Dangers of Love (The Scottish Billionaires #5) - M. S. Parker Page 0,4

official week at my new job. After Freedom left, I waited for Cain to tell me that I was fired. Instead, he dropped back into Bruce’s chair and sighed.

“No more fucking clients…or their sisters.” He rested his head on the back of the chair and closed his eyes.

“Never again,” I promised. “I’m done with women for the foreseeable future. Not worth it.”

He raised his head and opened one eye. “You’re forgetting who you’re talking to. I dated a Mercier woman. They’re worth a hell of a lot.”

I blew out an exasperated breath. “Not this much trouble.”

He shrugged and put his head back down. “Wait and see. They’re a lot more addictive than you think. I dated Freedom for about three months, and then, just before I got my new assignment, she dumped me. Took me almost a year to get over her.”

Shit.

“Not the same,” I insisted. “Aline and me, it wasn’t like that.”

It might have been, if things hadn’t gone to shit every fucking time I was with her. I slept with the woman three times, and each time, all hell had broken loose right after. Like the better the sex, the crazier things got.

“Mm-hm.” It didn’t sound like he believed me, but I wasn’t so sure I believed me either.

He looked like he was going to take a nap, which was fine with me because I didn’t feel like talking. My mind had already been fucked up because of what’d happened over the weekend, and Freedom’s visit hadn’t helped matters much. I needed to get my head on straight and focus on my future, not on the latest thing Aline had done to get herself into trouble.

I hadn’t been thinking for very long when my phone rang. A quick glance at the screen told me it was Israel McCormack, Leo’s dad. If he was calling me during the week, something was up.

“Hello?”

“I hate to bother you at work, kid, but…” His voice cracked. “Nana Naz…she’s in the hospital.”

I stood up so fast my head spun. “Is she…what happened?”

“I don’t know. Doctors wouldn’t let me stay with her while they’re doing the examination.”

I’d never heard him like this. I hadn’t been there when he’d gotten the news about Leo, but he hadn’t been alone then. He’d had Nana Naz. Now, he didn’t have anyone. Because of me. Because I couldn’t save Leo.

I had to do something.

“I’m on my way.”

A moment passed as he cleared his throat. “Thank you.”

“Call if something happens. I’ll check my voicemail when I can.”

Before I ended the call, Cain was on his feet, his expression serious. “What do you need?”

“Time.” I shoved my phone in my pocket. “Family emergency.”

He nodded. “Do what you need to do. The job’ll be here when you get back. Need me to do anything for you?”

I shook my head, my mind already halfway back home. “I’ll be fine. Just have to go.”

“Then go.”

He didn’t even pause, just told me to go, and he meant it. I didn’t know the other guys well, but I knew they’d understand too. Family came in all shapes and sizes, which I understood better than anyone. And that was why I planned to get back to San Ramon as fast as I possibly could. Another part of my family was hurting and needed me.

The five-and-a-half-hour drive sucked. It was long enough for me to hate every second of it but not so long that it would’ve been worth trying to find a flight. I made it two hours into the drive before I realized that it might’ve been smarter for me to have gotten one of my siblings who lived in L.A. to drive me.

Smarter because that was when I started to get that hollow echoing sound, the tunnel vision, that warned me that a flashback or panic attack – or both – was coming. I pulled over, hating myself for having to waste time but knowing that it’d be worse if I tried to fight through it while behind the wheel.

Fortunately, it didn’t take long to calm down. Focusing on getting to Israel and Nana Naz, of being there for them because Leo couldn’t, helped. I kept that in mind as I finished the drive to the hospital.

At the first red light I hit in the city, I texted Israel to let him know where I was, and he said he’d meet me in the lobby. He hadn’t called to give me any updates, but I was taking that as a positive sign. Plus, I