I wantTristan.
8
Tristan Broussard
I open my eyes,roll over, and look at my phone when I hear it ringing. Conrad Grant—that’s the name that I see glowing in the dark. And my heart takes off as though it just heard the shot at the onset of arace.
Something has happened to EmmaLia.
I reach for my phone and I send the fucker flying to the floor. “Fuck!”
Sitting up and extending my arm, I reach for the lamp on the nightstand and in my haste, I manage to knock it over as well. “Fuck!”
“What is it, Conrad? What hashappened?”
“It’s Emma Lia. She was attacked in the parking garage at hercondo.”
I’m a man who has gone through life without worrying about others. Although I’ve always respected my father, I’ve neverlovedhim. At least not the way that I believe other children love their parents. And certainly not the way that I hope my children will loveme.
I’ve also never loved a woman prior to Emma Lia. And for that reason, I’ve never known true unadulterated fear. But I know it now when I hear Conrad tell me that my beloved has beenattacked.
I’m fucking terrified. “How bad isit?”
“Not sure yet. She’s in the emergency room now being seen by the doctor, but she was awake and asking for you when I was inthere.”
“I’m at the Biloxi casino. I can be there in fifteenminutes.”
Ray has barely stopped the car when I dash out of the backseat, running toward the hospitalentrance.
I find the Grants gathered in the waiting room. “Where isshe?”
“They only allow one visitor at a time, and Avery is with her now.” Adam takes his phone out of his pocket. “I’ll text her to come out so you can goin.”
“Thankyou.”
I have so many questions, but all of them can wait. Right now, I need to see my girl. I need to see that she’sokay.
Avery comes through the doors, and I take the visitor pass from her. “Thank God you’re here. She’s having a fit to seeyou.”
I stop at the door before entering and inhale deeply, preparing myself for what I’m about tosee.
Emma Lia is lying on her back, her eyes closed. Her skin is pale, much paler than usual, and her left cheek and eye are reddish-purple andswollen.
I go to her, taking her hand in mine. “Mon bien-aimé.”
Her uninjured eye opens and she sits up, putting her arms up like a toddler wanting to be picked up. “Tris… tan.” He voices breaks midway through my name, and she bursts intotears.
I wrap my arms around her, careful to not squeeze too tightly since I don’t know how badly she’s been injured. “I’m here, mon bien-aimé, and I’ve got younow.”
“Oh God, Tristan. I was soscared.”
I release my hold and pull away, looking her over. “What happened,baby?”
“Adam asked me to come in and do a bunco with him at the blackjack table tonight, which I did, and I had just gotten home. I got out of the car, and a man in the parking garage wearing a black ski mask told me to hand over my purse and the keys to your car. I was so scared that I couldn’t move. I guess he mistook my stillness for refusal and punched me a couple of times. I was lying on the ground, and he saw my collar.” Her sobbing grows louder. “He ripped it off my neck, and when I tried to get up, he kicked me a bunch of times in mystomach.”
I sit on the bed and pull her into my arms, stroking the back of her hair with my hand as she cries into myshoulder.
“I’m so sorry,Tristan.”
