wouldn’t want him to think you didn’t care,” she replied.
That was my exact concern. I was worried that not showing up would make me come across as a self-absorbed bitch to his family. “Maybe we could just drive to the hospital, just so they know I do care about Olivia. I may not truly know her, but she’s Ryan’s daughter, and that means she’s important to me too.”
“Okay, let’s get dressed,” Bailey said as she stood and rushed off toward her room.
Chapter Nineteen
Ryan
I needed to see Olivia. Only when I heard her voice and felt her hand in mine would I be able to calm down. I needed to know my little girl was okay. I hadn’t even paused to greet my family in the waiting area. I stormed toward the nurses’ station and demanded to see my daughter.
When I entered her room, my heart felt like it hit the floor. Olivia sat on the edge of the bed while a doctor stitched a large cut above her right eye. There was a sling on her arm, and her shirt was covered in blood.
She winced as the doctor fed the needle through the tender skin, and I rushed to her side.
“I’m sorry, Daddy.” Her voice vibrated as her lower lip trembled.
“Shh, I know. We’ll talk about it later. Right now let’s just get you fixed up, okay?” I rubbed her back while the doctor continued to work.
After about ten minutes, another doctor came into the room, followed by my mother. She took a seat on the chair beside the bed and patted my knee, offering her motherly support without even speaking.
“Hello, Ryan.” I was shocked seeing the woman before me. “I’m Olivia’s doctor.”
“Zoey, how are you?” It had been years since I last saw her. Claire and Zoey used to be friends before Zoey left for college and took a job in Seattle as a doctor.
“Good. I just moved back about three weeks ago. Missed my family, so when this job opened up—” She shrugged. “—I took it.”
“Well, it’s good to have you back.”
She smiled, and after a long pause, she averted her eyes to the chart she held. “Olivia’s X-ray shows a fracture to her right wrist, which will require a cast. She sustained minor injuries to her head—a concussion and a decent-sized laceration above her right eye, which required stitches.” Zoey paused as she flipped the page. “There was something that showed up in her bloodwork that concerns me. I would like to go over the results with her.”
My chest tightened. “What kind of things?”
“Do you want to step out or—?”
I shook my head as my eyes shifted toward Olivia. She suddenly appeared nervous, and that only made my mind race faster.
“Right here is fine,” I said as I took a seat next to my mother. She gripped my shoulder in support.
“Olivia had a high level of alcohol in her bloodstream.”
My heart sank at the thought of my fifteen-year-old daughter drinking. I looked up at her, and I knew she saw the disappointment in my eyes. She immediately looked away and twisted her hands nervously in her lap.
“What the hell were you thinking?” It left my mouth before I had time to think about it. “Drinking, Olivia, goddamn it.”
“Ryan,” my mother whispered as she gripped my shoulder a little tighter. I shrugged out of her hold and stood up to pace the room. I was trying to control my anger, but I just couldn’t.
“Who the hell got you alcohol? Was it Charlie? How did he get it? Where did he get it?” She curled into herself a little tighter and wouldn’t look at me. “Tell me, Olivia, right now. Or so help me God, I will go find Charlie myself, and whatever injuries he sustained from this carelessness will be minor compared to what I’ll do to him.”
The room was silent except for the sounds of my heart pounding in my ears. Controlling my anger was growing harder with each passing second. I had never in my life wanted to hurt someone as bad as I wanted to hurt Charlie.
“He took it from the refrigerator in his dad’s garage,” she whispered.
“Took what?” I growled.
“Some kind of whiskey.”
I spun on my heel and left the room, my mother following closely behind. Olivia called after me, attempting to stop me, but my mind was set. I was going to find Charlie and beat the snot out of that little jackass.
Just as I was rounding the corner, Noah stepped in front