“Let’s just say I never knew who the bigger diva in the relationship was, my brother or the girlfriend.”
Her mouth dropped. I winked at her just as Bella came and nudged Nakyra’s knee with her nose.
She glanced down at Bella. “You gotta go outside, girl?” Bella grew excited and turned toward the back of the house. “I’ll be back.” She stood and followed the excited dog.
While she was gone I pulled out my phone to check my notifications. After I left the warehouse and checked in with Ken, I detached myself from work for the day. Most of the day I spent at Bank Shot, catching up with Dylan and playing a few rounds of pool with him and the rest of his guys.
There were a few texts from a couple of girls I dealt with from time to time. One of them was a girl I frequently played with when I wasn’t at Scorpion.
I hadn’t bothered setting anything up with her before I left. I did some research. Since I didn’t know how long I was gonna be here, I needed to find a temporary club to attend. I had one in mind that was like Scorpion, but since I never stayed here longer than a couple of days I’d never bothered to join. Now it may be time to make it happen.
Chapter 6
Nakyra
My day-to-day routine had been the same for the past week. I spend most of my day at the hospital. Rome was still in a coma and showed no signs of waking up. His condition didn’t seem to be improving or getting worse. The doctors assured me things like this could take time due to how sensitive the brain was. It still had me on edge every time I came here and didn’t hear he was close to waking up.
“Hmph.” I grunted when my body collided with another.
My eyes shot up, startled. “Oh sorry, I was lost in my head and—” I started.
“You should really pay more attention to where you’re going!” the woman spat. Her eyes were swollen and red as if she had been crying. Her light cheeks were flushed. She turned her nose up and pushed past me, bumping my shoulder in the process.
“Bitch,” I mumbled, grabbing my shoulder and rubbing it. It was clear she had gotten some bad news and was upset but that didn’t give her the right to be rude.
Continuing down the hall to where Rome’s room was, I was confused seeing his mom being held by his dad while they spokewith the doctor. She looked upset and kept wiping her eyes with her handkerchief.
“What’s going on?” I asked, cautiously stepping into the room. I didn’t like how it felt inside. The air was suffocating and dreary, as if I was walking into a funeral or something.
Ignoring me, Deacon continued his conversation with the doctor. My jaw clenched and I stepped forward.
“I want the head of the department in here today! I don’t care if he’s out. It seems you’re incapable of making sure my son is taken care of properly and that won’t do. If we need to move him to a more efficient hospital, then that can be arranged too. You’re dismissed.” Deacon flicked his hand and curled Marisol into him more. Both faced Rome, giving the doctor their backs.
It was clear the doctor was upset but he didn’t put up a fight. He turned and made eye contact with me before stalking out of the room.
Not bothering to try and speak with the Thorntons, I followed the doctor.
“Excuse me, Doctor!” I called out, rushing up to him. He paused but didn’t turn around right away. “Can you explain what’s going on with my fiancé?”
This time the doctor gave me his attention. He wasn’t the normal doctor I saw coming in and out of the room so I wasn’t familiar with him.
“Mr. Thornton suffered a stroke last night due to an infection that caused his blood pressure to spike. We managed to get his blood pressure under control and started him on antibiotics.”
My chest tightened as he spoke.
“Is he okay?” I choked out.
“He’s not out of the danger zone, but he’s stable enough.” His voice lacked any emotion, as if he was discussing the weather. “If you’ll excuse me.” The doctor didn’t wait for me to say anything else before he turned and walked off.
I was stuck in place, processing what I’d just heard. If this was going on I wondered why I wasn’t notified right away. Suddenly my shock turned to anger. My body grew hot and my stomach knotted.
Spinning on my heels, I stormed back into Rome’s room.
“How come you didn’t call and let me know Rome had a stroke?” I blurted out the moment I stepped back in the room.
“We knew you would be here at some point today, so we saw no point,” Marisol answered, not bothering to give me eye contact.
“I’m his fiancée. That’s something I should have been called about immediately!” I poked myself in the chest as I spoke.
