Page 94 of Hung Up
Dean turns and leaves without a word, disappearing into the crowd. Faith pulls back, wiping her nose with the back of her sleeve as she sniffles. “I need to call his mom and tell her what happened.”
I’m about to offer to do it for her, to take that responsibility off her plate so she can be alone for a little while to comprehend the magnitude of what just happened and make sure she’s okay when I spot one of the EMTs pushing their way toward us.
“Are you Faith?” She turns and nods. “He wants you to come with us. We need to go now.”
She looks at Rylie and me with wide eyes, but it’s Rylie who speaks. “Go. We’ll meet you there. I’ll call his mom for you.”
Faith throws her arms around Rylie in a quick, brief hug before she spins on her heels, runs behind the EMT, and climbs into the ambulance.
“Please tell me he’ll be able to ride again,” Rylie mutters as we watch the ambulance drive away, its sirens fading. “Don’t tell me this is a career-ending injury.”
“I don’t know,” I reply just as quietly, rubbing a hand down my face. “I’m not going to lie to you, it looked really bad.”
Rylie takes a big, shaky breath, trying to settle her nerves. “What do I tell his mom?”
“The bare minimum of the truth. He got hurt and is on his way to the hospital. She doesn’t need to hear anything else from anyone who isn’t a doctor. I don’t want her worried when we don’t know the full extent. We shouldn’t speculate.”
She opens her mouth to say something but stops, her eyes narrowing on someone behind me. “What the hell are you still doing here?”
“Looking for Faith,” her father answers, Adam a couple steps behind him. “Where is she?”
“She left,” Rylie tells them, crossing her arms over her chest. “Just like you should.”
Her father rolls his eyes. “Of course she left without saying goodbye.”
“That’s—” She stops, shaking her head and raises her hands. “You know what? No. You’re not worth my energy. Come on, Jesse.”
“Actually, I’d like to have a word.”
He and I stare at one another for a moment, and if I didn’t absolutely despise the guy, his scrutiny would probably make me nervous. Even though I couldn’t care less about what he had to say, a small part of me was curious to find out. But the larger part of me has things I want to say to him, too, so I turn to Rylie and say, “I’ll come find you in a few minutes.”
Her eyes widen in surprise, but she nods, walking past us and presumably heading to the media room to call Kai’s mom. When I draw my attention back to the two men who have impactedFaith so negatively, I notice that Adam at least has the decency to look a little nervous.
“I want you to stay away from my daughter.”
Even though I knew that’s what he was going to say, I still find myself scoffing. “With all due respect—actually, no, I take that back. I don’t have any respect for you, so please take as much offense as you want to what I have to say. You don’t get to decide whether or not I’m with your daughter. You don’t even get to decide if this dirtbag gets to be with her,” I say, gesturing to an embarrassed and uncomfortable-looking Adam. “The only person who gets to decide who Faith spends her time with is Faith.”
“She doesn’t know what’s good for her,” he states.
“No thanks to you.” He looks like he’s going to tear into me, so I hold up a hand, silencing him. “It’s become so blatantly obvious to me in such a short interaction that all of her self-doubt and her inner turmoil comes from you, not Adam. You are the root of all that she struggles with. She has a hard time knowing what a healthy relationship looks like and how she should be loved because you failed to provide her with a good example. I have spent the last twelve weeks trying to get her to trust me, working overtime to try and show her that she deserves the world because you made her feel like she doesn’t. She took all that shit from Adam because you taught her that was all she was worthy of.”
It’s Adam who says, despite himself, “You don’t deserve her.”
“Maybe not,” I say, knowing that it’s one hundred percent true. “But if she decides that she wants to be with me, that she wants to stay with me, I’ll have earned her love. And I will spend every day for the rest of my life, or as long as she’ll allow me, continuing to earn it. And I will never, ever, make her doubt how I feel about her, or make her feel the way you two have. I will do whatever I can to repair the damage you made.”
Her father’s expression has changed, but I don’t care enough to try to decipher it. “I hope your daughter does what’s best for her and cuts you out of her life. I really do. She doesn’t deserve to feel the way you’ve made her feel, and it’s not her responsibility, nor is it her obligation to keep you in her life. It doesn’t matter if you’re her father. But if you want any chance of not losing her for good, I recommend digging really fucking deep and changing your attitude and outlook on life. Clean up your act. Become the kind of man who deserves her attention and not the one who demands it.”
I see Rylie approaching, her purse and work bag in hand, so I give the two men the fakest smile I can muster. “I have to run. This has been the furthest thing from a pleasure and I hope we never do it again.”
Stepping around them, I walk beside her, Stetson and Lee standing at the exit with their heads bowed as they talk while Bryce is consoling a weeping Georgia.I completely forgot about her, I think to myself, feeling a little guilty about it. When she sees me, she steps away from Bryce, walking into my outstretched arms and burying her head against my chest. I can feel her tears soaking my shirt, but I allow her to hold onto me for as long as she needs. When she pulls back, I can’t stop the urge and reach forward, wiping her tears away and giving her a small, consoling smile.
“He’s going to be okay, right?” Her voice is scratchy from all the crying, and it pulls on my heartstrings.
“One way or another, he’ll get through this,” I tell her, trying to force as much conviction into my tone as I can. She nods, although the look on her face tells me she doesn’t completely believe the words. I tuck her into my side and glance at the group, gesturing toward the exit. “Let’s go.”
When we get into the parking garage, we split into two groups—Me, Georgia, and Rylie in one car, Stetson, Lee, andBryce in the other. According to Wyatt's location, which he shared with me a few years ago and never turned off, he is already at the hospital. I’m just about to slip my cell back into my pocket as Rylie drives out of the lot when a text comes in from Faith.
Sweetheart
