Page 29 of Dirty Player

I will never know.

That weekend we went to the party at Jackson’s and Levi caught Colby kissing me.

I blink down at the dashboard in my car, willing it to start as I sit in the dark.

Dad.

Now my father is in the hospital. He’s been having heart problems for a few months and the doctor said he had to change his diet.

Mom called from the hospital three hours ago saying he’d been taken there by ambulance after having severe chest pains.

“I’ll be right there.” I leaped up from my chair.

“No! Stay at work. He’s fine. Stable. Just another scare.” Mom reassured me.

“Scare? He was taken there by ambulance, Mom.”

“We’ll be home in an hour. Come by after work. If anything happens, I’ll let you know,” she’d said. “It's your second day at a new job. Don’t leave.”

Traffic would have been a challenge to get through, so she was right. I’d hung up and sat at my desk, staring at the phone.

I wasn’t a doctor, but I had some medical knowledge due to my degree. She’d been telling the truth—it wasn’t an emergency and was a known issue.

If it had been serious, I trust that Mom would’ve told me I needed to get in there fast.

Dad had been warned to make lifestyle changes and hadn’t. Hopefully, this was the scare he needed. But then again, he’s a stubborn man.

And here I am sitting in my car crying. Between seeing Levi again, Dad being rushed to hospital, and my car not starting, I burst into tears.

A knock on the window startles me.

Fuck.

I lift my head off the steering wheel and find Levi staring at me through the window. He spins his fingers to tell me to wind my window down.

I shake my head.

God, this is the last thing I need. I wipe my eyes, turning my head and wave out my hand.

“Kaylee,” his muffled voice calls through the window.

“I’m fine.”

“Open the damn window,” he says.

Ugh.

I can’t. There is no power. The car is dead. So I open the door, letting in the cold air, and glare.

“What?”

“Why have you been sitting out her for twenty minutes?” Levi asks, hitching his bag onto his shoulder.

The hood of his Hawkes hoodie is up over his head, and I notice he has scruff on his jawline. I’ve always thought he looks the most handsome when he hasn’t shaved.

It’s a little rough...like he was with my body.

Oh god.I clench my thighs, and I’m not sure, but I think he notices.

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