his neck and held him tight.
“I want to go home.”
“Nurse said the doctor would be in here soon, and we’ll talk about it.”
Good. I was still exhausted. Not even sure what time it was or how many times I’d been woken up during the night to have my vitals checked, but I closed my eyes and laid back down.
“When I mean home, I mean yours.”
My voice was slow, thick with exhaustion, and as sleep pulled me back under, I barely heard him reply. “Good. Because that’s exactly where you’re going.”
***
When I woke up again, a nurse was pulling her stethoscope away from my inner elbow and my dad and Beaux were whispering to each other at the side of my bed.
I looked at the nurse first. “All good?”
“Seems that way. Doctor’s making his rounds so he should be in in a few moments. Need anything?”
“Ice water, please.”
“I’ll get it,” Beaux said, stepping from my dad to grab the large plastic cup next to my bed. “I need to stretch my legs.”
I didn’t want him to go. I liked him next to me. I liked hearing him tell me he loved me. That I was going to his place as home. I wanted him to be next to me.
“Maybe—”
“Hush,” he whispered, bending down and gently kissing me. “Your dad wants to talk to you. I’ll be back before the doctor gets here.”
“Dad?”
“Yeah, darlin’,” he said.
He wheeled himself over to me and Beaux gave me another kiss. “Be right back.”
“We need to talk,” Dad said, taking my hand with his good one. It struck me then how frail he was, and I didn’t think all of it was his strokes or being worried about me. He was just getting old.
I bit my lip and nodded. “Okay.”
“First, I need you to know how much I love you and how damn glad I am that you’re okay. When I got that call last night,” he paused, shook his head. My chest burned with emotion but I held it back, staying strong for him. “No dad should ever get that call, scared the hell out of me, sweetheart.”
“I’m going to be okay, Dad.”
“Yeah. And I’m thankful. But thinking of you, how much you’ve given up for me by giving up your job in Charlotte and moving home, taking over the garage, working two jobs, that’s not right.”
“I don’t regret it for a second.”
“Don’t care,” he said, and his voice was thick. Stern. My dad was rarely grouchy, and I pushed up as best I could on my hospital bed and took notice. “Talked to Melanie last night on the way home, and she and I, along with Beaux this morning, made some decisions.”
None of that sounded good. My pulse raced, the beeping of my monitors increased. My dad looked at them and back to me.
“Don’t get mad. But some things need to change and I needed Beaux’s help with some of it.”
