Page 105 of Hooked
Or maybe it was fine. They seemed to be friendly. He’d certainly told his parents enough about Tayla.
Wait, had they told Tayla how much Jeremy talked about her?
Did that matter?
“Jeremy Augustus Allen, you need to wake up.”
He blinked his eyes open. “Okay.” He couldn’t keep them open for long. It was just an automatic reaction to his mother’s voice.
“Hey bud.” His father patted his arm. The one without bandages. “I heard you had a run-in with a bobcat, huh?”
“Lion,” Jeremy muttered. “Wzzz… lion.”
“He always did like correcting me.”
“Hey.” Her soft lips touched his cheek. “Hey, handsome. Wake up. I want to see your eyes. I broke about eighty traffic laws to get here before you woke up, okay? So wake up.”
“That’s a really beautiful vehicle, by the way.”
“Thanks, Mr. Allen.”
“You can call me Doug.”
Oh thank God, because Jeremy really liked it when Tayla called him “Mr. Allen” during sex, and that had been about to get really weird. His mother better not make Tayla call her Dr. Washington. She’d pulled that with one of Jeremy’s girlfriends in college. That one hadn’t lasted.
“I think he’s just sleeping now.”
“He’s probably eavesdropping on us,” Tayla said. “Gathering blackmail material.” She ran a hand over his cheek. “I’m so glad they didn’t shave his beard.”
“I would have.”
His mother hated his beard.
Jeremy took a deep breath and opened his eyes. “Thirsty.” His voice was scratchy. “Can I get some water?”
Tayla pressed her cheek to his, and he could feel tears against his skin.
“Hello, beautiful.” He tried to lift his arm, but it was heavy. Way too heavy.
“Don’t move your cast.” Tayla sniffed. “Just let your arm rest. They had to put all kinds of equipment in it. Pins. Screws. I’m sorry; you’re half robot now.”
He reached across with his left arm and tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. “So I’m like Robocop? Is that what you’re saying?”
She pulled away. “Yes. I’m so sorry.”
“Don’t. That means I’m a badass.” He wanted to flex his fingers so badly, but they were taped to a metal brace on his cast. He wanted to touch her. “My fingers are all taped up.”
“You broke some of those too.”
“Three, to be exact.” His mother stepped back to let the nurse in.
“And my chest hurts.”
“You broke two ribs, your ulna, and three fingers. Your shoulder was partially dislocated. Be glad you don’t have any head injuries. Cary said you weren’t wearing a helmet.”
“Sorry, Mom.”
The nurse checked his vitals and made notes on his chart. Asked him a bunch of questions that made him tired. Then she handed him a pill and held out a cup of water with a straw.
