Page 57 of Saving Meadow

“Sorry to bother you. You gotta minute?” I asked.

“Always. What’s wrong?”

“I fucked up.” I tried to hide the hitch in my voice, but nothing escaped my uncle’s notice.

“We’ll be there,” he answered. No questions. No hesitation. I was a grown man, yet Nolan would rush to my side if needed.

“That’s not necessary. I just need to talk,” I told him.

“We’ll talk. But first I need to know if it can wait the eight hours it will take me to drive or if I need a flight?”

Shit. I shouldn’t have called.

“Really, you don’t need to come.”

“Bullshit. Fly or drive?”

“Drive,” I told him.

“Great, I’ll book a flight. Now, tell me what’s wrong?”

Did he not hear me tell him to drive?

Instead of arguing, I broke down and told him about Meadow, and what I could about the investigation, and how tonight had played out. By the end, I thought I was going to throw up. I still couldn’t wrap my head around how close Meadow came to dying.

“Fuck, Nicholas. That was a close call. Glad to hear Meadow’s safe. You did good. Proud of you.”

“Did you hear what I said? I fucked up. I missed the fucking big flashing sign over Beth’s head. It’s my fault.”

“Yeah. I heard everything you said. I also know that you have your head up your ass. Nothing, I repeat nothing that bitch did, was your fault. Meadow is safe. End of story.”

“My head’s not…”

“Nick, you’re gonna listen to me carefully. Go back to your woman. Grab her and hold tight.”

“I can’t even look at her; I fucked up so bad. I don’t know how she doesn’t hate me.”

“Fuck,” he cursed, and I heard the phone being pulled away from his face before a muffled “Hey Lenox? Grab the guys, wheels up in twenty.”

“Nolan, that’s not necessary I don’t need everyone coming up here. I’m fine.”

“No, boy, you’re not fine. You’re getting ready to make the biggest mistake of your life. Listen. To. Me. Go to Meadow. Do not say anything to her until we get there. Hold her and give her whatever she needs. I need you to fight like hell not to run away. We’ll be there as soon as we can.”

“How’d you know I was gonna run?” I asked.

“Because I almost did when your Aunt Reagan lost her fucking kidney because I had my head up my ass, denying to myself and everyone else I was in love with her. Do you want to know about fucking up? Boy, you can’t hold a candle to me. I’ll be there. You hold tight.” He disconnected before I could ask him what he meant.

I knew the story about my Aunt Reagan getting taken and being held on an abandoned oil rig that was being used as a black-market organ trafficking hospital, but I didn’t know my uncle had felt responsible. Reagan and my uncle had just started dating when I moved in with them. When she’d moved to Florida to start a job it sucked, I missed her, and Nolan thought he hid it, but he was heartbroken.

What kind of pussy was I calling my uncle for help while I stood in the hallway of a hospital crying like a fucking baby?

I sent off a text to Joel asking about Sally. Still no updates, she was in surgery. Please, God, do not let Sally die!

When I walked back into the room, my betrayal smacked me dead center in my chest. Meadow was lying on a hospital bed clutching the sheet at her side while the doctor stitched her leg - alone. Not only was I weak, but I was a total douchebag leaving her the way I did. I broke my promise to her. I gave her my word she’d never be alone again. Yet there she was folded into herself without me by her side.

“Hey.” I slid next to her and pried her fingers off the fabric and brought them up to my mouth, kissing each of them. “I’m sorry.”

Meadow’s red-rimmed eyes came to mine, and she tried to smile. God, she was killing me. She was the one that was attacked but she was reassuring me.