“Yes.”
“Angel Gaffin?” a woman called, and I glanced up. She had a sweet round face and curly, punk purple hair pulled back in a ponytail. “You need to follow me, honey. We’re going to a room to wait for the doctor. Looks like you have two breaks and he’ll want to cast it.” She gave me a soft smile.
“Is your father Peter Gaffin?” Casey asked. He leaned down to look into my eyes, and I wasn’t sure if he was going to kiss me or what, but I bit at the ball of my tongue piercing.
“Yeah, how did you know?”
He held up the card in his hand and gave me a funny smile. The kiss he pressed to my cheek wasn’t nearly enough as he leaned down to give me a soft hug, too. “Don’t worry about it.”
“Fuck, did he do something to you before? I’m sorry.”
He sat back and when he did he scanned his gaze over my face and body, like he was looking for something. “Go get fixed up.”
I nodded and stood on less than happy knees to follow the nurse, and he got to his feet as well and stayed there staring after me until I disappeared into a room down the hall with one last wave at him. Not long later, I sat on a hospital bed in a tiny white-walled room that had me feeling like I was going nuts from lack of fresh air, wondering what the hell Dad had done tonight to Mr. Xenakis after I took off. I wasn’t sure how upset I really was since the old man always had something rude to say.
My mean thoughts had guilt creeping over me.
Dr. Adams came in and interrupted my mental calculation of how much money I didn’t have that this hospital trip might end up costing. He let out a relieved sigh. “Good, he’s gone.”
“What?” Irritation had me trying to cross my arms, but then I winced as I knocked around my injury.
“I have to ask you a question, now that Casey’s not here. Casey Uhlig. There’s someone I hoped I wouldn’t see again.”
Dr. Adams shut the door and took a deep breath. He went to a laptop that sat on a counter to my left and turned the screen toward me. An X-ray glowed against a dark background, and he pointed at a couple of clear cracks, I assumed in my wrist. “This kind of break doesn’t normally happen from a household accident. Impact. We see it in car accidents sometimes. Did you need to submit this to car insurance?”
“No, it was just… I fell.”
Dr. Adams’s lips pinched nearly white. “When we were in school together… Casey was known for his temper.” The man’s eyes went all sympathetic, and I hopped down from the bed to edge toward the door.
“He didn’t do anything to me. Casey can be scary, I know. He didn’t do it, though.”
Dr. Adams beat me to the door and rested his hand on it. My heart kicked up a notch and I backed away from him. “Let me out.”
“Where are you going? You need a cast.”
“Can we stop talking about this? I promise he didn’t do it.” I felt my control slipping. I was either going to shove him out of the way or say something nasty enough to qualify as toxic contamination.
Dr. Adams hesitated, and I could tell he wasn’t happy. “Sure. I’ll send one of the physician’s assistants in, and they’ll get you fixed up. If you need help, tell them.”
“I’m fine. Don’t talk about Casey.”
He nodded and left. Embarrassed, I rubbed at the back of my neck. Why now? Never, all the other times I’d come into the ER, had anyone acted like that. Was it because they’d seen Casey and how big he was walking in beside me? That wasn’t fucking fair. I fought the urge to sit down on the floor and just… collapse. I had no idea what to do to help myself or Dad, but I probably shouldn’t have sent Casey to take care of any of it. I leaned heavily on the bed and even though I’d never had anyone with me at the hospital in the past, I wished I could have had Casey here right now, instead of off dealing with Dad.
He’d barely met me and he’d already been sucked into my drama. Tonight would probably be the only date I got. He’d meet Dad and it would be over. I squeezed my eyes shut and tried not to think about anything at all. Time ticked by in centuries instead of minutes. I dragged my phone out of my pocket, along with the earbuds I had with me all the time. I stuffed the buds in my ears and searched through my playlists. My breath was ragged as I got lost in strings and sad melodies while I waited for the only good thing that had ever come to me out of a bad situation to vanish. Casey would disappear for fucking certain after this.
Yeah, five minutes with Dad, and Casey would be out of the game.
And I’d be the last loser left in it, as usual.
6
Casey
Ihadn’t seen or heard the name Peter Gaffin from anyone except Creed and Merit in a long fucking time, and I could have happily gone my whole life without doing so again. Aimlessly, I walked along with my eyes glued to the clean tiles on the floor of the busy ER hallway. I stopped and leaned a shoulder against the wall and tried to slow my rapid breaths. How the fuck could sweet little Angel’s father be that asshole? I hung my head. There was absolutely no fucking way they were related. His dad had to be someone else. This was an odd coincidence. Peter was a common enough name, and Gaffin…. Well, there could be more than one Gaffin family in New Gothenburg. If I had any decent karma at all this man would be someone else. My heart sank, but what if it was Peter Gaffin, the fucking scuzzbucket who’d made my high school years hell?
Memories of the last day of school, the day before graduation, tried to break free and rampage in my mind, but I refused to allow them my attention. Gritting my teeth, I stared at the name on the card in my hand.
What if Peter really is his father?
