The crack in the door grows wider with Van’s hand pushing on it. “Are you saying he had something to do with her passing out?”
I don’t have to answer for Van to snap.
The most level-headed man I’ve ever met leaps across the room and grabs my father by the collar of his shirt. I spring from my seat to jump in between them.
“Van.” I grab a hold of his face and make him look at me. “Remember, you’re in a room full of stewards.”
Whom I can’t help but notice aren’t doing a single thing to stop this.
Van seethes, spit flying from his mouth. “His actions have not only landed Noah in the hospital, but Tessa too? I will not stand here and let him hurt my family.”
“What the hell do you think I’m doing here?” I snap. “I'm willing to give up my career to fix this. Do not risk yours on top of it.”
Van’s phone rings, and he scrambles to answer it.
Tessa’s name flashes across the screen, and I let go of him. The shaky sound of her voice stabs me in the chest. My stomach knots, and I turn away from him as he steps into the hallway.
My dad angrily brushes his hands down his shirt.
“I want him fined!” he yells, pointing to Van.
“You’re fucking unbelievable,” I mutter.
Van hangs up the phone, and we make eye contact. His face pales, and I hold my breath.
“He’s in the ICU.”
A hush works through the room.
I turn back to my father, and if I’m not mistaken, there’s the smallest line of worry in between his eyebrows.
I point at him. “If anything happens to him, it’s on you.”
“Are you coming or not?” Van asks me.
I quickly glance at the stewards. “You know where to find me.”
Then I give my dad one last look. “And fuck you.”
Chapter Forty-Seven
TESSA
I haven’t uttereda single word in the last several hours. Exhaustion sweeps in, the caffeine from my Diet Coke well beyond gone. My dad stares through the glass at my brother hooked up to various machines with a large bandage wrapped around his head while my mom bounces her worry back and forth between the two of them.
She’s fussing at my dad to sit and eat, worried that the stress of this evening will set things off for his heart again, but he’s refused to do either.
Instead, he just stares blankly.
Lost in his thoughts.
Kind of like me.
I drift in and out of a light sleep, and eventually, my head lands on Quinn’s lap, who showed up shortly after we did. I jerk awake from the squeaking of a tennis shoe on the floor or the elevator beeping to see her head resting on Beck’s shoulder, only for my eyes to flutter closed again.
There’s a muttering of voices that belong to my brothers.
It isn’t until I hear Van that my heart skips a beat.
