Page 54 of Down & Dirty

I tensed, my grip on her tightening as a reflex. “Is he okay?”

She exhaled in a rush. “He has asthma. I guess he had an attack and Elle took him to the ER.”

“Is it bad?” I immediately wished I’d phrased that differently; the kid was in the hospital what the hell else would it be? “Sorry, I just mean...”

She gave me a dim smile. “It’s okay. He’s had them before, but sometimes he gets scared and that makes it worse.”

We dashed down the sidewalk, Sky walking double-time to keep up with my long strides. I wanted to ask her more or try to comfort her if she was panicking, but right now I had one job.

Yanking open her door, I helped her into her seat. She looked calm, but I could feel her racing pulse when my fingers closed around her wrist.

“I’ll get you there as fast as I can.”

She held my gaze, finally letting me see the fear in her eyes. The sight of it made my chest hurt. “I know you will.”

The highway was blessedly clear for once and we were making good time south, but when her phone went off again, we both jumped. The ringtone sounded like circus music and out of the corner of my eye I saw Sky pull her shoulders back before she took the call.

“Hello?” She closed her eyes, her expression falling like she was bracing herself. And then I heard his voice, so loud in her ear it was like she had it on speaker.

“Sky? Where are you? Did Elle call you?”

“Yes, Tommy, she called me. I’m on my way.”

“Where the hell are you? I thought you had him tonight?”

I ground my teeth, guilt starting to push against my ribs. She should have been there. But she wasn’t because she was with me.

“Elle is more than capable of watching him, calm down.”

“Clearly, she’s not. Geena said it didn’t sound that bad, why did she bring him to the ER?”

Sky shifted in her seat, as if this conversation was making her physically uncomfortable. “She did what she thought was best, Tommy. You know Elle would never let anything happen to him.”

“I know that, but if Geena said it wasn’t that bad, I don’t know why she made such a big deal about it. He hates the doctor and that’s not cheap. Are you going to be paying this time?”

I heard him laugh sarcastically and a sickening awareness hit me. She’d told me their arrangement was changing, but I’d never asked for specifics.Was this why Sky needed the money?

“Geena wasn’t there, was she?” Sky asked, and when Tommy didn’t immediately respond, she repeated. “Was she?”

“No. But you know most of the time he’s fine.”

“Most of the time doesn’t matter Tommy. I’ll pay for the damn visit, but don’t make Elle feel bad for taking him. She did what she thought was right. Either of us might have made the same call, we don’t know. We weren’t there.”

The level of calm in her voice was incredible. But it told me just how often she must have to deal with him like this. Pieces of the Skylar puzzle started to slip into place and my gut twisted more with every one.

“I’m just saying. She can overreact.”

“Well, this time she just reacted. Normal amount. Are you still there?”

“We’re about to take off. Elle said you were coming, and I knew you’d want to take him home.”

“Yeah, we’re about,” she paused to look at me, and I silently mouthed ‘twenty minutes’ to her, “about half-hour away.”

“We’ll be gone by then. Geena has a meeting first thing with the wedding coordinator, so I gotta go.”

Sky eased back in her seat, that news seemingly what she wanted to hear. “That’s okay, I’ll be there soon, and Elle is still with him. He’s good.”

“Yeah, he looked okay. Poor kid was just terrified of the doctor. I mean, you know he hates them.”

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