Flynn leaned his head back against the wall. Damn, he was tired. The waiting room was busy and loud, and every little sound ground at his skull. All he wanted was silence. He hadn’t slept in forty-eight hours and, fuck, he was feeling it.
Anger tore at his chest, suffocating him. Anger that he hadn’t been there to stop his mother from falling and breaking a bone. Anger at the goddamn disease that was riddling her mind. And anger at himself for not catching the guy who had gotten away last night. He’d missed time with his mother to get this guy, and he hadn’t even done that.
His fingers tapped the arms of his chair in quick succession, so agitated he could barely sit still. A soft hand covered his, and his eyes flew open to see Carina in the seat beside him.
“Hey.” Her quiet voice soothed some of the unease coiling in his gut. Not all of it, but some.
“Hey.”
Her eyes searched his. “How are you doing?”
“I hate seeing her like this. I hate her being in pain. I’m all she has left. I should have protected her from this.”
“You can’t be there all the time.”
“She needs someone.”
Carina bit her lip, and whatever she was about to say, Flynn knew he wouldn’t like.
“It might be time,” she said quietly, “to start looking into full-time care.”
His entire fucking chest clenched. “You’re saying I should move her into a care facility?”
“Maybe.”
Shredded—that’s how the idea made him feel. His mother had been living in that house for a long time. It was her home. The place where she’d lived with his father. The place where she’d raised Flynn. Taking her away from that would be taking her away from everything she knew.
Carina’s fingers tightened around his. He leaned his head back again and was about to close his eyes when she spoke.
“I’m sorry.”
When he looked at her again, he saw it. The guilt. The pain. “For what?”
“For taking my eyes off her when I called you. I knew she was throwing her clothes everywhere. I should have recognized she was at risk of falling.”
He turned his hand over and threaded his fingers through hers. “It’s not your fault.”
She opened her mouth, but before she could speak, Victoria stopped in front of them. “Patricia’s back in the room, and I have the results.”
He nodded. When Carina started to stand, Victoria turned to her. “I need to speak to Flynn alone for a moment.”
Immediately, he shook his head. “I’m okay with her being there.”
“No. There’s something else. Something that needs to be discussed alone.”
Now the woman was just pissing him off. He stepped forward. He wasn’t in the mood for bullshit right now. He spoke slowly so she understood every word he said. “Carina is Patricia’s nurse. And I want her there.”
He was fully prepared to battle the woman on the issue, but then Carina touched his arm. “It’s fine. If Victoria—I mean, Dr. Astor—wants to talk to you alone, then I’ll just wait here.”
She gave him a quick smile before lowering back into the seat.
Flynn’s chest brimmed with frustration, but he needed to get to his mother. He turned to Carina. “I’ll call you in a couple minutes.”
Another small smile from her, then he followed Victoria into the room. There was another woman in the room as well, a nurse, but he went straight to his mother’s side. Her eyes were closed, and her chest was moving with even breaths.
“We gave Patricia a sedative for the pain and exhaustion,” Victoria said before turning to the woman beside her. “This is Nurse Kalli.”
“Hi.” He barely spared the nurse a glance. “How’s her wrist?”
“Fractured distal radius, like I suspected. The radial distal is the long bone in the forearm near the wrist. The good news is, it looks like it will heal on its own. The bad news is, we needed to put a cast on her, and the cast will need to remain for six to eight weeks, so she may need extra in-home support.”
Flynn nodded. He already planned to be there more and call Home Care Agency to request a second nurse be there when Carina couldn’t.
“Because no one actually witnessed the fall, I’d like to keep her overnight just for observation to make sure she’s okay,” Victoria added.
“That’s fine.”
There was a small pause. “There’s something else.”
Flynn’s gaze left his mother, and he scanned Victoria’s face, but the woman gave away nothing. Then he looked at the nurse. Unlike Victoria, she gave away everything. She was clearly uncomfortable.
His gaze shot back to Victoria. “What is it?”
“Carina left her bag in here on the floor. When Kalli came in, she saw something.”
His eyes narrowed on the nurse. “What?”
The nurse was holding her hands tightly in front of her, fidgeting and looking nervous as hell. “Prescription pain medication.”
“It’s not the medication I prescribed her. I was careful to order her a different kind of med than prescribed to your mother. Not that Carina should be taking it anymore, anyway. The medication in her bag is the same kind your mother has for her knee—and the same kind Carina was accused of stealing in Michigan,” Victoria added.
Flynn straightened, every muscle in his body tensing. “Maybe she keeps it in there for my mother.”
“There are two bottles in there, Flynn. And the labels have been torn off.”
When he remained both silent and still, Victoria nodded toward the bag. “Check for yourself.”
He walked over to her bag, and sure enough, two small containers of pain medication sat inside. And just like Victoria said, there were no names on the bottles, just the name of the medication.
He ran a hand through his hair. “I don’t believe it. Someone put them in there.”
“I’m sorry,” the nurse said quietly. “I wasn’t trying to be nosy. I just saw them and had to say something.”
“I need you to say the words,” he said, watching the young woman closely. “I need you to say that you found the drugs in Carina’s bag.”
He watched her closely to see if her pupils dilated. Listened to the beating of her heart. He blocked out everything else. Everything but her.
Kalli swallowed. “Her bag was open, and I saw the prescription pain medication on the top. I mentioned it to Dr. Astor, not realizing…”
Truth. She was telling the truth. His entire chest seized.
Flynn scrubbed a hand over his face. He was so fucking tired, and his head felt foggy as hell. He yanked his phone from his pocket and sent a quick text to Carina, asking her to come to the room.
Every second they waited, his chest grew tighter. His gaze shot to his mother again. She looked so small and frail under the sheet. She was his to protect. And at this moment, he couldn’t help but think he might have let her down.
The second Carina stepped into the room, she felt it. The heavy energy that had her stomach dropping. The thickness in the air that almost choked her.
Her gaze shot around the room. To Patricia sleeping. To Victoria and the nurse beside her. And to Flynn. He still looked tired and frustrated and angry, but there was something different about him.
“What is it?” she asked quietly, unease trickling down her spine. “Is Patricia okay?”
Oh God, was it worse than a broken wrist? Had she hit her head or something?
Flynn held up two small bottles of pills. It took Carina a second to recognize them as Patricia’s pain medication. “What were these doing in your bag, Carina? And why is the label with my mother’s name torn off?”
For a moment, Carina’s entire world slowed. Not just at the questions or at the way they pulled her back to the worst time in her life, but at the way Flynn asked. With a cold, hard voice. A voice she barely recognized.
She took a step forward. “Flynn—”
“Just answer the questions, Carina.” His voice rose, and the muscles in his arms flexed.
Her feet stopped. And little parts of her heart, the parts that had been learning to trust, splintered.
“I don’t know,” she said quietly.
He watched her like he was searching for the truth. But the thing was…he shouldn’t have to search. He should know. Yes, they’d only known each other a short amount of time, but in that time, she’d fallen for him. Let him into her bed. Her heart. And if situations were reversed, she never would have questioned his integrity.
He ran a hand through his hair, turning to look at his mother. “I don’t know what to fucking believe.”
His words sliced at her insides like razor blades. Tears pressed at her eyes, but she straightened, blinking the wetness away. She wanted to fall apart. To crumble. But she owed it to herself to speak on her own behalf.
“If I really stole drugs, do you think I’d be so stupid as to leave my bag unattended in this room?” Her gaze swung to Victoria. “Maybe someone else put them in there.”
Victoria’s eyes narrowed. “I haven’t been unattended in this room with your bag. That can be verified.”
Flynn also watched Victoria closely as she spoke. He was listening for a lie. Did he find one?
“You need to leave,” Flynn said quietly.
He wasn’t looking at Carina, but she knew his words were meant for her. For a moment, she couldn’t breathe. The air just wasn’t reaching her lungs.
This wasn’t real. It couldn’t be. He didn’t actually think she’d stolen medication from his mother. Just three nights ago, he’d told her he was all in…
“Flynn, I didn’t—”
“Just go.”
She flinched at his words. And this time, they were more like a dagger straight to the center of her heart. More tears stung, and again, she blinked them back. She would not stand here and cry. She would not let the man witness the depth of her devastation.
Grabbing her bag, she walked out of the room and then the hospital.
She breathed deeply the entire time. Because that was all she could do to keep herself together. To keep from completely falling apart.
It was happening again. Only this time, it was worse. So much worse. Because even in Michigan, at least Greg had believed her. Offered her sanctuary. And she felt things for Flynn she’d never experienced with Greg. But Flynn had made a choice. A choice to not believe in her.
And in doing so, he’d shattered her heart.
The second she stepped outside, rain soaked her hair. Her clothes. She barely felt it. She didn’t have a car, but she couldn’t stay at the hospital and wait for a ride. But she needed to get out of here. Needed to be away from him.
So she walked, ignoring the rain. Ignoring the way her insides felt raw. And now that she was alone, she finally let the tears fall.
She didn’t know how long she’d been walking when a car slowed beside her. “Carina?”
Greg.
She kept walking. Even though her tears had mixed with the rain, her eyes had to be red and puffy. She probably looked like hell.
“Carina, stop. Get in the car.”
She couldn’t even respond to him. She didn’t want his help or anyone else’s. The only thing she wanted was to crawl into a dark space and let the world disappear for a while.
The car stopped. When Greg ran out and grabbed her arm, her knee jolted and gave way, causing her to stumble. A small cry slipped from her lips. Greg put an arm around her waist, keeping her on her feet.
“Christ, Carina! Are you okay?”
She grabbed his shoulder to steady herself, breathing through the pain. “I’m fine.”
“You’re not. You’re crying, your skin feels like ice, and your knee just gave out.” He squinted at her through the rain. “Please get in the car.”
She swallowed. “No. I’m almost home.”
“You’re not. You have at least another fifteen minutes of walking before you get there.”
She knew he was right. And there was no way she’d last that long, not considering how numb her limbs had become, and her now aching knee. Swallowing the self-pity, she turned and let him help her into the car.
The second they started moving, she felt Greg’s eyes on her. “What happened?”
“Nothing.” Not nothing. Her world had once again imploded. But the last thing she wanted to do was put her ugly reality into words right now.
“Carina, let me in. I might be able to help.”
Help? No one could help her. It was done. Flynn believed what he chose to believe. And she was breaking.
She swallowed, looking through her side window, not wanting him to see the fresh tears building in her eyes. There was no rain to hide them anymore.
A few minutes passed. Then Greg sighed. The rest of the drive was silent. When they got to her house, she didn’t even have a chance to tell Greg not to come in because he was already out, and, God, she didn’t have the energy to argue.
When they stepped into her house, he went straight to the kitchen to turn on the kettle. She lowered onto the couch, not caring that she was soaking wet. A second later, he sat beside her, gently lifting her knee.
“How’s it feeling?”
“It’s fine.”
He tsked before feeling around the area.
“Greg.” When he didn’t react or lift his head, she repeated his name, this time louder. “Greg.”
Finally, he looked up.
“Thank you for driving me home, but I really want to be alone right now.” She needed to crawl into bed and wish this awful day away. She needed space to drown in her misery.
He studied her for a long moment before finally nodding. “Okay. I’ll go. But I’m going to keep checking in on you. I need to make sure you’re okay.”
She didn’t have words, and if she tried for them, she knew her voice would break.
He rose to his feet before pressing a kiss to her forehead. The kiss just made her sad. Because it wasn’t the kiss her body craved.
The second Greg left, the room fell silent. And even though she was soaking wet, even though her skin was ice cold and her knee ached, she dropped to her side, lying on the couch. Her eyes closed, and she tried to clear her mind, but all she could see was Flynn. All she could hear was his cold voice as he told her to get out, like he could no longer stand the sight of her.
