Page 82 of Random Encounter

Twenty-Nine

Phillip

Maybe I should’ve followed Adrienne back to her new place, made sure she was settled.

Maybe I should call Dustin, see if he needed any help babysitting.

What the hell was wrong with me?

My phone rang, and I answered before it finished the first tone. “Yeah.”

“Hey.” It was Cole. “Adrienne’s been in an accident. I don’t know more. She’s at St. Mark’s.”

Not again.

I barely registered hanging up on him, grabbed my keys, and was in my car before the rest of my brain caught up with gaping hole in my chest. I didn’t know why Cole called me. I didn’t care. This couldn’t be happening again. Not to her. She couldn’t—

I cut the thought off as I pulled into the dwindling remnants of rush hour traffic. There were still too many cars. Too many stop lights between my house and the hospital. Every pause gave me longer to dwell on horror scenarios.

If Sean was behind this, and he wasn’t already in worse shape, he would be when I found him. Fresh fear salted old scars. I couldn’t lose someone again. I couldn’t lose Adrienne. She didn’t even know how I felt. Hell, I barely knew how I felt, beyond I couldn’t lose her.

As I drove, I sent a voice-to-text to Dustin, repeating Cole’s phone call. He deserved to know as much as I did. He’d want to know.

Fuck. Please let her be all right.

When I arrived at the hospital, I couldn’t get inside fast enough. I headed for the man standing near the doors that led to exam rooms. Though I’d never met him, I’d recognize him even if I hadn’t seen the pictures of him with Luna and Cole—his face was so much like Adrienne’s. “Graham.”

He looked up, stress lining his face. “Phillip?”

“Where is she? Is she all right?”

He nodded. “She’s answering questions for the police while the doctors finish looking at x-rays and deciding if they need other tests.”

Police. The notion added to my nausea. Sean was involved—I was almost certain of it. Why did I let her leave alone? But if she was answering questions, she was conscious and well enough to do so. I sank into the closest chair and dropped my head into my hands, exhaling noisily. What was most important for me to know? “What happened?”

“Car accident. I don’t have more details on that. Cole called you because you’ve been looking out for her.”

But not intently enough. I tried to calm myself with the knowledge that Adrienne would be all right. That she was all right. At the sound of the doors sliding open, my head whipped in that direction instinctively. Dustin walked in with his nieces.

He frowned when he met my gaze, but the scowl he’d worn since Friday, anytime I was around, wasn’t there. He joined us, and I introduced him to Graham and regurgitated the same information I had.

“So we wait,” Dustin said.

Graham shrugged. “Nothing else to do for it.”

I watched Dustin with Harmony and Alana, and the void inside me grew. The girls were talking quietly and playing some sort of game on their tablets. He didn’t interact with them much, but did answer the occasional question. He was so good with them. He’d be good with his own kids.

I was an idiot, surrendering a wonderful thing because of fear. Knowing I could’ve lost Adrienne tonight, that I was willing to push away Dustin to avoid feeling… What the fuck was wrong with me?

“I’m sorry.” I spoke softly, not wanting to disturb the rest of the room.

Dustin looked up, brows raised.

“I’m sorry for keeping things from you,” I said.

His mouth twisted with his frown. “You’re still leaving, though.”

Was I? There was no reason to change that aspect of my plan. “This doesn’t mean the same thing to me. But I’m still sorry for the secret.”

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