“Yes? Who is this?”
“Jade, this is Louis, your father’s neighbor. Myrah gave me your number just in case anything happened while she was gone. Uhhh…” His voice trails off, like he’s not sure what to say, and my panic is a full on stampede surging through my body.
“Is he okay, Louis? What happened?” I’m trying mybest not to yell into the phone at this nice man, but he is not speaking quickly enough.
“I was doing yard work, and I heard a loud clatter coming from your pa’s. He wasn’t answering the door, so I let myself in and found him on the kitchen floor. He’s okay but seems to be in some discomfort and is refusing medical aid.”
“Fuck.” I grab my head and pace back and forth when I feel a presence walk up behind me. I choose to ignore it. Dad could be painfully stubborn when he wants to be. “Can you—I’m sorry, I know I don’t know you, and this is a lot to ask, but could you stay with him for a few hours until I can get there?”
“I’m sorry, but I’ve got my niece’s birthday party in an hour. I can stay till then, but I’ll have to leave after that.”
Shit. What am I going to do? I’m set to be on Oxford Street in just over an hour, meeting the very people who make my life possible. I can’t cancel on them this last minute without pissing off my management. And just thinking about all the effort everyone went through to even host this event, it doesn’t sit well with me. But I also can’t leave my dad alone after an accident like that either. Myrah has the weekend off, and Dad insisted he would be fine alone for the weekend. Stupidly, I relented, figuring I would work from his home tomorrow, that surely, he’d be fine aloneoneday.
“Thank you, Louis. I’ll figure something out within the hour.”
I groan into my palm before I start smacking it against my head, hoping the jostling would shake loose a solution in my brain. Aanya is recording for her EP, so she’s a no go, and I don’t know anyone else. I have no one else.
A hand reaches out, grabbing my wrist and halting my assault. “Stop that. Your face is too lovely to bruise it.”
The gravelly timbre of that voice makes my back straighten. I know who it is without looking up.
Tieran Stone is standing in front of me, tanned handlightly grasping my wrist. “I told you,” I say, slightly in a daze.
“Told me what?” His azure gaze is piercing—intense and intoxicating. How does he possibly have this effect on me? It’s annoying, inconvenient, and disturbing.
“You’refollowingme.”
He throws his head back on a laugh, and it stretches his neck, displaying the script tattoo he has starting under his ear and stretching down the side of his throat, too faint for me to make out this far away.
“I reckon it looks that way, doesn’t it? I live not far from here. I was coming back from physiotherapy.” His grip on my wrist tightens slightly, like his hand inadvertently twitched. but it makes me realize he’s still holding me. I pull out of his grasp.
“Everything alright?” he asks, nodding to my phone and the phone call he no doubt overheard.
And I must have completely lost my mind, because I just blurt everything out. “My dad has Parkinson’s, and he had an accident this morning. That was his neighbor calling to tell me he took a fall and is in some pain. He can’t stay with him, and I can’t get there for another few hours unless I disappointa lotof people, and I?—”
“I’ll go sit with him,” he offers, like it’s a normal thing to watch after someone you don’t know.
“No that—I wasn’t fishing to get you to offer… No, that’s kind of you, but I’ll figure something out.” I start searching the internet for someone who can get there and take care of him.
“Jade.” His tone is so firm, my attention snaps up to find a serious look tightening his face. He pulls the phone out of my hand, clearing the tab with last minute health attendants. “Let me help.”
“I can’t derail your Saturday. You probably have plans.” I wave my hands around in the air. “Pubs to visit, women to make swoon or something stupid,” I mutter.
“Jealous, boss?” I can hear the smile in his tone without looking.
“Don’t be ridiculous,” I say, tone resolute.
“Where does he live, Jade?”
I look up into his eyes and find nothing but a genuine desire to help laying there. “Blackheath.”
He smiles. “That’s perfect. That’s where my parents live, and I was already heading out that way to visit them today.”
“I can’t ask you to do this, and it’s not appropriate.” I shake my head, second guessing the fact that I’m actually considering this. I’ve well and truly lost my mind.
“I’d wager we’ve done far more inappropriate things. I don’t think me checking in on your father ranks.” His words are humorous but there's an undercurrent of something seductive—honest, in his tone.
My entire body flushes with heat at his words, trying to shove the memories of that night into the back of my mind where they belong.
