I didn’t go far that night. I walked out of her hospital room and set up camp in the waiting room down the hall. I’d told her I would be there for her, and I would be. Whatever it took. Sitting in the most obnoxiously lumpy chairs, I cursed the administrative staff that thought these were acceptable accommodations. Granted, they probably didn’t expect someone to try to sleep in them for two days straight. Either way, I was still sending some hate mail to somebody.

I was sat, leaning forwards with my elbows on my knees and my face in my hands when Kyler and Harper came in together. Harper stopped when I looked up at her and she cursed under her breath. Ky leaned down and whispered in her ear. She nodded and then turned to head down the hall to Em’s room. Ky came over to sit next to me.

“Has she let you in to see her?”

“No.” My voice sounded odd to my own ears.

“Has the doctor told you when she can come home?”

“He told her parents that she could go home this evening. Her Dad relayed the message to me when he was here earlier. Apparently Em told Dr. Monroe that I wasn’t to be given any more information.”

He sucked in a breath. “Ouch man. I’m sorry.”

I just nodded in response and dipped my head back down.

“Did she tell Richard if she was coming back home to your place?”

I shook my head. “No.”

We sat in silence for five minutes before Ky slapped my back and stood up. “When was the last time you had something to eat, or got any sleep?”

I shrugged my shoulders. “Two days ago I guess, but I’ve dozed off now and then.”

“Well there’s not a whole lot going on right now, so why don’t you take a walk with me down to the cafeteria and we’ll get a coffee and a bite to eat.”

I was going to say I was fine, but Ky gave me a look that said he would toss my raggedy ass over his shoulder and march me down there if he had to. I didn’t have it in me to argue with him. Getting up from my chair, I stretched. My muscles ached worse than if I’d just done a hardcore workout.

“Good boy.” He patted me on the head like a puppy.

I shook him off. “Ass.” He chuckled.

Walking past the nurses’ station I overheard a man asking for Emilyn and I stopped dead in my tracks. Turning around, I took him in. He was a tall, brown haired man, dressed in a suit and expensive shoes. The nurse asked who he was and he told them that his name was Weston and he was her husband. The nurse said that Ms. Tucker hadn’t listed a husband on her medical chart, but she’d gladly call down to her room to see if she was available for any visitors. When she hung up the phone she told him the room number and pointed in the direction of Em’s room. He walked past Kyler and me, tipping his head in a nod as he walked by.

I saw red.

What the fuck was that little pencil-dick doing here? He wasn’t her husband anymore. Better yet, if the nurse called down to Em, why had she said that it was okay for him to see her, when she wouldn’t even let me in the room? I followed him down the hall. Ky wasn’t too far behind me. Weston reached Em’s room, stopped and knocked. I heard her voice through the door telling him to come in. Swallowing hard and wondering what was going to happen I crept closer to the door that he’d left slightly ajar, but stayed off to the side and out of view.

“Hello Emilyn.” His voice was cool—probably his lawyer voice that he used with his clients.

“What are you doing here West?” She didn’t even sound like herself.

“That’s a good fucking question. What are you doing here asshat?” Harper’s voice was venomous.

“Asshat?” Ky whispered behind me. “What the fuck? That’s my name.”

“Shut up Ky.” I said quietly.

“I got a phone call while I was in the office yesterday. A woman named Aubrey contacted my secretary to let me know you were in the hospital and had lost the baby.”

“That mother fucking hairy cunt ass Cheeto! I’m going to kill her!” Harper spat, her voice carrying down the hall. A few nurses wandering the halls stopped to look down at us.

Kyler chuckled by my side. Of course the love-struck idiot would think that was cute. I tensed at the news. How in the world had Aubrey of all people heard? I’d forgotten how fast news spreads in a small town. Someone had probably seen us waiting for the ambulance and Em bleeding. I’d known Aubrey didn’t care for Em, but the fact that she felt the need to lash out and call West in Chicago? That was crossing a line. If Harper didn’t get a hold of her before me, there would be hell to pay for this one.

“Harper, enough.” Em was too calm, and it made me uneasy.

“It would appear that the information relayed was correct.” The asshole was so formal.

“Yes. I lost our son.”

There was a short period of silence.

“You know that it was a boy?”

“That’s what I was told.” She was so cold in the way she spoke about it. Detached and distant.

“Hmmm, I see. Were you planning on telling me about this?”

“It just fucking happened. And pardon me that you aren’t the first phone call on her list of people that needed to know. I’m pretty sure you lost that right when you stuck your dick in that whore of an interior decorator!” Harper yelled.

“I don’t believe I was talking to you, Harpy. If you would take your crude mouth and leave, I’d like to have a talk with Emilyn.”

“I’m going to give you two seconds to run before I…”

Harper couldn’t finish that sentence because Kyler plowed past me and went into the room. I followed behind him and saw that he already across the room moving Harper out of the way and getting up in West’s face. I’ll give the guy credit, because he didn’t flinch or back down. Shocking since I always thought West would be some pansy lawyer that sat in his high-rise behind his desk, never getting his hands dirty. Well that, and Kyler was a big mother fucker. Not as big as me, but certainly intimidating.

“You might want to watch the way you’re talking to my girl here.”

Harper gasped. “Your girl?” She asked in shock at hearing this news.

Ky made a quick glance over his shoulder. “Quiet woman, we’ll talk later.”

West cleared his throat. “If you two are done with your little domestic dispute, I’m trying to have a civilized conversation here.”

“I’m about to shove my civilized foot up your ass!” Ky’s tone was clipped.

“Enough.” Em said from the bed. “Back off Kyler. Down Harper.” Then her attention turned to me. “What are you doing in here Finn? You’re not welcome.”

Okay that one stung and I winced. I watched as the realization of who I was spread across West’s face.

“Finn? As in ‘high school Finn’? The one that left you high and dry after graduation?”

“Yes, the one and only.” She clipped.

West chuckled. It grated my nerves like they were being pulled across a micro-grater.

“Why is he here?”

She looked at me. “I don’t know.”

“I’m with her, dick.” I gritted through my teeth.

“No you’re not.” She said with cold empty eyes.

“You just couldn’t stand being alone, could you Emilyn?” West asked.

“About as much as you felt the need to have two women at your beck and call, Weston.” She enunciated his name.

I couldn’t help the smirk on my face.

“Fair enough.” His tone was dismissive, like what she said didn’t matter to him. “Let’s talk business. I came here because I want you to sign these papers stating that I am no longer required to pay you any form of child support. In addition, any support that I have paid you thus far shall be returned to me in full.”

My jaw hit the floor. He actually came all the way out here to tell her that he wanted his money back? She’d just lost their baby and he was acting like none of that mattered. I felt Ky move up behind me. My blood was boiling and my fists balled at my sides.

“Fine.” And just like that, she gave in to him.