Addicted to Mr Parks (The Parks Series #2)(12)

I threw my hands up. “I do have my shit together.”

“No, you don’t,” she yelled. “You’re in bloody hospital with alcohol poisoning. When are going to get help, Evey? This can’t go on. Next time could kill you. Don’t you see how serious this is?” Tears began to drop from her eyes, falling onto her cheeks. “This can’t go on,” she repeated, her voice croaking.

Drowning in her words, I swallowed hard and sagged back down onto the hospital bed. My heart dipped because I couldn’t watch her cry. I’d caused her tears and pain, and the guilt cut me apart.

“Chez, I wouldn’t have got in this state if I remembered Darcy’s concert.”

Slamming her palm on the bed, she hissed, “Don’t you dare use my daughter as an excuse not to drink. You need to do it for you! What the hell is wrong with you? Tell me!”

“It’s nothing,” I yelled.

Cheryl glared at me and shook her head. “I’m going to get a cupper. Stay put,” she warned. My head fell back onto the pillow, my eyes closing in exasperation.

Moments after the curtain was closed and Cheryl exited, it was opened again by a hasty, panicky man who made my heart jolt in its cage.

“Evelyn?” He was breathless, looking torn and tortured.

“Parks?” My head sprung from the pillow, his image giving me whiplash. I had to blink a couple of times to make sure I wasn’t still disorientated. “What the hell are you doing here?”

He ignored my rational question and outburst and marched to the side of my bed. “I came as soon as I traced your cell phone to the hospital.” His eyes frantically scanned the whole length of my body, and he scowled as he noted the drip.

“You traced my phone?” I asked in astonishment.


The guilty glance he tried to hide told me he wasn’t being completely honest. “I have a board that monitors your calls. Anyway, never mind that—”

“You monitor my calls?” I cut him short, waving my hands around.

“I may have told the team to monitor your number, yes. I’m not sorry I pried.”

I stared at the most infuriating man I had ever met. Why the hell was he here? My veins burned with the fevered blood that ran throughout my body. “You shouldn’t be here. I don’t want you here. Get out before I call security.”

He touched my arm gently, his concern laying deep within his eyes. “You don’t mean that.”

I threw off his hand quickly, ignoring the heat of his touch. “Are you f*cking serious? I disgust you, remember?”

“Then why did I just die a thousand deaths worrying what the hell may have happened to you? If something bad had happened to you, I…” He ran a firm hand through his glossy, dark hair.

“You what?” I urged him, because I wanted to know what he may have done, because something inside me ticked when I thought of him being in a bad way over my bad way.

He mustered up all his strength to form the words. “If something happened to you, I would have to live in a world that you wouldn’t be a part of anymore. I couldn’t live that way. I don’t want a life without you, Evelyn.”

What? He couldn’t say things like that to me. “You already have. You left me. You said I disgust you. You acted like I didn’t exist when I fell at work yesterday.”

I waited for his response, but it was quickly abolished as my aunty sauntered back into the room with a tea in her hand. She almost stumbled when she saw Parks hovering over me. I cringed as I watched her eyes roam over his grey-suited body, and when she spoke, her tone was all breathy.

“Oh, excuse me, Doctor. Have I missed anything?”

I threw my head back onto my pillow furiously. “He’s not a bloody doctor, Cheryl. He’s leaving.”

“Oh?” she asked. “I thought—”

“No, he’s not. But while you’re both here, maybe Cheryl should find out the reason why I’ve been drinking again?” Both bewildered heads shot towards me. “That’s right,” I told them, my eyes bulging as I stared at Parks. “This man here—” I nudged my head his way, “—has been f*cking with my mind, causing me to drink because I can’t deal with the situations he puts me in.”

Parks almost choked on my words. His face screwed up, and my aunty almost dropped her tea. “Evey, what are you talking about?” she demanded.

Parks straightened out his tie sheepishly. He didn’t want my aunty knowing our business; neither did he want to be painted with dirt. “You’re tired, Evelyn. We will talk about this more privately.”

My brows shot up cryptically. “Will we?”

Cheryl propped her tea onto a nearby table so fast it spilt, then turned to face Parks with crossed arms, making her gold bangles jingle around her wrists. “Will someone tell me what the hell is going on? Who is this man if he’s not a doctor?”

“He’s my boss.” I shook my head, getting annoyed. “No, not my boss, the CEO of the company I work for and a complete and utter mind-f*cking tosser.”

“Evey!” Cheryl scolded my language, and the insidious glare I got from Parks almost made me want to place X-Men glasses over his pupils before he burnt me alive.

“I apologise for your niece’s behaviour.” He scowled at me, then stepped towards Cheryl. “I’m Wade Parks.” He bent down and charmingly kissed her cheek. She glowed scarlet, but then she saw my glower and shook herself out of it.