KadenSwiping the card over the reader, I took the stairs two at a time and cradled the flowers in my arm to protect them. Once I reached the top, I opened the door with a bang and contemplated hiding from Ember around the corner—all in the name of the game.I was so deep in thought I almost missed the broad pair of shoulders turning so their owner could see who had caused such a racket bursting through the door. Even if he never completed that turn, I would have known it was my dad.My heart smacked angrily against the inside of my chest, my blood running cold in shock and then hot with rage all in the space of the few seconds it took me to comprehend who I was looking at.Ember was wrong. My dad wasn’t on a trip. His car wasn’t here because he’d been driven to the airport from here. It was here because he was. Which begged the question: was she wrong, or had she lied to me?I wanted to give her the benefit of the doubt. I really did, but there were several irrefutable facts I had to

EmberThanking my lucky stars for having a best friend like Gracie, I jumped in and told her everything. Once I had spilled my guts and was lying broken and bleeding on the floor, Gracie cleared her throat. “So let me get this straight. You find out your boyfriend’s dad is dying, but your boyfriend doesn’t know, and you don’t tell him. Instead, you orchestrate a meeting for them in a place they both hold sacred when you know he’s not talking to his dad, and now you’re hoping they haven’t killed each other?”“Pretty much.” I sat back in my chair, spinning it around to face the city skyline and wishing phones still had cords so I would have something to wrap around my finger. Or my neck. “When you say it that way, it sounds really bad. I should have just encouraged him to return his dad’s calls, huh?”“Probably,” she said. “But on the other hand, news like that has to be delivered face to face, so they would have had to end up in the same room at some point. Also, maybe Kaden hasn’t cal

KadenI shrugged. “I don’t know. To be honest, probably not.”Ember lifted her eyes to mine. Up until this very moment, she hadn’t been planning on giving an inch. I saw it as soon as she got out of car, just like I saw it the second she changed her mind. “Just hear me out, please? I promise I can explain.”“You lied to me,” I gritted out, feeling the same stab of betrayal twisting in my heart I felt when I saw my dad on the roof last night. “That’s all I need to know.”“I understand why you feel that way. I really do. But there are things you don’t know. Extenuating circumstances, if you will.” She was as close to begging as the word damn was to being a cuss word, but she was hanging in there. “I had to get you to him. He talked to me about you the other day in his office. You weren’t taking his calls, and he really needs to speak to you.”I laughed humorlessly. “I don’t believe you. If he talked about me, you’d know he only needed to speak to me to remind me of what a disappointment

Ember“What’s his prognosis?” He all but whispered, looking the doctor right in the eyes. If Dr. Christie had noticed the size of the bomb he had just inadvertently dropped on Kaden, he didn’t let on.He ran a hand through his graying hair, but there was nothing casual about the gesture. I didn’t know the man, but I recognized the signs when I saw them. In front of me was a man who was about to deliver really bad news. The lines on his face seemed to deepen right before my eyes, a ragged exhale and a soft shake of his head confirming my fears.“Your dad is on life support,” he said. At least he had the decency and probably the years of experience that allowed his voice to remain steady and to keep his gaze firm on Kaden’s. He wasn’t going to give him any false hope or make any promises he knew he wasn’t going to be able to keep. “At the moment, these machines are the only thing keeping him alive.”This time, I definitely felt him sway. He was holding my hand so tightly it felt like it

Kaden“I’m not taking him off fucking life support,” I snapped, enraged that this man had the nerve to stand in front of me and tell me we were out of options. “You are going to figure out something else, or I’ll have him moved to another hospital where the doctors are competent enough to actually do something for their patients.”Dr. Christie lifted his hands, holding up his palms, and took a step away from me. Smart man. My breaths were coming hard and fast, my hands in fists at my sides. I was pretty sure my nostrils even flared.“I’m going to have to ask you to calm down, Mr. Marx. I know this is—”“You don’t know shit.” My voice came out louder and harsher than I intended. Several nurses at the station and some of the other doctors he’d been talking to earlier turned to look our way. I didn’t have any fucks left to give about that. “Don’t tell me to fucking calm down. My dad is dying, and you refuse to treat him. How am I supposed to be calm about that?”“I’m not refusing to trea