Page 45 of Inside Silence

Brenda chuckles as she hands me the check she’s been writing. “Trust me, I know what you mean. My guys are a little older than your daughter, but I’ve been turning to them for years for any issues I have with my phone, or my computer or even TV. And it’s not that I’m clueless, but technology changes at a pace I can’t seem to keep up with. It seems so effortless for them.”

“I hear you. Anyway, thanks for this.” I hold up the check. “I appreciate you picking a virtual stranger to do the job.”

She waves me off. “I should be thanking you. My husband, Jim, kept saying he was gonna do it, but he’s been on the road almost nonstop this past year, and I got tired of waiting. It helped your price was reasonable.”

She follows me as I head for the front door.

“Glad I was able to help.” I turn and grin at her. “And feel free to recommend me if you hear anyone is looking to get some work done.”

She studies me, her head slightly tilted to one side. “Actually, I may have someone in mind. They bought an older house a few years ago they were going to do some work on themselves, but I guess life got busy. I’ll put a bug in their ear.”

“Appreciate it.”

Half an hour later I’m at home, putting the tools away in my garage when I hear movement behind me, but before I have a chance to turn around, something hits me in the back of the head, knocking me to the ground.

My face hits the concrete floor hard and the pain is intense. I hear footsteps approaching and try to push up, but my body won’t cooperate. Then a growling voice sounds right above me, cutting through the black fog that’s closing in on me.

“You should’ve stayed away.”

The next voice I hear is Tatum’s.

“Daddy. Oh my God, are you okay? Dad?”

It fucking hurts when I try to open my eyes, and all I see is a blurred shape leaning in. After a few blinks Tate’s face comes into focus, tears running down her cheeks.

My poor girl. After what happened with her mother, this must scare her.

“I’m okay,” I reassure her in a raspy voice.

To be honest, I’m not sure I’m okay. My ears are ringing, my eyeballs are throbbing, and my head feels like it’s caught in a vise and someone is turning the wheel. When I try to push up off the floor, the pain is intense and a wave of nausea hits me suddenly, forcing me to drop back to the ground. Pressing my cheek against the cold concrete, I suck in air through my nose.

“I called 911,” I hear a man’s voice I don’t recognize. “Don’t move, an ambulance is on the way.”

Not moving won’t be a problem.

Chapter 14

Nate

* * *

“What the hell, Nate?”

My head automatically swings around at Savvy’s voice, and I realize immediately that isn’t a good idea when I have to resist the urge to puke. Still, I manage to notice her pretty face is pale and her hand is trembling when she reaches out to grab mine.

“Brenda tracked me down and told me. What happened?”

At this point everything is a bit of a blur. I’ve had questions of my own no one seems able to answer, like where my daughter went. I know I’m in the hospital, but she didn’t come with me in the ambulance and I haven’t seen her since I got here. Of course, I was poked and prodded before getting sent for X-rays and a scan, and I’ve been in this small cubby hole of a room, hooked up to machines, waiting for someone to come so I could find out where she’s gone.

“Have you seen Tatum?” I ask instead of answering her question.

“Yeah, she is in the waiting room with KC. He drove her here.”

“Who the fuck is KC?”

I pull my hand from hers and try to sit up, but she unceremoniously shoves me back down in bed.

“Don’t you dare move. Dana said I could see you but she’s gonna kick me out if I upset you.”