Page 71 of Swiped By My Dad's Best Friend
“Is Cooper all right?”
“He, uh, fell off a ladder—”
“Jesus Christ! Is he okay?”
“I meant to call his father. Your number was next to the name Daddy.” There was an awkward chuckle, but my heart warmed to know that Cooper had put me in his phone that way. “Wait, you’re Trace? The guy who was kissing Cooper last week? He calls you Daddy?”
I didn’t have time for this. “Is Cooper okay or not?” I barked.
“Yeah, sorry. We took him to the ER, only he wasn’t sure about his insurance, so I need to talk to his dad. Sorry to bother you.”
“Okay, but—”
Click.
He’d hung up. Damn it. I didn’t even know what condition Cooper was in. They’d taken him to the ER, not an ambulance. He’d obviously been aware enough to say he didn’t have his insurance. So that had to be a good sign. But my heart was hammering urgently, and I wanted details. I needed to see him for myself, make sure he was really all right.
“Goddamn it.”
“Everything okay?” Henry asked.
“The project leader, the friend I’m doing the favor for…” I swallowed hard. “He was injured at another work site.”
“Is he all right?”
I nodded, then shrugged. “I don’t have any details. A friend called me by mistake, and all I know is, he’s at the ER but seems to be okay enough to talk.”
Henry’s eyes were perceptive as he took in my agitation. “Go to him if you need to, Trace. We’ve got this.”
“Are you sure?”
“I’ve overseen more than a couple of these jobs in my day. Go.”
I blew out a breath. “Thanks. I won’t feel right until I lay eyes on him.”
He nodded. “Then what are you waiting on?”
I snorted and turned on my heels, beating a path to the pickup. Henry was right. There was only one hospital in this little college town, and my boy was somewhere injured and in pain.
I needed to be there for him.
21
COOPER
My head spun. There was a throbbing ache at the crown of my skull, but mostly, I felt dizzy and nauseated. My ankle hurt too. My elbow.
One minute I’d been having pie with Geraldine Peters and the next…
“Coop? Stay awake. They want you to stay awake.”
My eyes fluttered. “’m awake.”
“Good, because your man is here to see you.”
My eyes shot open. Trace pushed forward, past Kev, to lean over the bed. “What the hell happened, brat?”
“I’m sorry.” My chest tightened. “It was my fault. I was careless and too distracted.”
