Page 99 of Jilted

I shook my head. “No. I don’t want to be that far away from you.”

Sloane’s eyes went soft. “That’s really sweet. But I’m fine, really.”

“I don’t care. Maybe—”

Whatever I was about to say was interrupted by a half-dozen firemen in full gear marching through the ER. Her brother Will was leading the charge. His face was black with soot, as were a few of the others.

“You alright, Peaty?” he asked from the doorway.

“I’m good. You didn’t have to come. I told the other guys before they left.”

“That crew is going to be running ten miles every morning and every night for not telling me you were brought in.”

“They didn’t want you to worry while you were busy.”

“Don’t care.” Will seemed to notice me for the first time. He nodded. “What’s up, man?”

“Just recovering from the heart attack your sister gave me when I found her passed out on the ground having a seizure.”

Will shook his head. “What happened to your pump?”

“I reset it when the alarm went off.”

“And didn’t check your sugar?”

“I thought it was a false alarm. It’s been happening a lot lately.”

Will pointed two fingers spread into a V at his sister. “You and I are going to talk when you got out of here. That was dumb.”

I smiled.

Sloane caught it out of the corner of her eye and squinted. “What are you happy about?”

I pointed. “I’m glad he’s around. Because I feel the same way, but I’m a little afraid of you.”

Will smirked. The nurse stepped in. “Umm… we love seeing all you boys, but I’m going to have to ask some of you to wait outside.”

Will nodded. “You got it, Renee. How’s my sister?”

“She’s going to be just fine, Captain.” The nurse thumbed at me. “Pretty sure this one is going to wrap her in bubble wrap when they leave, so I predict she’ll be well taken care of.”

I wished Icouldwrap her in bubble wrap after today. Maybe carry her with me everywhere I went, too.

Will laid a hand on my shoulder. “I gotta get the truck back to the house. You staying?”

“I’m not going anywhere anytime soon.”

He leaned over and kissed his sister’s cheek. “Check in within an hour or I send the entire house here.”

“Yes,Dad.”

The guys were barely gone before the nurse, Renee, came back in. “We’re going to take Miss Sloane down to get a head scan in a few minutes. The admitting desk just called to tell me her dad is here. You won’t be able to wait in the treatment area while she goes to CT, so maybe you can update her father out in the waiting room?”

I nodded. “Yeah, sure. How long will the scan take?”

“Probably an hour or less, depending on how backed up they are.”

“Okay, thanks.”

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