Page 49 of Conceal

She snorts out a laugh. “My old man...” she parrots back.

“Tanya,” I warn again, but softer this time, since her blue eyes are glassy and sweet and unfocused.

“I wish...” she slurs to the EMT as the ambulance bounces over the ground before pulling out onto the road.

“Oh?” Blonde Guy asks.

“My dad would kill him if he found out his best friend was diddling his daughter.”

Oh. Fuck.

I wince. The truth hits me like a Mack truck. Because we may have fallen in love with her, and touched her, and crossed all the lines there ever were, but that one fact remains the same.

The noise of the ambulance fades behind the ringing in my ears. I feel like I’m having an out-of-body experience. This might be the end. Not just the end of us, but the end of everything.

If she’s pregnant... if she’s not... if she’s hurt... if she’s not... I know I have to call her father and let him know.

I always knew this was fragile and might end at any second, but I wasn’t prepared for it to end like this.

I know we promised everything would go back to normal, but it can’t. I can’t. It’s too much. And if she’s pregnant with my child?

I don’t hear what else they say to each other. Even as the ambulance pulls into the ER bay, the doors fly open, and they wheel her down and into the ER. I don’t move to follow. I can’t move.

“Sir?” the female EMT asks. But it isn’t until she repeats it and gives my shoulder a little shake do I realize she’s talking to me.

They’ve started cleaning the back of the ambulance.

“They’ve taken her back for imaging, but you should go in and wait for her.”

So, in a daze, I walk into the emergency room, knowing it might be the last time I see her.

Chapter thirty-two

Lev

When I walk through the sliding doors of the emergency room, Roman sits out like a sore thumb in the waiting room. Couples and families wait for their loved ones, but Roman’s still in his black suit, head hanging in his hands. My stomach sinks even more. For the past thirty minutes I’ve been running on adrenaline, but he looks like she’s died.

I grip his shoulder and shake him.

“She’s okay?” She has to be. I refuse to believe any other outcome.

When he looks up at me, he’s obviously shaken. His gaze is far away, like he’s not in his own body. He blinks up at me slowly, but he doesn’t answer.

Frustrated, I march over to the front desk.

“Tatiana Chernov,” I bark at the young lady wearing cats on her scrubs.

She jumps slightly at my harsh tone, but types into her computer.

“They have her back in imaging. We’re preparing room three-oh-four for her when she’s done.”

I nod and give her my thanks. If she’s in imaging, she’s not in surgery, and she’s not in the morgue.

I grip Roman by the arm and drag him toward the elevators. I don’t know what happened in that short ambulance ride, but it was enough to shake the most solid man I know.

After a frustrating few minutes, I find the room and drag him inside. A staff member is fitting the bed with blankets, looks up at us confused, but is smart enough not to ask.

I shove Roman down into the small couch and wait for the cleaner to leave before I grill him.