Chapters (27)
“Stop being a big baby and just drink it.”
“Well, jeez, when you put it like that, here goes nothing.” Grant tipped his head back to guzzle it down, and sure enough, it tried to come right back up. Somehow he kept from hurling all over the corridor, but his head spun and his eyes watered. “Holy shit,” he sputtered. “What the hell was in that? Kerosene?”
“Just a little lighter fluid to keep things interesting.”
His mouth fell open, and judging from the way her concoction was burning its way through his gut, he wasn’t entirely sure she was kidding.
“Shut your mouth before you start to drool—or worse.”
Unused to a woman talking to him that way, Grant did as he was told but took a more measuring look at the saucy waif with the spiked hair. Her eyes weren’t quite green or blue but rather an interesting combination of the two colors. They were framed by extravagant lashes but marred by overly dark makeup. Multiple studs lined both her ears, and he’d caught a glimpse of a stud in her tongue. Grant swallowed hard at the thought of it. As much as the idea of a tongue stud horrified him, it intrigued him, too.
She had high cheekbones and smooth skin, and while she didn’t seem to carry an extra ounce of flesh—anywhere—she had full, plump lips that seemed almost out of place on an otherwise spare face.
He let his gaze drop to her chest, where there was nothing at all to look at, and then farther down to long, thin legs encased in black denim.
His eyes flipped upward to find her taking her own measuring look—at him.
Before he could register his surprise at realizing she was checking him out, a moan from inside his father’s room caught his attention. He rushed in to find Big Mac struggling against the IV and the restraints the nurses had said would be necessary when he came to. Grant put his hands on his dad’s shoulders and resettled him against the pillow.
Big Mac blinked rapidly. “What’re you doing here?” he asked, his voice gravelly.
Overcome with relief, Grant said, “I got home a week or so ago, Dad. Don’t you remember?”
“Head hurts. What the hell happened? How’d I get here?”
Grant looked over to find Stephanie wide-eyed and teary. “Will you go get the doctor? And see if you can find my mom?”
She nodded and scurried from the room.
Grant gripped Big Mac’s much larger hand and brushed at tears, not wanting his father to see them. “Hang in there, Dad. Everything’s okay. You’re going to be just fine.”