They both reeked of alcohol and smoke. I didn’t want to ask who drove. They were there; that’s all I cared about.

“Mom?” Braden pressed, his eyes wide and urgent.

Luke answered for me, still holding my hand. “She’s in surgery. The doctor told Bri it’d be a few hours.”

“A few hours?” Braden looked in pain. He cursed. “I need coffee. Now.”

“There’s a coffee machine in the cafeteria,” a nurse mentioned as she breezed past us.

“Okay. Well, we’ll go down there. Bri,” Braden said, “you want coffee?”

I nodded. “Yes, please.”

He tugged the girl with him, heading down the hallway. “We’ll be back. Hopefully more sober.” As they started forward, the girl glanced back over her shoulder and gave Luke a tiny smile.

I almost went after her. The sight of her smile had me gritting my teeth and wanting to use her sandal against her head.

“Easy,” Luke murmured, holding me back.

I rolled my eyes. “I know. I know, but seriously, she’s with him. They just screwed, and she’s giving you the look?” I sneered at her even though she wasn’t looking at him anymore. “Girls like her make the whole Girl Power thing go up in smoke.”

Luke laughed. “You usually handle those girls better. You stressed about your mom?”

Among other things, I thought. “Yeah.”

“She’ll be okay. I’m sure of it.”

“I hope so.”

“Come on, let’s find out what room she’ll be admitted to when she gets out of surgery.”

“Yeah. Okay.”

We were showed to the room Mom would be brought back to, and coffee was delivered to us. It was an hour later, with Luke sitting in the chair beside me humming a new song and playing with my fingers, when we got our first visitor.

I sat upright, pulling my hand from Luke’s. “What are you doing here?”

It was Elijah.

Luke sat up with me, but threw me a frown. I flushed. I don’t know why I had acted like I was doing something wrong. Then I asked again, “Eli, what are you doing here?”

“Uh.” His gaze was trained on Luke. “I’m here for Skeet.”

“Me?”

“Luke?” I asked.

“Yeah. Uh…” Elijah glanced around the empty hospital room. “I heard you were here. Can I talk to you outside?” He stepped out right away, and Luke followed, sending me another confused look.

It wasn’t long before he poked his head back in. “I have to go do something. Stay put. I’ll be back.”

“Wha…wait!”

But it was too late. Again. They both hurried down the hallway. I darted for the doorway and watched them disappear around a corner, turning down the hallway that led to the hospital’s main entrance.

My alarm went off. Wherever they were going, it wasn’t good.

“I forgot your coffee, so I went back.” Braden came inside the room with a proud smile on his face. “Here you go.”

He looked more sober. His hair wasn’t messed up anymore. It looked like he had wet it so it wasn’t sticking up, and his clothes had been righted. His shirt was even tucked inside his jeans. I looked past him, but didn’t see the girl that had been with him. As I took the coffee from his hand, I asked, “You ditched the girl?”

He grimaced. “All she wanted to talk about was Luke. The girls have it bad for him. Seriously.” Then he realized whom he was talking to. “Were you two holding hands earlier?”

Change of subject. Now. I coughed. “The doctor hasn’t come in yet, but a nurse just did. She said the surgery’s done. He should be here soon.”

“Oh, good.” He slid a distracted hand through his hair, upending it again as he glanced around the room. His hand dropped back to his side. “Where’s Luke?” He winked at me. “Or are you going to change the subject from that question, too?”

I clutched my coffee tighter. “Elijah came and got him.”

“Elijah?”

“Yeah.” I cringed. “I have no clue where they went. Neither shared. They took off right away.”

“Shit.” Braden grunted, hopping onto the bed and dangling his feet off the end. He pulled out his phone, texting as he said, “I’ll figure it out. They’ll tell me.” After a few minutes, he shrugged and placed his phone beside him. “Maybe not. Sorry.” His phone lit up. “Huh?”

“Who is it?”

“Kelly from the bar.” He answered the phone, “Hello?” After another moment of silence, he asked, “For real?” Then hung up the phone and shook his head.

“What is it?”

“Something’s going down with Emerson. Elijah was in there asking for him.”

“Isn’t the bar closed? It’s almost four.”

“Yeah. That’s the thing.” He shook his head. “She said he was in earlier, and just now, she was heading home when she saw Elijah’s truck run a red. She was at the stoplight, and she thought she saw Luke in there with him.”

My mind was made up. I stood and grabbed the keys. “Which way were they headed?”

“What are you doing? What about Mom?”

“You stay. You’re good at that. I’m not.” I started for the door. “Which way, Braden?”

He hesitated.