Page 108 of The Prodigal

“Agreed,” I add aloud, siding with his father.

Remington cuts me a side-eye, like it’s my fault he has to talk to his father.

“Who was that?” Duke asks angrily. “Who is with you?”

Remington looks at me like I’m on my own here.

“Eden, sir,” I confess. “Eden Da Luca.”

The line goes silent again, and fucking Remington smiles. “You know that name, don’t you, Pops?”

I smack Remington’s shoulder. “Stop. You are worse sick than you are healthy.”

He flashes me those straight, white teeth, but he doesn’t answer me. Instead, he keeps fucking with Duke. “You’ve missed so many milestones over my fall break.” He ticks off his fingers while his hand rests on the mattress since he’s too weak to hold them up. “Losing my virginity to Albrecht’s long-lost daughter. Her convincing me to make a sex tape.” He pauses for a second like the asshole he is. “Oh, and blackmailing Albrecht to turn himself in with said sex tape.”

Oh my gosh. “Remington!” I choke. “Shut up. That is not how it went down.”

“Tell Mom,” he teases, “I have so much shit for her to add to the baby book—even a video, if she wants to save it for my graduation slideshow. You’ll make all the other parents jealous with that cinematic masterpiece.”

My cheeks feel hotter than Remington’s fevered body. “Dr. Potter,” I beg. “I’m so sorry. That is not at all what we were doing. We—”

“Experimented with a little ass play, too,” Remington interrupts. “Good memory, love. I forgot about that one.”

“Remington!” Duke yells, his scary voice causing me to jump. “You better tell me now what the fuck is going on! Why do you think you’re in kidney failure?”

I can see it on Remington’s face. Another round of bullshit is about to come out of his mouth. “He’s sick, Dr. Potter. He has a fever and hasn’t been out of bed all day.”

“How high is the fever?” Gone is Remington’s father. In his place is Dr. No-Bullshit Potter.

“I don’t know. We don’t have a thermometer here, but I gave him medication about half an hour ago to bring the fever down.”

“Where ishere?”

I can hear papers rustling in the background, like he’s writing all this down. “Louisiana.”

Another round of silence ensues, and I literally could hide under the bed with the amount of tension on this call.

“Louisiana?” Duke repeats slowly, earning a smile from Remington that his dad can’t see.

“Yes,” Remington adds. “Louisiana, as in the state on the way to Nevada, where I planned to blackmail Albrecht with a sex tape.”

A growl of frustration erupts through the phone, which only seems to bring more life to Remington.

“Don’t act so scandalized, Dr. Puss. You knew I wasn’t on an exotic vacation with dumb classmates while motorboating some stranger’s tits in the ocean. Though,” he muses, “my experience in Louisiana isn’t far off.”

I put my hand over his mouth. He’s done. No one needs Dr. Potter stabbing him to death before I can. “We called Remington’s doctor,” I interrupt. “He suggested we call an ambulance and have the hospital call him for a report.”

Remington hisses, then grins. “Bad answer, love. Now you’ve gone and upset Dr. Diva. Prepare for yelling.”

And like they have these discussions rehearsed, Duke yells through the phone. “Remington!”

“He was a gynecologist.” Remington laughs. “I have a right to privacy.”

Oh, for fuck’s sake. There’s no way Remington is making it out of this alive.

“Remington.” Duke literally growls. “If you don’t explain yourself this instant, I will put Ray on this phone and let you explain it to her between the sobs.”

All the humor drains from his face. “She doesn’t need to know about this,” he begs, his voice trembling. “Not with the baby on the way.”

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