Read Online Hooked: A Stepbrother Romance by Iris Parker - Free Book Online Page A

building with no end in sight.
    And then suddenly all the weight and pressure were gone as she launched herself to her feet, pacing next to the table.
    “Where is he?” she asked, staring at me with a sudden alertness. “I’ll be there right away. Wait for me,” she snapped, hanging up the phone and chugging her beer faster than I ever imagined she was capable of.
    “What’s going on?” I asked, the heat suddenly replaced with a cold fear. Something was clearly very wrong here.
    “Theo’s been shot.”

    Two years.
    Jake died two years ago.
    He trusted me, and…
    Why couldn’t it have just been me?
    Things would’ve been better if it had been me.



I tilted my head towards the ceiling and sighed, trying to avoid making eye contact with anyone. We’d been here for hours, kept company by the low-priority cases and all the other saps who were unable to lie about being family. Underfunded and understaffed, the emergency room was a depressing place.
    Sitting across from me was a drunken man, who’d been cradling his hand and muttering to himself for quite some time. In the corner stood a beet-red man who was clearly exhausted but refused to sit down, while a lonely old woman sat to my left. She hadn’t made a single sound, staring at the clock as she rocked back and forth. Further away, a young couple were wringing their hands over and over as they leaned into one another.
    The long, monotonous wait was broken occasionally by the arrival of high priority cases being rushed through, gunshot victims and overdoses taking precedence over less deadly concerns.
    I wondered how long Theo had been in this barren room, hurt and scared, hoping a doctor would be available soon. My stomach wrenched at the thought and I looked back down, deciding that staring at the drunk wasn’t so bad after all.
    As bad as I felt, Simon seemed even worse for wear. He was loitering with Adam next to a vending machine, white as a ghost. He didn’t look anything like the vibrant, flirty, slightly intoxicated man I’d been with a few hours ago. His forehead was creased with concern, and he had a harrowed look in his eye. He hardly knew Theo, but yet Simon was as haggard as if he was losing a family member.
    Getting up and approaching the machines myself, I put an arm around Simon’s shoulder. “Did I ever tell you about the first time I met Theo?” I whispered.
    Simon shrugged silently.
    “I’d just started working at the center, and I showed up a couple hours early to settle myself in. I didn’t see him at first; he was just waiting in the dark. Scared me half to death when I turned on the lights and saw him staring at me. He didn’t even apologize, just acted like it was the most natural thing to break in so he could see ‘the new girl’ a little sooner,” I explained, chuckling.
    “What do you mean by that?” Simon asked, his voice a little defensive.
    “That I hope he’s okay. That he doesn’t deserve this shit. He’s always tried so hard to be good, even with everything he’s been through. If he—”
    One of the doors swung open and a nurse came in, and the entire room turned to stare at her. I could feel Simon’s muscles tensing beneath my touch, and my own heart started beating faster with adrenaline.
    It was for nothing, though. The nurse didn’t even look our way, walking straight to another door and leaving again without a word.
    Adam and I exchanged disgruntled looks, Simon sighed.
    The wait was unbearable.
    “Coffee?” Adam asked gently, pulling his wallet from his pocket.
    “Please.” Not that I expected cafeteria coffee to be as good as Adam’s, but at least drinking it would give me a little caffeine and something to do with my hands.  
    As Adam disappeared through the automatic doors, I could feel tears welling up in my eyes. I had no idea if Theo was even still alive, or if I’d ever see him smiling again. It never took much to make him smile; when you have so little, even a tiny thing is worth the