“What is the meaning of this?” he asked, flinging his hand toward Hutch and Cam and then pointing toward her and Sawyer.
Cam stepped forward. “Mr. Fallon, I don’t think this is a good time. Reggie is tired and in a lot of pain.”
Her father’s eyes flashed, and he rounded on Cam. “Her name is Regina, and what the hell are you doing here? What are any of you doing here?” He directed his ire back at Regina. “Do you have any idea how this appears? You’re a public figure, Regina. For God’s sake, it’s time to start acting like one.”
She eyed him dully, the pounding in her head vicious and unrelenting. “You’re the public figure, Dad.”
Power. It was all about power to him. He wanted it, craved it, and it pissed him off that he’d never been able to establish power over his only child.
He ignored her and began pacing back and forth while Cam and Hutch stared at him, their gazes narrow and angry.
“We’ll hold a press conference when you’re released. I’ll need to issue a statement.”
Press conference? She wanted to laugh. Who the hell cared about what went on in their little town? He might be able to pony up a one-man crew from Beaumont if it was a really slow news day.
She closed her eyes and leaned into Sawyer. Why had he come? Why was he here? Of course. He was worried how what had happened to her would affecthispublic image, and then he walked in to see three men he loathed all standing around his daughter. Three men he’d never approved of, had done everything in his power to keep Regina away from when she was younger.
“I’m going to have to ask you to leave, Mr. Fallon,” Hutch said evenly. “You’re upsetting Reggie.”
She opened her eyes to see her father bristle with rage and then compose himself. He straightened his suit and then his tie.
“I’ll arrange for the statement to be issued outside the hospital,” he said. “Surely you can manage that much, Regina. We can’t let it get out that our police department is ineffective. It would compromise the community’s faith in the department’s ability to keep them safe. All you’ll have to do is stand there and smile. I’ll do all the talking.”
She clenched her teeth and trembled in rage. Sawyer’s hand smoothed up and down her arm, and his other hand rested on her thigh. He gave her a comforting squeeze. Then he leaned over and kissed the side of her head.
Her father’s neck was mottled with anger. He made a show of checking his watch. “I’ll be out front waiting. The doctor said you’d be discharged within the hour.”
He turned and stalked out of the room, the door closing with a bang behind him.
“Pompous, self-important windbag,” Hutch said through clenched teeth. “I swear to God, one of these days I’m going to lay his ass out.”
“Reggie, honey, are you okay?” Sawyer’s concerned voice sounded in her ear.
“I’m fine,” she said quietly.
She looked at each of them, saw the sympathy and the anger in their expressions. And guilt. They knew that the three of them were a serious bone of contention between her and her father.
“What I need to know is who’s going to pull the truck around back so I can avoid the bullshit out front?”
Cam grinned. “Leave that to me, Reggie darling. Hutch and Sawyer can hustle you to the ER entrance, and I’ll be waiting there.”
CHAPTER 5
The nurse, bless her heart, had Regina discharged in half an hour. While she listened to the nurse rattle off her spiel about aftercare instructions, Hutch bent down and slipped Regina’s shoes on her feet. A few seconds later, a second nurse appeared at the door with a wheelchair.
“For God’s sake,” Regina muttered. “I don’t need a wheelchair.”
The nurse folded a sheaf of papers and handed them to Sawyer. “Hospital policy,” she said with a smile.
“Come on,” Hutch said as he helped her get up. “It won’t be so bad. It’ll be quicker anyway.”
There was that. Regina had no guilt whatsoever about having Hutch or Sawyer break into a run with the wheelchair if they were spotted by her father.
Press conference, my ass.
Elections were right around the corner, and Peter Fallon would use any means necessary to thrust himself into the spotlight. Positively, of course.
It probably suited him well to have a poor, pitiful daughter injured in the line of duty so he could take his tough-on-crime message to the public. She was only surprised he hadn’t dragged her mother along to play up the concerned maternal angle.
