Page 119 of Indiscretion

Then a cell phone started to ring. I had no idea if it was hers or mine, but there was no way in hell either of us was answering it. I fisted her hair tighter, to make damn sure of that, and started thrusting into her mouth. Eventually it stopped, or else I was so far gone I couldn’t hear it anymore. But a few seconds later, the ringing started again, and I realized it wasn’t my ringtone. I wanted to ignore it in the worst way, but a horrible feeling washed over me.

“Babe, what if it’s the kids?”

Naomi slipped my cock from her mouth and blinked a few times. “Oh God.” She fumbled around the floor to find her purse, unzipping in a panic, and swiped to answer on the third ring.

“Hello?”

The room was so quiet, I could hear the person on the other end of the phone.

“Is this Miss Heart?”

“Yes.”

“This is the nurse at St. Matthews. I’m calling regarding your sister, Francesca.”

“What’s the matter? What happened?”

“She sprang a high fever a few hours ago, very suddenly. And just now she had a seizure.”

“Oh my God.” Naomi’s hand clutched her chest. “Is she okay?”

“She’s asleep. We’ve given her medication to reduce the fever, but it’s still very high. We thought you should know. I tried to reach her primary medical delegate, but I wasn’t able to, so I’m calling you as the alternate.”

“What? I thought I was her primary medical delegate?”

“Not according to the system. But I can double check the paperwork, if you’d like.”

Naomi shook her head. “No, it’s fine. It doesn’t matter. Can I come see Frannie now, even though it’s not visiting hours?”

“Yes. Visitors are permitted past regular hours in emergency situations.”

“I’ll be right there.”

***

One minute I’m answering my door and feeling like king of the world, and the next I’m driving Naomi back home after twenty hours at the hospital. Frannie hadn’t woken up after her seizure. She’d slipped into a coma, and the doctors weren’t optimistic about the outcome.

Naomi stared out the window the entire drive to Frannie’s apartment. When I parked and turned off the engine, she looked around and blinked, appearing almost startled. “Oh my God. I don’t even know how we got here. Did I fall asleep during the drive?”

“Your eyes were open, but you were definitely somewhere else.”

She looked straight ahead for a long time. “I have to tell the kids. Do I let them see her like that?”

I raked a hand through my hair. “I don’t know.”

Tears streamed down her face. “It’s going to scare them so badly, but I feel like I need to give them some warning. When they saw her last week, she was doing so well.”

I tasted salt in my throat and shut my eyes. “Fuck. I’m so sorry.”

“I wish she’d never done the transplant. She could’ve gone into remission without it, like she did last time. I wish I’d never encouraged her to do this.”

This was all my fault.All my fucking fault.I needed to tell Naomi what I’d done, that without mystupid need to make things right, her sister wouldn’t be in this predicament. But now was not the time. Telling her wouldn’t help anyone but me. I might get it off my chest, but it would only complicate things for her by adding a new layer of emotional stress. “It’s not your fault. All you ever did was support your sister’s decisions.”

Naomi had held it together the whole time at the hospital, but suddenly she broke. Her shoulders shook, and then the noise came. I unbuckled her seatbelt and pulled her over the center console, holding her in my arms as she cried.

“I can’t lose her. The kids can’t lose their mother.”

Silent tears streamed down my face. I couldn’t even console her by saying everything would be alright. It most likely wouldn’t be.Because of me. Instead, I stroked her hair and held her tight. “I’m sorry. I’mso,sosorry.”

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