Page 13 of Single Mom’s Secret Diary (The Forbidden Reverse Harem Collection)

Ezra

I forget how small Avery is until they strap her to that stretcher. The ambulance swallows her up, and a paramedic asks me quietly, “Who’s coming with her?”

I want to go, but it’s smarter to have Wyatt ride with her.

He’s got the chocolates in his grip like they’re the answer to her salvation, and they could be.

I grab his shoulder, and he pulls out of his stupor.

“I need you to go with her. Help them figure out what happened. Make sure you keep them focused.”

Not that I don’t trust the paramedics or doctors, but it gives Wyatt a purpose to ground him. I can see the changes in his body language—protective and focused. He’ll make sure she’s safe.

I have phone calls to make, like the one to her father to tell him his daughter is on her way to the hospital. It’s a terrible duty to have, but I can’t pawn it off on anyone else. It’s my responsibility.

But that doesn’t mean I can stay behind. My phone is open as I jog to my Lexus.

I can’t tell if it’s a blessing or a curse that I get Dominick Caruso’s voicemail. After the beep, I tell him, “Mr. Caruso. This is Ezra Nguyen, Avery’s boss. We’ve had an incident, and an ambulance is taking her to the hospital. Please call me back so I can provide you with more details.”

And I’m behind the wheel, racing after the ambulance, my mind spinning on the unknowns of what’s happened, but also all of the possible ways I could lose Avery again.

When I make it to the hospital, I find Wyatt pacing the hallway beside the ER. He’s beside himself, guilt written all over him. He runs a hand down his face, through his hair. His arms fold and unfold, and he takes jagged steps.

“Hey.” I grab his arm and give him a little shake, making him stop in his tracks. Wyatt’s eyes focus on me. “Where is she? What’s going on?”

After a few blinks, he says, “They took her back. Told me to wait here since I’m not kin. I don’t know what happened. I made those myself. There’s nothing in them she’s allergic to. Nothing that should cause this reaction. Fuck. What if I’ve killed her?”

“Stop it. Don’t spin out of control before we know anything. She’ll be fine.” She has to be. “What were her symptoms?”

“Pale. Stomach ache, I’m guessing. She grabbed her stomach. Fainting. Seizing .” The last word is a whisper.

“But she was still breathing,” I remind him and myself.

“Yes. She was still breathing.” A small bit of clarity shines in his pale eyes, and he nods and squeezes his hands into fists.

“You’re not going to fall apart while I go check with the doctor, right?”

“Of course not.” He frowns, glowering at me like normal, so I smile at him.

“Good.” I march to the nurse’s desk and inquire about Avery, explaining that I’m her boss, something happened at my establishment, and I am responsible for her until her father arrives. This seems to sway her after a few seconds of prolonged eye contact.

“They’re running tests right now, Mr. Nguyen. She appears stable at the moment, but the doctor will be out to speak with you when he knows more.” Her sharp, no-nonsense brows lift as if to say, is that alright with you?

“Thank you.”

The nurse nods, and I walk back to Wyatt. “Time to play the waiting game.”

Or maybe not. Slicked back salt and pepper hair, a rough, tanned face, and the scowl that could only rival Avery’s appears in the ER’s doorway. He huffs inside, eyes scanning the place efficiently. It makes me step forward and regret that this is the first time I’ll meet her father.

He stomps forward, meeting Wyatt and me in the hallway away from the seating area. “Are you Ezra Nguyen?”

“Yes, sir. You must be Avery’s father.”

“What the hell has happened to my little girl? Who leaves that kind of message on a voicemail? Do you not know what that can do to my heart? Where is Avery?” Mr. Caruso’s face is red, and his hands are flailing from his wide gestures.

“Please. Mr. Caruso.”

“Dominick.” His voice is gruff, almost a growl as he properly looks at me, eyes narrowing like he might recognize me. Who knows what his daughter has said to him about me?

“She’s stable. They’re running tests. It seems to be something she’s eaten, although we’ve taken the greatest precautions to keep it from happening. Your daughter is an asset?—”

His lip curls.

“And she’s important to us. All of us. She’s become a part of our family, and we don't want anything to happen to her.” Especially since I’ve just gotten her back.

Dominick breathes heavily, like he might spray fire from his nostrils and burn us on the spot, but his gaze slides to Wyatt, who’s pale but steely. The hard swallow from my friend has its effect.

“It’s my fault,” he whispers, looking down the hall where she must have disappeared. “I checked and double-checked, but it wasn’t enough.”

That sobers Dominick. “Were you with her when it happened?”

Wyatt nods, meeting this man’s gaze with a near vacant sadness. “I made some chocolates especially for her. Things I thought she’d like based on her palate. She didn’t even get to try the mango chili one. That would have been her favorite.”

A renewed prickle of jealousy makes its way unbidden between my ribs, slithering like a poison to my heart. Wyatt has it bad.

I know that feeling with more exacting clarity than he might imagine.

“That would have been her favorite,” Dominick agrees.

A smile flashes over Wyatt’s face, and even though it’s gone as quickly as it comes, it’s a relief to see.

“I’ll take you to the nurses’ station to see if you can get more information than I did.” I gesture toward the desk and the nurse I’d just talked to minutes ago. She’s peering at us with squirrely eyes.

A bulky, black phone receiver is pinched between her shoulder and ear.

We step forward together, and she has her finger up at us before we settle against the counter. Then, she points, and a doctor in his white coat is sticking a pen back into his coat pocket as he walks up to us.

He’s Korean, mid-fifties, and has a reassuring smile, which he gives us now. “Avery Caruso’s family?”

“Yes.” Dominick clears his throat. “I’m her father.”

“We got the results, and we’ve given her potassium ferric hexacyanoferrate—Prussian blue.

She should be just fine, but she’s going to need to take it easy as she recovers.

We’re going to monitor her for the next couple of hours to be sure she can keep liquids down and that she responds to her meds, then you can take her home. ”

He smiles again, looking at the three of us in a silent bid for questions.

“Can we see her?”

“She’s pretty out of it, and will be for a while, but there’s no harm in going in to see her. One at a time, though.” He taps the chart in his hand to accentuate his point.

“We’ll go gather her things and get everything ready for her to go home.” Still, I linger, even if just to get a peek of her sleeping. Just to know she’s breathing.

“Come. I will give you my extra key and a list.” Dominick pats my shoulder and soldiers on behind the doctor toward her room.

Wyatt and I follow, and hovering in the doorway, I watch a bundled up Avery with breathing tubes in her nose and a monitor beeping with her heartbeat. An IV is in her hand. God, the sight breaks my heart.

Tears spill down Dominick’s cheeks as he goes to her, his big hand brushing her hair from her forehead in the most loving, fatherly gesture. He leans down to talk softly against the top of her head, and I’m shook by the sight of it.

I back out of the room and spot Ryder at the end of the hall as Wyatt peeks in at Avery. Meeting him halfway, I hold my hands up, knowing we left him behind in the hysteria. “She’s okay. They just told us. Her dad’s in with her.”

He drags his hand down his face and bends over at the waist. “Thank fucking God.”

The strain on my oldest friend is another blow for the day. They seem to keep coming, and I hope they’re done.

“I’m sorry for leaving you behind.”

Ryder shakes his head. “I can’t say I’d have been much better if our roles were swapped. But fuck, I had about fifteen heart attacks on the way over.”

“Go look in at her.” I wait for Dominick to come out. He’s dangling a key from his fingers and has resumed the deadly dad look.

“You care about my daughter.” It doesn’t sound like a question.

It still has an easy answer. “I do.”

“Then, you will take care of her. I will make a list.” And he does. Standing at the nurses’ station, he gives me her address, her favorite soup and candy, and even directions on how to draw her a bath with her finicky tub.

I try and fail not to laugh, but I’m off and only make it to her townhouse fifteen minutes before Dominick comes in with her. I’ve just put away some groceries and pulled back her sheets.

She moans lightly as he tucks her in.

He returns to me, hovering in her door. “Sophia and I have Charlie. You make sure she gets better. No leaving her alone. And you call me when she wakes up.”

“Yes, sir.”

Avery’s dad pats my cheek in mild threat and nods before he casts one last glance at his daughter and storms out the front door.

I pull a chair into her room from the kitchen and sit by her bedside, watching her sleep. My alarm goes off to give her medicine, so I go digging for it among the things I brought of hers from the office.

The bag from the drugstore is nestled into her purse, and a small notebook catches my eye. I’ve seen her writing furiously in that thing at the office. And she’s always quick to close it.

I take it out and set it on the nightstand beside her bed. It’s not difficult to get the medicine in her. She doesn’t move well on her own, but she’s coherent enough to swallow before slumping back into sleep.

For the next few minutes, I can’t help but stare at the notebook.

This is stupid. I’m being an asshole.

But I want to know what’s in there. I want to know what she’s writing about.

I sit there for another fifteen minutes, listening to the even keel of her breath before I break, slipping the notebook into my lap. Flipping it open to a random page, I spot my name.

So, is this for work or… No, it can’t be. Not when I see the word cock jump out at me.

I flip back to the beginning of that entry, the lines about me, Wyatt, and Ryder, how much tension has built between us. And then—then she delves into a full-blown fantasy of the three of us taking her together, all at once.

Fuck, it’s hot.