Fight for Her #4: MMA New Adult Contemporary Romantic Suspense by JJ Knight Read Free Book Online

this week I can tell him. Maybe we can figure something out. I just think about Vegas and know that this is bigger than he ever thought it was. And he doesn’t control what happens. It seems that they do. This group of fighters who play by their own rules.
    Parker knocks on the door and pushes it wide. I step in first, quietly, not sure if Dad will be awake.
    He’s sitting propped up on the bed, but asleep. An IV drips into his hand and an oxygen tube goes into his nose. A monitor beside him follows his heart rate and oxygen.
    His breath rattles. I would know his face anywhere, even as mottled and red as it is. He’s lost a lot of his hair, thin and gray and showing his scalp. It’s longish, covering his ears. His bony shoulders are sharp beneath the pale hospital gown, and his fingers are gnarled on top of the white sheets. But he looks better in a lot of ways than the last few times I saw him on the streets. He’s clean and dry.
    I approach him slowly, not willing to wake him up. There’s a chair by the bed and I sit down on it, still looking at him. I want to remember all the best times with him, when I was little, before Mom became such a shrew. Even now as an adult I can’t sort out the chicken-egg problem. Was she so terrible to him because he started drinking, or did he start drinking because she was so terrible?
    They must have been happy once. I glance up at Parker. He’s standing by the door. He gestures toward it with a question — do I want him to leave?
    I shake my head for no. I like having him there, despite everything going on between us.
    Dad starts coughing, a terrible deep sound from low in his chest. He snatches up a cloth from the rail without even opening his eyes, covering his mouth.
    Then he’s fully awake, sucking in a difficult breath that ends in another retching cough. I jump from my chair and reach for him, rubbing his back. I can feel each bump of his spine through the gown.
    After a minute of this, it settles again. When he looks up, his eyes are red and watery. “Madelyn?” he asks.
    But this starts another round of coughs. One of the numbers on the monitor goes red and starts beeping. Parker leaves the room, I assume to get a nurse.
    They are back in less than a minute. The nurse looks over the machine. “Spit out anything you cough up, Mr. Greco,” she says. “Work it out.”
    I stay behind him. After another moment, it calms down again and he sits back. The nurse takes the cloth and hands him a fresh one. “You’re doing good,” she says.
    “What’s happening?” I ask her. “I’m his daughter. I just got here from New York.”
    She cocks her head. Her short brown hair is a helmet. She wears salmon-colored scrubs over her stout figure. “Your husband here said you were coming.” She cuts her eyes at Parker. “Didn’t realize you were so far away.”
    Husband! I tighten my fist. We will deal with that later. “I travel,” I say. “How is he?”
    “Double pneumonia. Both lungs. His bronchial tubes are compromised due to smoking and living like he does.” She looks down at my dad. “He was in ICU a few days while we got him healed up enough that he could start coughing it out. Full antibiotic regimen.”
    “But he’ll be okay?” I ask.
    “The doctor can tell you more,” she says. “But he’s improved a lot since he got moved here.” She pulls a thermometer from a cup by the monitor and sheathes it in plastic. “Just a lot of gunk to clear out.” She sticks the thermometer in Dad’s mouth.
    Parker leans against the wall. Dad spots him and gives a little salute. “Your husband has been very devoted to his father-in-law,” the nurse says.
    I glance back at Parker. I remember what he said when he called. I just wanted some part of you.
    Yes, I’ll have to talk to him soon.
    The nurse checks the reading. “I’ll be back in a little bit,” she says. “You’re looking good, Mr. Greco.”
    Dad settles back on the bed again. “She likes me,” he