Page 55

Except I didn’t. I just didn’t see how dragging people out of bed in the middle of the night was going to solve anything. Was I right or wrong? An hour wouldn’t likely make a difference—but if wewaited until the picture was clearer, it would give the family enough information to know if they had to rush home or if Chris was going to be okay.

As we came into a more populated area of the town, the GPS directed us to turn several times. Demetrius followed the instructions as I continued to work my phone.

“I’ll drop you off at the Emergency entrance and go park. Do you want me to come in?” His deep voice soothed me.

The GPS directed this last turn onto the street with the hospital.

“You might as well come in. No point staying in the car.” I checked for messages one final time, then watched as he turned right.

“Well, if Cody’s driving, you could get a ride back to your SUV with him.”

“Oh.” Well, that was something I hadn’t considered. “But Cody’s going to know someone brought me. If he asks, I can’t lie.”

“I wouldn’t ask you to. But he might not inquire.”

My wry laughter filled the minivan. “There’s no way Cody’s not going to ask me how I got here. He’s whip-smart. He’s one of those people who can take in dozens of data points at once and sort them quickly. I’m someone who can only handle a couple at a time, and it takes me a long time to make a decision. Great for a financial analyst—not so much for handling crises.”

“Okay first, that’s kind of bullshit. You process things differently, and I’m quite certain you’re normally great in a crisis.”

Silence. I had no way to answer that.

“The circumstances tonight were what threw you off. If you’d been at the camp, you would’ve done things brilliantly. I doubt you worked in Nova Scotia for five years and nothing ever went wrong.”

“It did.” A taddefensive.

“You were off your game.” He signaled to turn into the entrance to the hospital. “You’d just had an orgasm.”

“Jesus, do you have to be so blunt?”

“Jai, I’ve always been this blunt. I’m just saying you need to cut yourself some slack. You’re not Cody. He’s not you. Chris is lucky both of you will be here. Oh, there’s the entrance.” He pulled to the spot closest to the massive emergency sign. “Now, I can head back—”

“Please come in.”

“Okay. I’ll see you in a couple of minutes.”

I hopped out and strode into the emergency room, ready to deal with whatever was coming next.

Chapter Sixteen

Demetrius

Taking a deep breath, I scoped out the closest parking space. Within a couple of minutes, I was at the machine entering my license plate number and tapping my credit card. On impulse, I paid for twelve hours. If I didn’t use it, that was okay. Basically, the money would go to the hospital anyway, which was good for them. I could afford the usurious amount required just to give my beloved minivan a spot.

When I entered the ER, I was prepared to go to the front desk, but Cody approached me.

“Jai said you’d be coming. He’s showing the paperwork to the administrator. Hopefully that will get him in with Chris.”

I nodded.

He pointed to a couple of empty chairs, and we moved to them.

“How is Chris?” I winced. “Sorry, none of my business.”

“I can tell you they were okay when the ambulance took them away. The epinephrine worked. But they needed to get checked out.”

“Sure.”

Cody winced. “But the paramedics weren’t happy with nonbinary.”