Page 82 of Undeniable
“Sure,” she said.
I guided Mazzie out of the waiting room and to an alcove that I’d seen on my way in. Mazzie sobbed the entire way, and each sob crushed my soul.
She plucked tissues from her bag. “I’m a mess.” She blew her nose. “Mom got a year in jail.”
I kissed her forehead. “I’m so sorry.” I’d been unemotional when my father had been arrested and then convicted, but I’d felt for my mom.
She slid down the wall and sat on the floor. “I feel like everything is crashing down around me. My mom, your dad, you. Those men beat you pretty good. Please tell me that Josh didn’t do this to you.”
I mirrored her movement, lowering myself to the floor until our legs touched. “He warned me. I saw him in the library right before I was attacked. Shane Blackwood is behind all this. Josh was with Shane when he gave my dad the black eye. I’m not sure that Josh was present this time. But Blackwood’s goons did this to me.” I touched my swollen cheek.
“I saw Josh after I got out of biochemistry.” She wiped her nose with the tissue. “He told me that you should watch your six.”
“He’s been trying to find you to protect you,” I said. “Nothing more.”
She smiled through tears. “Now we know.” She crawled over to me and snuggled against me. “I love you.”
I kissed her head. “Why do you sound as though you’re about to say goodbye?” I couldn’t hold back anymore. “The way you said we needed to talk sounded as if it was related to us. Is it?”
My gut was telling me something was off. She was upset about more than my injuries or the news about her mom’s sentencing.
She sobbed against my chest.
I squeezed her to me. “You’re killing me. Talk to me.”
My mind raced back to our last moments together, frantically searching for any clues, any misstep that could explain her sudden shift. But I had nothing. We’d barely seen each other since dinner with my mom. Still, she’d been fine when we spoke on the phone.
Her body trembled, and except for the drone of noises in the distance, the silence between us was deafening.
“Lucas, I—” She pulled away to look at me, a storm of sadness swirling in her eyes. “I heard your mom talking about marriage and babies after dinner the other night.”
I cocked an eyebrow. “Is that what has you so upset? She was only voicing how much she liked— Oh. You heard the marriage part?”
“It scared me,” she said.
“But she was referring to someday. Not now.”
She mashed her lips together. “Do you want kids?”
“Kids?” I raked a hand through my hair. “Mazzie, that’s someday stuff. I’m not ready, and neither are you.”
I heard the sound of shoes scuffing the floor and then Erik’s voice. “Dude, your dad is out of surgery.”
I’d called Erik and Ryker to fill them in on what had happened to my father, but Ryker couldn’t make it to the hospital.
I hesitated as I regarded Mazzie. “We’ll talk later?” This conversation wasn’t over.
I pushed to my feet then helped Mazzie up.
Erik examined my face. “You look like shit.”
I felt like it, too, but I kept that to myself so I wouldn’t upset Mazzie any more than she already was.
Dr. Armstrong, wearing a white lab coat and a patterned surgeon’s cap, was talking to my mom by the time we returned to the private waiting room. “Your husband will make a full recovery. I was able to repair his collapsed lung, and he had internal bleeding. He was beaten up to within an inch of his life. He’s lucky that a concerned citizen found him and called the paramedics.”
A collective sigh zipped around the room as I draped an arm around my mom.
“Can I see him?” Mom asked.
