Page 182 of Waiting For A Girl Like You
Heather and Trevor chose that moment to sweep into the room.
“Get up. All of you.” Heather snapped her fingers at her daughters, waking Madison in the process. “We’re leaving.”
Not many people intimidated Jamison Fairweather, but Heather always had to some degree. To call her a terror was an understatement, and Jamison now partially understood why Claudia had been the way she’d been for so many years.
A monster of her mother’s making.
“We’re waiting on Damon’s paperwork,” Emily said calmly, placing a hand on Claudia’s shoulder when she tried to rise. “They think the drugs are almost out of his system.”
Decked out in a beautiful cream ankle-length skirt with a simple cashmere top and a pair of absurdly high heels, Heather stuck her nose in the air as she surveyed everyone present. “Why is he on drugs?”
“Because those people had to drug me, or else I would have killed them for kidnapping us.” The usual icy indifference Damon held returned, dripping from every word as he spoke. “And hello, Mother. It’s nice to see you again.”
Damon wasn’t one to back down, and Jamison was starting to realize the trait wasn’t the usual innate stubbornness most Fairweathers held, but likely a survival tactic developed in the years he lived under Trevor and Heather’s roof.
Mother and son stared at each other across the cramped hospital room. Or Jamison assumed they did. Heather refused to take off her ridiculously oversized sunglasses, so it was hard to tell.
“It’s good to see you’re doing well,” Trevor said, his words muffled as he addressed the floor instead of his son. “We didn’t know what we were walking into.”
“I’m not doing well.” Damon’s glare shifted from Heather to Trevor, softening just a fraction. “You’re walking into a moment where your children have just escaped being kidnapped by a group of deranged luna—”
“Shhhh!” Heather flailed both hands up and down, her diamond ring large enough to feed a small country sparkling under the fluorescents. “The entire hospital doesn’t need to hear all the sordid details.”
Jamison swore Damon would break his jaw by how tight he was clenching it. The extremely uncanny resemblance to her father was always there, but pissed off? Yeah, he most definitely took after their branch of the family tree.
The same could be said for Emily. “Oh, gee, Mom. Sorry. We wouldn’t want the world to know that those crazies are actually crazy and came after us. We wouldn’t want anyone to know that they kept Claudia in a dog crate and me bound while they drugged Damon to the point where we had to drag him out of that place.”
“We should give them a minute,” Liam whispered in Jamison’s ear. “I think they need a little privacy.”
Being nosy to a fault, Jamison didn’t move off his lap. “You reopened your stitches,” she whispered back to him. And he had, although mildly. The nurse patched him up in no time. “You really shouldn’t move yet.”
Liam pinched her butt, but she stayed in her place, listening so she could tell Simone everything later. Her father didn’t move either, too busy staring daggers at Heather.
“You had to drag him out?” Heather sounded appalled, following up her outrage in true Heather fashion. “What kind of man gets rescued by women? A weak one, sure, but you, Damon? I thought we raised you better than that.”
“Obviously not.” Damon attempted to stand, but his legs couldn’t hold him, and he grabbed onto the bedside railing before he fell. “Son of a bitch.”
Liam didn’t give her a choice then and moved her off him so he could help Damon. “Em and Claudia said they only fed you broth, so your system is likely in need of nutrients.”
“We’ll get you a big steak dinner,” Trevor said, attempting to smile at Madison, but it only made her whimper. “I’m sure there’s a decent place around here to eat.”
“Nonsense. We’re leaving for Raleigh immediately, and Madison, cease your crying. I will not listen to it for the entire plane ride home.” Heather snapped her fingers again. “Let’s go.”
Jamison stepped back when she saw her father’s eyes darken. The look encompassing his face meant only one thing. Benjamin Fairweather had heard enough.
“Heather, I’d like to see you in the hall.”
Heather lifted her chin defiantly. “No.”
“That wasn’t a question.”
Jamison pressed her lips together as her father closed the distance between himself and Heather. Holding his hand out, he gestured for the door. “Shall we?”
As Heather’s heels clicked out into the hall, the tension in Trevor’s body lessened, and he crouched down to speak to Madison. “Hey, sweetie. How’s Grandpa’s best girl doing?”
Madison’s eyes filled with fresh tears. “Why was my daddy being bad?”
Stiffening, Claudia drew into herself and stared at the wall as her father tried to smooth over the situation.
