I pull out my phone and check the feeds. Ruby’s in class right now. She hates this teacher, but she goes, determined to get her doctorate and making plans to take care of her dad when he wakes up.
Just likeI’mmaking plans for when he wakes up. But not for him.
For her.
Chapter 22—Ruby
A few weeks later
“Ms. Hofstadter, do you think the rules don’t apply to you?”
I glare at my bag and keep searching through it to find my phone. I thought I silenced it. But of course it goes off in the one classroom where the professor is a dick. Most would just give a student a minute to silence it or some shit, but the second it went off, I got singled out. Of course, it’s obviously mine. I’m sitting alone in the back. Everyone else sits close. But I refuse to look at the guy if I can help it. He’s an egotistical jerk. Got tenure last year, so he thinks he can do whatever the fuck he wants—like talk down to his students when he’s not even ten years our senior.
He knows his stuff, I’ll give him that, but he’s only book smart. He couldn’t hack it in the real world. And didn’t, obviously. No other reason for why he’s teaching us how to be a successful business owner and not running one himself.
Guess the old saying is true: Those who can’t do, teach.
The guy’s also been a major prick since the moment he saw me. Could be my hair, or my clothes. I get looks for those. But I think it’s the fact that I haven’t taken off Dad’s old leather jacket much. I do when it’s hot, but the classrooms are always freezing, so I wear it. Almost religiously. And there’s no hiding the Hounds of the ReaperMC logo on it. There’s no president rocker, or any rocker, to be fair. Casper had it changed so I could be allowed to wear it and not disrespect the club in some way. Well, when I was still on speaking terms with them.
You know, before they confessed that it was all a lie and my dad’s not dead. He’s just in a coma, and no one knows when he’ll wake up, if ever. I try not to be morbid about it. I have a dad. Sure, it’s a one-sided conversation every time I see him, but I like to think that if hecouldtalk, he’d just listen to my rants and raves like usual and then add a little input here and there. He always was the best listener.
Even more so now.
“We’re all waiting, Ms. Hofstadter.”
I bite my tongue and silence the call at the same time, looking up with a plastic smile. He nods once, like he won or some shit, and goes back to his lecture.
I look at the screen and see the call was from the hospital. My heart stops. Nothing good can come from that. But before I can panic and dial the number, I get a text.
He’s awake.
I read it. Again and again. It’s not sinking in. And then it does. I gather my stuff, not caring how much noise I’m making or that I’m disturbing class. I have to leave, and I have to do it now.
“Ms. Hofstadter, please sit down. Class isn’t over.”
I put my backpack on my shoulders and look at the text once more to make sure I’m not imagining it. But it’s there. Clear as day. And from Mad Max. He wouldn’t fuck around with something like this.
“Ms. Hofstadter.”
I look at the professor, who’s red in the face. No clue if he yelled my name or just said it a ton before I looked up at him.
“My dad’s awake,” I say without thinking.
“Your what?” He looks confused, but that’s his problem.
I rush from the room, hearing murmurs from my classmates, but who cares what they say or think. My dad’s awake, and I’m finally going to tell him something I’ve held back each time I’ve talked to him since learning about his coma.
That I love him. And if he pulls this shit again, I’m going to kill him.
Getting to the hospital is easy. It’s all autopilot now. I know when to speed and when to slow down. I don’t even flinch at the number of bikes I see when I pull up. They’re closer, so it makes sense that they got here first. I might not like it, but until I can get Dad to see it my way, I have to live with it.
But not much longer. Soon the club will be out of our lives. I refuse to let this happen again. And I’ll do what Mom should have done so long ago: I’ll demand that he lose the club or lose me. It won’t be easy, but I need him to do it. To keep him alive. Because life without him is unbearable.
When I enter the building, Hounds are everywhere. But they all give me space. Well, everyone but Kooper. He walks rightup to me.
“They just took him back. General wanted to run some tests real quick.”
I nod but keep walking. The entrance isn’t his room. I need to be in his room.
