Demanded by Him (Wanted Series #3) by Hazel Kelly Read Free Book Online Page B

hot coffees
over anyone else unlucky enough to be in the same building.
    I pressed the elevator button with my elbow and waited,
questioning whether I should’ve sprung for an extra Snickers. Some sugar was
probably just what I needed, which reminded me that I should’ve gotten cream
and sugar for the coffee. Shit. What the hell was I thinking about? I looked
down at the tray and then back down the hall, questioning whether I should go
back.
    I mean, forgetting the cream was pretty insensitive.
    Would I have to wait in the line again? Surely not. But it would
be easier to run up and get it than go back with the tray if Wyatt needed it,
though I suspect he was worried about other things… and that it was unlikely to
improve the coffee much anyway.
    The elevator door opened, and I stared at a middle aged man gripping
a piss bag on wheels.
    “Well?” he asked. “You getting in or not?”
    I stepped onto the lift and gave him plenty of space.
    “I didn’t realize they had such cute waitresses at this
hospital,” the guy said, tightening the belt on his robe.
    “Oh I’m not a waitress I-”
    “I know,” he said. “I was just trying to lighten the mood.”
    I smiled. “Right.”
    “What are you in for?”
    “A friend of mine- his daughter’s here. She’s in a diabetic
coma.”
    “Jesus.”
    “Is that very serious?”
    The guy squinted and scratched his shiny, never ending forehead.
“It’s more serious than anything that doesn’t potentially end in brain damage.”
    “Brain damage?”
    “How old is the little girl?”
    “Nine.”
    The guy nodded, keeping one hand around the hanging bag between
us. “Well I hope she pulls through.”
    “Thanks,” I said. “Me too.”
    The elevator door opened, but no one stepped on so we watched
the doors close again.
    “What about you?” I asked.
    He raised his eyebrows. “I came in for a vasectomy and got an
infection.”
    “That’s unfortunate.”
    “I know. To make matters worse, I haven’t figured out a way to
make that story any shorter.”
    “Are you already a father then?”
    He nodded. “I’ve got six kids by two different women and my current
girlfriend is getting ideas.”
    “I see.”
    “I wish I could tell her what I’ve done,” he said. “But it would
break her heart.”
    “I’m sorry to hear that.”
    “Don’t be. She’s gonna leave me when she realizes I’m broke
anyway.”
    “Right.”
    “I used to have looks and money, you know?”
    “Better to have loved and lost they say.”
    He nodded. “So true. Less money for my women to cheat off me now
anyway.”
    The elevator dinged and the man took one step towards the doors.
“Pleasure meeting you.”
    “You too,” I said. “And good luck with your penis.”
    “Same to your friend’s kid.” He lifted his free hand in the air
as the doors closed between us. “You know what I mean.”
    “Yeah.” I nodded. “Thanks.”
     

Chapter 11: Wyatt
     
     
     
    My hands were praying, but my mind wasn’t.
    Instead, it was racing, thinking of all the reasons Sophie was
going to be okay so I wouldn’t dwell on the worst case scenario.
    I wasn’t naïve. I knew children died, that life was full of
accidents.
    Before I became a parent, the death of a child was always
tragic, but it wasn’t until after I found out about Sophie- after she became my
responsibility- that I began to realize how many things could go wrong.
    Now when bad things happened to little girls, it made me tuck her
in tighter at night.
    Sure, I still indulged myself by going out and sleeping around
on occasion, but I was no different than a housewife with a white wine habit.
It was just how I kept from forgetting the old me.
    Cause the new me was all about learning recipes that made eating
vegetables more fun and keeping my eye out for new Disney princess merchandise.
I genuinely couldn’t have embraced the role of being a parent any more. I read
to her every night when she was home. I taught her how to punch people