Defiant Princess (Boys of Oak Park Prep #2) - Callie Rose Page 0,64

Roseland Medical. Philip Hildebrand was admitted to our facility just a short while ago, and we’ve been unable to reach his emergency contact. Your number was in his recent contacts. Are you a relative?”

My mouth went dry. My brain had gotten hung up around the words “admitted to our facility”, and I was struggling to catch up, to figure out what this meant.

“Yes.” I swallowed, blinking stupidly down at Miss Wallace, who was watching me with a concerned expression. “I’m… his granddaughter. What—what happened?”

“Your grandfather suffered a stroke. He’s in surgery now, and we’re doing everything we can to help him.”

The panic that’d been rising slowly, held down only by my blind reassurances to myself that nothing bad had happened, flooded my body so quickly my knees buckled. I braced one hand on Miss Wallace’s desk, the phone shaking in my other as I pressed it to my ear with bruising force. “Is he… okay?”

“His stroke was serious. I can’t give you a better prognosis until he’s out of surgery. But I wanted to reach out to you so you were aware what was going on and could come be here if you’d like. We’ve been trying to reach Jacqueline Hildebrand as well; she was listed as his ‘in case of emergency’. Do you happen to have an alternate contact number for her?”

“I… No. I—”

“It’s all right. We’ll get ahold of her. If you’d like to come to the hospital, we’ll be able to give you updates as soon as we have them. We can also call—”

“No! I’m coming. I’m coming!”

“All right.”

He rattled off the address, and I gestured desperately to Miss Wallace for a pen and paper, writing it down so fast it would be a miracle if I could read it later.

When I hung up, Miss Wallace stood from behind her desk, concern and pity etched into her face. “Are you all right, dear?”

“No.” My voice was hollow. “No. I have to—”

I didn’t even finish that sentence, already halfway out the door. I needed to get to Roseland Medical. I needed to be there now.

Chapter 17

A ride. I need a ride.

Flipping my backpack around to my front, I dug for my phone with shaking hands. There were two missed calls from a number I didn’t recognize, and I realized the hospital must’ve tried to call my cell first before switching to the alternate number Philip had for me.

Fuck. How many minutes had I lost because of that?

I pulled up the Uber app, and was about to start typing the hospital’s address when a voice penetrated the fog of my brain.

“Talia? Hey, Legs. You okay?”

My head jerked up with a start. I’d been walking and typing at the same time, hardly aware of my surroundings at all, and I’d almost run right into Finn.

“No.” It was the same one-word answer I’d given Miss Wallace, but it was the truth. “My grandpa. I have to—”

I skirted around him, heading for the south side of Craydon Hall where drop-offs and pick-ups happened, but he jogged to catch up to me.

“Your grandpa? What happened?”

“He had a—a stroke.” The word felt strange on my tongue. “I have to go—”

“Fuck.” Finn cursed low under his breath. Then he caught my arm. “Come on. I’ll drive you.”

There was a time when I would’ve refused. But at the moment, all I could think about was getting to the hospital, being there in case Philip needed me. So I nodded, letting Finn tug me in the opposite direction. We left Craydon Hall and cut northeast toward the student lot, and he kept his hand on my arm until we reached his car.

I’d actually never been in Finn’s car before. All through the previous semester, whenever we’d gone somewhere as a group, it was almost always in Mason’s car. Finn’s was black and sleek, though I wasn’t sure what kind it was, and he opened the passenger door for me, tugging my backpack off my shoulders and dropping it on the back seat while I sank into the plush leather up front. When he slid behind the wheel, he glanced over at me, running a hand through his golden-blond hair.

“Where is he?”

“Um. Roseland Medical.” I lifted the piece of paper in my hand, struggling to read the scrawled writing.

“I know where that is. It’s only like twenty minutes away. It’ll be okay, Legs. We’ll get there fast.”

I nodded numbly. Twenty minutes sounded like way too long. So much could happen in that time. My fingers twisted around and