Page 87 of One Shameless Weekend

Something is wrong.

I cut a glance at Dalton, who’s seated right next to the place where I left my phone. He glances at the phone and back at me, then raises one bushy eyebrow.

I don’t have a choice.

I clear my throat again, smoothing my tie down the length of my torso, and approach Dalton.

“I’m going to let Dalton take over for a second,” I say to the group, who honestly couldn’t care less by the looks of them.

But Dalton cares. Dalton isseething.

And he can go ahead and seethe.

I set the laser pointer on the table next to him, pick up my phone, and march out of the room.

“Elle. What’s wrong?”

“Colin.” A sob bursts out of her, and every nerve in my body stands on end. “I need you.”

“What happened?”

“I… I… I…”She’s hyperventilating and hiccupping.

“Elle,” I say calmly. “Try to take a deep breath, honey.”

I’ve literally never called her such a thing, but it rolls off my tongue on pure reflex and feels completely natural.

The deep breath she attempts is downright pitiful. “I’m bleeding. Something’s wrong. I need you. I need to go to the doctor.” My gut hits the floor, and she sucks in another breath before sobbing out more words. “If this is what I think it is,I need youtobe here.”

“Are you at work or at your place?”

“I’m at home.”

“Okay, I’m coming right now.” I catch Dalton’s gaze through the glass and point emphatically down the hall. “I’ll be there in fifteen minutes or less.”

“Okay… okay… okay…”

Dalton appears to excuse himself and then marches toward the door, and I’m going to allow him all of three second to get on my ass about this before I walk away. “Just try to breathe and maybe lie down. I’m on my way.”

“Okay.”

I end the call just as Dalton steps into the hall and closes the door.

“Youcannotbe serious right now, Colin,” he hisses under his breath. “You were literally mid-sentence in the middle of a meeting.”

“I have a—”

“Yes, Iknow,” he snaps. “Afamily emergency. You have morefamily emergenciesthan anyone who’s ever worked for me in myentire life.”

“I’m sorry, Dal—”

He thrusts his index finger toward my face. “If you leave right now, you will not have a job tomorrow.”

My eyes shift.

It suddenly strikes me as laughable how much I used to fear exactly this situation. But somehow, right now, I feel relieved.

He’s already spent the three seconds I allocated to him, so I nod. “Understood.” I clap his shoulder before stepping around him. “It’s been a real pleasure.”