Chapter Seven
I woke up the next morning sore with pleasure. My heart felt like it was going to take off in a million different directions. At least, those were the thoughts that consumed me until I opened up my eyes and let the light in.
And then everything came flooding back to me.
My father, everything that had happened last night, the fact that I was back in this town. That I had sucked Asher Dawson’s cock last night before we had both passed out in each other’s arms.
And that he was now nowhere to be found.
The room was completely empty.
If it wasn’t for the rumbled sheets next to me that had clearly been slept on and the smell of Asher’s sexy and sweaty body that still lingered in the air I would have thought that I imagined the whole thing.
I sat up in bed and listened for any signs of life but there was nothing. I jumped out of bed and grabbed a sweatshirt off the back of the desk chair across the room. I brought it to my nose and inhaled.
Definitely Asher’s.
I pulled it over my head and headed down the hall toward the kitchen but just like the rest of the house, it appeared to be empty. There was a note on the counter from Asher’s mom, telling me to help myself to coffee or anything else I wanted, I knew they got up early to take care of the crops but where the hell was Asher?
I went to the front of the house and looked out the window.
His car was gone.
“Un-fucking-believable.” I shook my head and stomped back toward the guest room, slipping on my pants from the night before and gathering up the rest of my stuff. The sooner I got the hell out of there the better. It shouldn’t have surprised me that he just left like that, that was what Asher did.
Acted like he cared and then dipped out before things got too intense. Last night had clearly been a mistake and I hated myself for losing myself long enough to of let it happen.
I ran to the front of the house and swung the door open.
“Oh.” The girl standing on the front porch looked startled to see me. She took a step back, alarmed. She let her bright blue eyes travel up and down my body slowly. “Is that… is that Asher’s sweatshirt?”
She had blonde hair and a perfect set of teeth. Her body looked like it had been airbrushed on and her outfit only helped to prove the point even more. A short jean skirt and white tank top that left little to the imagination.
“Yeah, it is.” I glanced over her shoulder, desperate to get out of there. “I was actually just on my way out.” I spotted the keys to Asher’s dad’s truck hanging on the wall next to the door and grabbed them, I would explain later.
I tried to move past the blonde, the last thing I wanted to do was get caught up in another conversation I wanted nothing to do with. She grabbed me by the arm and yanked me back.
“Look, I don’t know who the hell you are or how drunk Asher had to of been to bring you home last night but if I see your skank ass around my boyfriend again it’ll be the last thing you ever do.” She held her nasty gaze for a second and then dropped my arm before stomping inside Asher’s house and slamming the door behind her.
Her boyfriend? Had she said, boyfriend?
Surely she couldn’t have meant…
Realization and then nausea washed over my bones.
Asher had a fucking girlfriend.
He was worse than I thought, way worse than I thought. He had never been the cheating type, more the hooking up type, but clearly, he had graduated to a new level of douchebag since high school.
I turned around, running toward the truck and throwing the keys in the ignition. When it roared to life I jammed it into reverse and peeled out of the driveway, taking off down the street.
Having anything to do with Asher Dawson was a huge mistake.
And I was leaving him in the dust.
***
A half hour later I burst into the third floor of the Intensive Care unit and took off running toward the receptionist’s desk. “Excuse me, I’m looking for Michael Reynolds.”
The nurse looked up from her computer and shook her head. “Visiting hours won't start for another few hours. Right now we’re only allowing family members in the room.”
“I am family,” I gulped. “I’m… I’m his daughter.”
“Oh.” The woman looked surprised. “I didn’t… I wasn’t aware Mike had a daughter.” She stood up from her desk and walked around to the front, motioning for me to follow her as she scanned her ID card and allowed the double doors next to us to pop open.
Her words stung even though I knew I shouldn’t be surprised.
I had left my dad all alone when I left without looking back. I felt ashamed now that I hadn’t been home since college, that I had let my hate for this town and the reminder of everything I thought I could never be here affect the amount of effort I had put into our relationship in the last five years.
My breath caught in my throat when I walked into the room. Sure, I saw people like this every single day. Hooked up to machines, surrounded by family and friends who were praying for a safe recovery.
But it was different when it was my father.
Different when you were seeing a man who had always been so strong your entire life in the most vulnerable state possible. The man who had taught me how to fish and throw a killer curve ball, the man who had always been there for me, the man who had protected me my entire life… and now he couldn’t even breath on his own.
“He’s not in any pain,” the nurse said now. “He can’t feel anything. When you’re in a coma, you just slip into a place of rest and stillness… he doesn’t even know what’s happening to him.”
I jumped; I’d almost forgotten she was there. “I know,” I whispered.
I knew she was trying to make me feel better but the task was impossible.
I pulled a chair from the corner and moved it next to my dad’s bed, sitting down and taking his frail hand in mine. “Can I… can we have a minute?” Tears welled up in my eyes.
“Of course.” She smiled sadly at me before she turned to leave.
I placed my head in my hands and peeked over at him. His usually brown hair was shaved short where they had given him stitches. Cuts and wounds covered his entire body, making him almost unrecognizable.
He eyes looked like they were sewed shut. I tried to remember how warm his brown eyes were but I couldn’t place it no matter how hard I tried. His nails were bruised and filled with dried blood.
“God, dad.” I let the first tear slip out of my eye. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.” The waterworks wouldn’t stop now, tumbling out like a never-ending river that would never run dry.
Once you let yourself go there stopping was out of the question. I wiped at my face with the sleeve of Asher’s sweatshirt trying to regain my composure long enough to form at least a few sane thoughts.
“Dad, I… I know I haven’t been around much, that I haven’t been treating you the way I should have. I really let you down which is ironic considering all I ever really wanted to do was make you proud.” I reached out and held onto his hand, squeezing it tight.
I used my other hand and swiped left at my tears. “But don’t worry, I’m here now and I’m not going anywhere… you just worry about waking up... I’m going to make this right.” I leaned in closer, whispering. “I’m going to find who did this to you, dad, and I’m going to make them pay.”