Page 73 of Keeping it Real

Too bad Brad wasn’t paying any attention to the doctor.“Huh-uh,” he replied before bursting into the trauma bay.“Get your fucking hand off my wife.”

Trent didn’t react.He kept his palm on Brooke’s jean-clad thigh.Brooke wasn’t as sanguine, however.She jumped from the gurney like a scared kitten.

“Brad.Jackson won’t wake up.”She launched herself at his broad chest only to have her husband shove her away.

“What did you do, Brooke?”He gave Jackson a shake.“Jackson!”he shouted.

The toddler didn’t stir.

Brad glared at his wife.“The kid was fine last night.”

Brooke looked over at Trent, as if seeking reinforcement, before straightening her spine and staring down her husband.“How would you know?You wouldn’t even help put him to bed.”

“He woke up later.You were passed out with the baby in our bed, as usual.”

“What time was this?”the doctor asked.“Did you notice anything different about him?”

“It was around eleven, I guess.He seemed fine.He just wanted a little daddy time.”

Brooke blanched.“You were playing video games.”

Brad shrugged.“Figured it was about time he learned.You’re turning him into a wuss with all your crap about being in touch with his feelings.”

“What did you give him?”Brooke’s voice had dropped several octaves.

Lori sucked in a shocked breath.Sheridan placed her palm on the helpless boy’s leg, still clad in Bluey pajamas.

“Were you using drugs at the time, Mr.Merriweather?”the doctor asked quietly.

“No!”Brad shouted.He shot an ugly look at his wife.Then at Lori.

“I have some medical marijuana from time to time to recover after a game.But that’s legal within the league.I’d never light up with my kid in the room, though.”

“The gummies, Brad.He would have thought they were candy.Tell me you didn’t have them out where he could see them.”

Brad blinked.Once.Twice.“I took a couple, yeah.But I told him I’d get him some candy today.”

Brooke was beginning to hyperventilate.

Lori asked the question that was on the tip of everyone’s tongue.“Did you leave Jackson alone in the room with the gummies at any time?”

“How does this concern you?”Brad barked.“This is a family matter.It’s bad enough you had to drag me out of a team meeting like a juvenile delinquent being sent to the principal’s office.”

“Answer the damn question, Brad!”Sheridan shouted.

He was about to turn on her too when he noticed all the eyes in the ED primed on the trauma bay, including those of a security guard positioned outside the bay door.Brad brushed both his hands over his head.

“I don’t know.I got up to take a piss once or twice.”

Brooke’s primal scream filled the bay as she flung herself at her husband and began pummeling him with her fists.“You bastard!If my child is brain-dead because of you, I’ll kill you!”

Trent waved off the security guard, pulling her off Brad and over to the other side of the gurney.The doctor was already on the phone to the lab telling them to run a tox screen on the urine sample.

“I want him out of here.”Brooke pointed toward the sliding door.“I don’t want him anywhere near my boys.”

“They’re my boys, too!”Brad looked around.“Where are you hiding August?That kid’s usually attached to you in some way or another.”

“That’s because he’s afraid of you!”Brooke shouted.