Page 37 of Filthy Player

She slammed the door before I could respond.

It sounded eerily like my head crashing into a brick wall.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

PAIGE

I rushed into the emergency room already regretting the way I talked to Beaux. Too bad I had other, more important things on my mind.

Every word he threw at me was true. Tonight had been incredible.

I felt mounds of guilt that were piling higher than Mt. Everest. My dad had gotten hurt and I wasn’t there. The entire reason I moved home was to take care of him. And where was I? Out getting off like a teenager with no responsibilities.

Crap!

I hurried to the nurse’s station, out of breath and panting as the woman behind the desk looked up. “Paige Halloway. My father, Sam, was brought in by ambulance earlier.”

Her finger clicked on a keyboard. With an emotionless voice, she stated, “He’s in bay five currently. If you take a seat, I’ll have someone come out and give you an update as soon as I can.”

“No.” My head shook so violently my hair stuck to my wet cheeks. “That’s not good enough. I need to know what happened.”

“Ma’am—”

“Paige.” I whipped my head and there was Mike. He was already reaching me, arms outstretched and I fell into them. “He’ll be okay. Come sit with me.”

“I need to know.”

“He fell. He’s hurt. That’s all we know so far. But he’s strong and he’ll be okay.”

I let Mike usher me into the sitting room, his chair closest to the doors heading to the back as if he knew that’s where I’d need to be. As close to my dad as possible.

“I wasn’t there.”

“It’s okay that you weren’t.”

It wasn’t. Nothing about this was. Not me freaking out on Beaux—again. Not me shirking my responsibilities for even a few hours.

I shook my head against his shoulder. “Tell me everything you know.”

He sighed, pressed his lips to the top of my head and squeezed me tighter. “Not much. Elsa said she’d gotten him ready for bed and thought he was settled so she went home to let her dogs outside. She went out later to bring her dog in for the night and saw him collapsed on your lawn. All she got from him as she was calling nine-one-one was that he’d gone out for a walk and fallen.”

Damn it. He knew better than to go walking alone. His balance wasn’t that great and it’d been dark. Unfortunately the stroke hadn’t just left him slightly paralyzed, but had affected some of his mental abilities. He didn’t always make the best choices. He and I went for a walk almost every day. I’d just assumed since I was working he wouldn’t go without me.

That’s not even true. As soon as Beaux showed up at the restaurant, I hadn’t thought of my dad at all. Not even to call him to tell him I’d be home late.

“Maybe he just twisted his ankle,” Mike said. His effort to calm me was useless. “They’re probably just checking him over, being careful, but you know Sam. He’s probably in the back right now demanding his release and for everyone to stop all the hullabaloo over him.”

“Okay.” I squeezed Mike tighter and lied through my teeth. I didn’t believe a word he said, and wouldn’t until I saw my dad. “You’re right. He’ll be fine.”

“That’s the spirit. Now, tell me about your night. I’m assuming since you’re not dressed in your uniform you went out after work?”

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Bet you had fun,” Mike said, totally ignoring me. “And that’s okay, Paige. Your dad hates it that you’re here taking care of him and not living like you’re supposed to.”

“I can’t, not when I know I can leave him and things like this could happen.”

“They could happen even if he was healthy.”

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