Liability (Suncoast Society #33)(70)

She’d never had confidence in herself before. Never wanted to be so permanently tied to a job like that. She’d started working there while still married to Craige, and against his wishes.

This job had paid for her divorce, for her ability to support herself, get her apartment, pay her bills.

She handled phones and mail, paperwork, general office stuff, made sure everyone got things to the accountant who worked for them and another business part-time, helped make sure any checks or money taken in there was deposited and the records noted.

And she made sure they always had coffee and office supplies.

Chief bottle-washer.

She got the alarm shut down and the lights and everything turned on, the computer systems started, and sat at her desk to go through the voice mails from over the weekend…

And that’s where Emery found her sitting, sobbing, when he walked in ten minutes later.

He got her into his office and put tissues into her hand before he sat in the other chair in front of his desk. “Honey, what’s going on?”

She found herself sobbing out the story to him, no longer worried if he’d be freaked out about the poly stuff, barely remembering to stay away from the BDSM part of things. If he was keyed into that lifestyle enough, he’d probably grok the intricacies, though.

“Why are you here?” he gently asked. “Why didn’t you go to the hospital? We can manage. I wish you’d called me Saturday night. I would have told you to take time off.”

She shook her head. “He’s not going to know I’m there.”

“You don’t know that.”

“He would want me to work right now. When he’s…” She realized she couldn’t say it, because there was a small part of her who wasn’t sure he would eventually wake up.

And she was afraid to say anything that might jinx his recovery process, no matter how stupid that sounded.

“I need to work right now,” she said. “Cole said he’ll call me and keep me updated. He’s going to stop by on the way to work. He called to check on him before we left my place this morning.”

She finally realized Emery was staring at her not with revulsion or even a bland disinterest, but with genuine concern.

“I hope my revelations about our personal situation don’t…make you think less of me.”

“No, of course not. Hey, you were there and supportive of me when Sean was in that wreck, and everything else.” He smiled, kindly and radiating warmth. “I also have friends who are poly.” He leaned in to hug her. “And trust me, your situation is tame compared to some of the animals I call family and friends. And I say that with all love and affection meant for them, too.”





Chapter Twenty-Seven


Cole’s pulse thundered as he walked into the hospital, got a visitor’s pass, and headed to the ICU.

He hated that he now knew the way by heart, with no hesitation.

The nurse was the same one he’d spoken to, and had cared for Mason yesterday. She gave him a few minutes alone with Mason.

Cole sat in the chair on Mason’s right side. He slid his hand through the side-rail and carefully slipped his fingers under Mason’s, trying not to disturb any of the IV tubes or monitor leads.

“You have to get better, buddy,” Cole softly said. “I need you. I love you. Kim needs and loves you. We can’t do this without you. I don’t care what shape you’re in when you wake up. We’ll deal with that when that happens, and we’ll take care of you. But I need you, man. Please, come back to me. To us.”

Tilly had told them to speak to him. That they didn’t know what Mason could or couldn’t hear. What he could or couldn’t process. To talk to him, order him back, tell him they loved him.

To make sure to keep talking to him, and to not stop.

Mason’s bruises had started to morph into dark, angry shades of blue and purple and greenish brown that turned Cole’s stomach.

Maybe I should go to that f*cking hearing.

No, then he’d be in jail with the little f*cker who did this.

Hmm.

He sighed. No, that was a baaad idea, one Mason himself would likely nix. He had to take care of Mason, of Kim, of Mason’s parents. He needed to step in and do this for the man he loved, and for the woman he loved.

Finally, he stood and leaned in, kissing Mason’s cheek.

“I need to go to work. I’ll keep calling and checking up on you. And your mom and stepdad and dad will be here. Tilly said she’d get people here, too.”

He finally forced himself to leave, stopping to talk to the nurse on his way out and alert her to the fact that Mason might have a bunch of visitors today, and to reassure himself that she had his and Kim’s cell phone numbers.

As he sat in his car in the parking lot, he realized that he still had to notify Mason’s job.

Dammit.

He called his own job to let them know he was running a little late without getting into graphic details. Then he drove to the campus where Mason’s employer was located, stopping at the guard shack.

Five minutes later, and with a visitor’s ID badge, he was standing in the building’s lobby, awaiting someone to talk to.

One of the supervisors who worked under Mason emerged and led Cole to a nearby conference room to talk. Cole kept the facts brief.