Hard Knox - Riley Hart Page 0,86

“Shh. You’ve got this, buddy. You’re doing good. Try to calm down.” Knox’s hand was running through Logan’s hair as I spoke.

We all rushed to the front of the house. Knox’s truck was blocked in by my car and Amanda’s. The fire was still going out back. I didn’t know if the grill was on and Frankie Blue was out. Charlie was crying hysterically, so I tossed him my keys. “Take my car.”

He looked back and forth between me and Charlie. “Cal,” Knox said, panic in his voice.

“I got Charlie. You take care of Logan. We’ll meet you there.”

“We can drive you and Charlie,” Amanda told us.

“Thank you.”

“Call Carol,” Knox added before he and Logan climbed into my car and drove away.

Amanda added, “I can keep Charlie—”

“No!” Charlie cut her off, crying. “I want to go. Please don’t make me stay, Callum. Please let me go with you.”

“Shh. Hey, it’s okay. You can go with me. Are you kidding me? Logan needs his sister, and your dad needs his girl. Can you get your phone for me? So I can call your mom?”

She ran into the house.

Dale was crying, so I told him, “He’s going to be fine. They need to get some oxygen in him, and he’ll be just fine.”

I went for the backyard, turning on the hose to put the fire out. I checked the grill and got Frankie Blue in the house.

Amanda was hugging Charlie when I got there again and I tried not to wish that was me. Now wasn’t the time.

She pulled away from Amanda and handed me the phone. “Get in the back seat with me, okay, sweetie? Put your seat belt on.” She obeyed.

Amanda and Dale got into the front.

I called Carol first and told her what was happening. “I’m sure he’s fine. He’ll be okay.” And while she was appreciative, she still said she was getting a flight out. I figured that was a mom thing. Plus, I wasn’t sure if Logan had an attack this bad before. Knox hadn’t mentioned emergency room visits.

The drive seemed to take forever. “Thank you,” I told Amanda when she let us out at the hospital.

We got to the ER. Charlie held my hand as we rushed to the counter. “Logan Wheeler was brought in with his dad a few minutes ago. I’m…” His dad’s boyfriend? I couldn’t say that. I wasn’t Logan’s stepfather or uncle or anything else. “A friend. This is his sister. Can we—Actually…” I turned to Charlie. “Come over here and sit down for me, okay? Let’s get you comfortable in the waiting room while I find out what’s going on with your brother.”

“Sir,” the woman at the counter said, “is his mother here?” I shook my head. I worked in the medical field. I understood how all this went. They always limited how many people could go back in the ER and they mostly wanted it to be family. Still, being on the other side of it stung. I suddenly wished I worked there instead of at the Havenwood clinic so maybe they’d make an exception. “We can’t tell you anything. Not yet. They’re working on him now.”

“Okay. We’ll wait. We’ll be right in the waiting room. If Knox is looking for us, can you let him know Callum and his daughter are here?”

I was trying to hold it together, trying to keep from showing how I was cracking apart inside. I wasn’t supposed to be freaking out, but this was…this was Logan. This was too close to my heart.

I sat down with Charlie, who was crying.

“Do you want a hug? Are you okay?” I asked, and she leaned against me, let me wrap my arm around her and hold her while she cried. I didn’t move until she fell asleep against me.

Knox still hadn’t come out. Still hadn’t updated me.

I dialed Mom’s number. It was late, and she answered with, “What’s wrong?”

I replied softly so as not to wake Charlie. “Mama, I need you.”

“Where are you?” I told her, and she said, “I’ll be right there.”

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

Knox

I’d never been so scared in my life.

They had Logan’s breathing under control now. He’d had X-rays and a breathing treatment. They wanted to run some tests and keep him at least overnight. They weren’t sure exactly why he’d had such a bad asthma attack. It could have been the smoke and the exacerbation of playing the games. He likely felt it coming on but thought he had it under control and didn’t want