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“Already taken care of,” Tanner said, walking over to them.
Wait. It was?
Shoot. She needed to talk to him about that.
Linc nodded at him briefly before carrying Ryleigh out. What was wrong with her, though? What was going on?
“Linc? What is it? What’s wrong?” she asked as they headed to his truck.
Linc glanced down at her, his face grim. “Why didn’t you take her to the doctor earlier?”
She jolted back, feeling as though she’d been slapped.
“Hey!” Tanner growled. “Don’t speak to her like that.”
It was true, though. Ryleigh often got sick, though, and Lilac hadn’t realized that she was feeling this bad.
Was that the real reason she hadn’t taken her to the doctor, though? Or was it because she was worried about the paper trail and money?
Had she risked her best friend’s health?
Guilt made her feel nauseous, and she was barely aware of the argument going on around her.
“Look! The fact is that Ryleigh is this close to ending up in the hospital because she didn’t receive early care. And that’s on you.” Linc glared down at her.
She stumbled back, nearly falling. Shit. She was still holding the baby!
“Fuck you, Linc!” Tanner snapped. “Ryleigh is an adult. She can make decisions about her own health. Lilac is not to blame for her being sick.”
But she was . . . she totally was.
Why couldn’t she get anything right? What if Ryleigh got worse?
Oh God.
She couldn’t breathe.
Do not panic. You need to keep it together.
“You don’t know jackshit about what Lilac has done for us, Deputy Dickhead,” Opal snapped at him as Ryleigh let out a small moan.
How she was sleeping through this, Lilac had no idea.
“No, because the three of you are extremely secretive. If you’d asked for help, then this might have been avoided. I need to get Ryleigh back to my place. I’ll be taking care of her from now on.” Linc grimaced as he glanced at Kye. “Kye too.”
“No, you can’t take Kye,” Lilac said, stepping back.
“Give him to me.”
No. If Ryleigh couldn’t look after Kye, then she’d want Opal and Lilac to. “No. We’ll look after him.”
“And how can I trust you to do that?” Linc asked quietly.
But she felt like he’d punched her in the gut. Her breathing grew ragged.
“Because we’ve looked after him since he was born,” Opal said sharply. “You better rein yourself in, boy. Before I do it for you.”
She put a hand on Opal’s arm. She knew her friend was close to losing her shit on Linc. And it wouldn’t be pretty. Opal was pretty easygoing until you hurt someone that she cared about.
