Page 37 of A Daddy for Maddy

I put my legs around his waist and rested my head on his shoulder.

“Take him to the ER. Ozzy and I will follow in a few minutes,” Trent said.

Colin whirled me around and ran like the wind out the playroom entrance. Ahead of us, security grappled with Griff. We followed them out the side exit where police cars were just pulling up.

Colin got me into his car, strapped me in, and drove down the street not paying attention to the speed limit.

“Tell me if you’re having any trouble breathing.”

“Okay.” I was a little breathless. But mostly it was from all the adrenaline still running through my system.

Colin arrived at the ER lot in less than five minutes. He knew exactly where he was going.

Once we were inside, Colin grew impatient with the check-in process. When he explained I’d been choked until I almost passed out, the male nurse looked alarmed.

“By you?” he asked Colin.

I spoke up quickly. “No. It was by a bad man.”

“He’s under arrest right now. We rushed here. If his throat swells, he won’t be able to breathe.”

“We can get him into a special unit with a nurse on duty right away. Follow me.”

“Can I come with him?” Colin asked.

“Of course.”

We followed the nurse to a long room filled with about eight beds separated only by curtains. The nurse had me get onto the bed, then started taking all my vitals. The nurse who oversaw the room, a young woman with a long ponytail, came over to be filled in.

“This is Maddy,” Colin said to her.

“Hi, Maddy. I’m a Maddie, too, spelled with an ‘ie’.”

“I’m Maddy with a ‘y’,” I said.

Both nurses examined my neck. The check-in nurse took all my vitals.

“Everything seems normal, but his bruising does not look good,” Maddie said. “The doctor will be in shortly.”

Colin brought a chair to my bedside and sat with me as we waited.

“I am so sorry, baby,” he said. “What a horrible way to spend our first night together.”

“It’s not your fault.”

He shook his head. “I should have taken you home.”

“But then Ozzy would’ve been all alone and even more scared. I fought him, Daddy. I fought Griff hard.”

Colin blinked at me with a shaky smile. “My brave little bouncer. He was a very bad man who did very bad things to Ozzy. I was scared he had broken your airway.”

“It’s sore but I’m still breathing.”

“What happened to Kornie?”

“Oh! I forgot. Ozzy has him.” I let out a big sigh. “He’s safe.”

“I feel terrible that you got involved in all this.”

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