Page 62 of Sweet Chaos
“Are you sure you’re okay though?” Remy asked. “About Sienna’s engagement?”
Sienna’s engagement? I’d completely forgotten about it. In the greater scheme of things, it barely warranted a second thought. The news had not been that shocking. “We’re over, Rem. Have been for a long time.”
“Okay,” she said slowly. “I just thought… I mean, it would be understandable if you’re upset.”
“I’m fine with it.” My tone was harsher than I’d intended. “It’s all good.”
I looked down at Kai’s face just as his eyes opened. They were a shade of murky blue like they hadn’t decided what color they would be yet. His face scrunched up and turned an alarming shade of beet red, his tiny body going rigid in my arms before it relaxed again.
“Oh shit,” I said, with a laugh, welcoming the distraction.
“Literally.” Shane took his son from my arms and waltzed him over to a changing table with a smile on his face like he couldn’t imagine anything more exciting than changing his kid’s dirty diaper. It was a two-man job. He and Remy were laughing as they tried to figure out the best way to clean up the baby and get him into a clean diaper without getting peed in the face.
“Hey, hey, hey,” Travis said, entering the room with his brother Ryan, both of whom were bearing gifts. They were big on fist bumps, and I stood up from my chair to exchange greetings. “We’re here to meet the future world champion.”
“With a dad like Shane, the kid will be catching air in no time,” Ryan said.
“Let’s give him until he’s three or four,” Shane said.
“Hello baby mama. Looking gorgeous as always,” Travis said, planting a kiss on Remy’s cheek and handing her a stuffed seal. “Reminded me of those seals Shane spotted a million years ago in J-Bay.”
Shane snorted. “Those were sharks.”
“That was the first time we met,” Remy said with a smile.
“Best day of my life,” Shane said
Time to go. I interrupted their trip down memory lane long enough to say my goodbyes. “I need to get to work. Call me if you need anything,” I told Remy.
“Okay. I’ll see you soon. I’ll let you know when we’re home.”
As I walked down the hallway, the sound of their laughter trailed after me. Despite being a nice hospital, it still smelled like a hospital. Babies were born. People got sick. They died. A reminder of our mortality.
I couldn’t stop picturing all that blood on the white tiles. My mother’s lifeless body. Her ghoulish face.
Sweat beaded my forehead, and I tried to breathe but it felt like the air was trapped in my lungs.
The hallway hadn’t seemed so long and narrow when I’d arrived.
I was really sweating now. I could smell last night’s whiskey seeping from my pores. The fuck was wrong with me? It felt like the walls were closing in.
I punched the elevator button. Once. Twice. Three times. Where was the fucking elevator?
The doors opened, and I made a move to get in, but the arrow pointed up not down. Scarlett stepped off the other elevator, also going up, and stopped in front of me. She looked beautiful, her long blonde hair loose and wavy, falling around her shoulders, her baby blues clear and bright. I was tempted to bury my face in her hair and just breathe her in. Forget the world.
But since completely losing it in front of Scarlett was not on my list of fun things to do, I punched the elevator button again. My eyes darted around, looking for the stairs. Where was the exit?
“In a hurry?” she asked.
“Need to get to a meeting.” Lies. I wiped my forehead with the back of my arm. It must be a hundred degrees in this hospital.
She was talking, and I tried to tune in, but I’d obviously missed whatever she’d said because she sighed. “What’s that?” I asked.
“I was just…” She stopped and shook her head. “What happened to you last night, Dylan?”
“Got drunk,” was my brilliant response.
“Are you okay?” she asked, her brows pulling together as she studied my face.
