Beneath the Surface (18 page)

The doctor eyed him, scrutinizing his every move. Kyran tried to think of questions, things he should want to know about Taylor’s care, but his brain was stuck on the bathroom floor. When had things gotten this bad?

The sight of Taylor sprawled across the tiles would live with him forever. He had failed his brother. In allowing Taylor to work through his own issues, Kyran wondered if he’d, in fact, made them much worse.

“We also need to have a discussion about his nose. It’s going to need some kind of reconstructive surgery. Especially if he continues to abuse cocaine.”

“Pardon?”

“His septum is damaged.” The doctor glanced at the chart in his hands.

Kyran’s head spun. Thankfully, Dale spoke up while he was still trying to wrap his head around the doctor’s previous sentence.

“Dr. Leighton, if his septum is damaged, that means he’s been doing this for some time, right?” she said.

“It certainly doesn’t happen overnight. Maybe two, three years of heavy use. I can’t tell you whether that is the case with Taylor. However, I can say another two years and his septum will need major work. As it stands, the repair work is needed, but it is minimal.”

“Thank you, doctor.” Dale helped Kyran into a chair. “I think we’d better wait for Taylor’s father before having that talk.”

“Yes. That would be wise.”

Kyran could feel Dale staring at him but he couldn’t look at her. He felt sick. Fisting his hands in his lap, he tried to ignore how much they shook.

Dale turned back to the doctor. “Can we see him?”

“He’s still sedated, but I don’t have a problem with you sitting with him. The nurse will show you to his room. Let her know when Mr. Reese’s father arrives, or if you have any more questions.”

“We will.”

The doctor held his clipboard to his chest and bowed his head slightly before leaving them alone in the waiting room. Dale squatted down in front of Kyran and placed her hands over his fists. “Ky? Look at me please.”

The sympathy in her voice slashed at his composure, and Kyran batted her hands away.

“Don’t push me away,” she pleaded with him. “I didn’t know he was taking drugs.”

“You disappeared with him a lot. I’ve seen you scuttle off. You’ve even told me on a couple of occasions you couldn’t see me because you were
doing something for Taylor.”

“Yes, work stuff—nothing more, nothing less. Kyran, you’re seeing something here that isn’t here at all. You’re bending the truth to suit your needs.” Dale softened her tone before she said, “To ease your own guilt.”

He raised his head sharply and scowled. “You have no idea what you’re talking about, Dale. I suggest you keep your accusations to yourself.”

“We’re getting nowhere here, except annoying the hell out of each other—”

“What else is new?”

Dale ignored his interruption and tried to take his hand again. He hated himself, because as angry as he was he needed her touch. So he allowed her contact and calmed down almost right away.

Dale whispered, “Do you want me to leave?”

Did he? Kyran shook his head before he’d consciously made the decision. He would have sent anyone else away, but Dale was different. He had started to need her in ways he wasn’t sure he liked. Whatever was happening between them couldn’t grow. It couldn’t have a future. His scars were too deep to heal when it came to relationships, and although his father had a new wife, it didn’t negate the years of heartbreak his father had caused. Kyran didn’t want that. He never wanted to become his father.

Ever.

Cursing his hypocritical ass, he kissed the tip of her nose. “Stay. Please.”

Dale smiled and nodded.

“Kyran? Oh, Kyran, where is he? What happened to Taylor?”

Wincing at Clara’s intrusion, he pulled his hands from Dale’s and faced his stepmother. “Clara.”

She looked from him to Dale, a small, knowing smile teasing her glossy red lips. Her heels clicked as she came closer to him, unbuttoning her raincoat as she moved. “Tell me everything.”

Kyran stood to help her remove her coat and placed it over a nearby chair. He gestured for her to sit. “Is Dad parking the car?”

She pursed her lips. “No. I’m sorry, sweetie, your father had an emergency meeting to arrange. Something to do with a contract and damage control. I’m sure he’ll be here soon.”

“A meeting?” Kyran’s anger rose. Had his father really just put business over his family again? Didn’t he care that Taylor had almost died?

Thinking about it caused him to clench his hands, but he calmed again when Dale hugged his arm. “His son almost died!”

Clara covered her mouth with her hand. Tears filled her eyes, and for an instant, Kyran believed the woman actually cared about them and not just his father’s money. It didn’t last long, though.

“You said almost, right? Almost?”

A cynical snort left his lips. “Yeah, Taylor’s hanging on, so you don’t have his share of any inheritance yet, dear Clara.”

“I beg your pardon?” Her skin mottled. “Was that a joke? Trying to lighten the mood, Kyran?” Rolling her eyes, she spoke directly to Dale.

“He thinks he’s so funny.”

“Yeah, a laugh every minute.” Dale deadpanned. “I’m going to grab some coffee and leave you two to talk.” Dale placed her lips at Kyran’s ear.

“Try to keep the volume down.”

Kyran told himself that he couldn’t kiss her. He held back in front of Clara. He could do without the gossip and intrusion. Instead, Kyran let Dale leave with a simple touch to her shoulder. He waited until she’d left the room before speaking to Clara. “He’s not coming, is he?”

“Of course he is.” Clara patted the chair beside her. “Has the doctor been to see you at all?”

With a grunt, Kyran flopped into the seat and scrubbed the back of his head with his hands. Exhaustion flooded each and every muscle in his body; the lethargy gripped him hard. “He came to see us just before you arrived. Taylor is in stable condition, but he’s still sedated.”

“Do they know what he took?”

Kyran coughed, trying to clear his throat of her intense perfume. “We found powder on the floor and on his shirt. I assume cocaine. The doctor seems to think so, anyway.”

She pursed her lips. “I see.”

Alarm bells rang in Kyran’s head. “Did
you
know?”

Clara began to gnaw her lower lip and lowered her gaze to her lap.

“Taylor came to me last week, wanting money. Well, I should say
demanding
really. It seemed strange to me; after all, you boys don’t want anything from me or your father, so I asked him what it was for.”

“And?”

“And Taylor went wild. Snarling and hissing at me. He smashed my china dolls and made Sissy hide underneath the table. She wouldn’t come out for hours afterward.”

“Your dog will be fine. Back to Taylor,” he said impatiently.

“I begged him to stop. I told him if he needed the money so much then he should have come to you or your father. No matter what you or Taylor think, I don’t have access to huge amounts of your father’s money, Kyran.”

“He much did he want?”

Clara still wouldn’t look at him, and her lip would start to bleed if she carried on chewing it.

“Fifteen thousand.”

Kyran spluttered upon hearing the amount. Without a doubt, his brother was in some serious trouble. Nobody asked for that kind of money and reacted in the way Taylor had unless they were desperate. It made no sense because he received more than enough from their father. Kyran continued to ask himself how he’d missed what was in front of his very eyes. The pieces had always been there, and now that he had the luxury of hindsight, those pieces had been highlighted in neon yellow.

“Why would he need that much money?” Clara asked, her concern loud and clear.

“We both know the answer to that now. A drug habit like his has to be expensive. I’m just so fucking ashamed we all missed the signs, Clara.

Every damn one of them. I did. I’m not too proud to admit that. I’d all but given up on him. Over the last few months our relationship had gotten even worse, and I could barely stand to be in the same room with him without wanting to punch him. I still held the hope that he’d wake up and see the mess he was creating, but he continued to fuck things up at work, leaving me to pick up the pieces. I was his surrogate father for too long, so I drew
|

the line.” He inhaled sharply. “So I get why I missed the signs, but what is everyone else’s excuse? Everyone ignored him. Not just me. We wrote him off as a complete fuckup. Everyone except Dale.”

Clara turned in her chair to face him at the mention of Dale’s name, and she smiled. “She seems very nice, Kyran.”

“And?”

Her light laughter filled the waiting room. Kyran rubbed his temples, the throb growing worse. He never ran from a problem, he usually chose to face it head on, but today he yearned to do just that, yearned to hide inside the four walls of Metro.

“And . . . I saw the two of you when I entered the room. I saw you kiss her.”

“Doubtful.”

“Not at all.” Clara delved into her large purse and pulled out her cell phone. “I like her. I want you to know that.”

Kyran pushed off the chair and began to pace the room again. “Why are we having this conversation now?”

“Because I didn’t know about the two of you until today.” Clara swept her finger across the screen of her phone. She always seemed to annoy him with her short attention span.

“There is no
us
when it comes to Dale and me. She’s Taylor’s assistant. That’s all.”

“Liar.” Clara shook her head. “You should invite her to the benefit. It would be lovely to see you with someone. It’s been a long time since you used your
plus one
.”

“Move on, Clara. This topic of conversation is getting very old, very fast. As for the benefit, well I’d much rather figure out Taylor’s problem than plan what I’m wearing to a benefit.”

Clara held up her finger to Kyran to wait and placed her cell to her ear.

He was about to leave the room when she began to speak.

“Kyran’s here. Taylor is out of danger, Jacob. I think you should come and see him. He’ll need your support.”

Kyran wished he could hear his father’s side of the conversation.

“It’s not fair to leave this for Kyran to deal with. There’s going to be a lot of decisions to make, and we should do it as a family.”

Dale came back from getting coffee and stood in the doorway. Kyran placed his finger to his lips when she began to talk.

“Jacob, Taylor will need therapy of some kind, along with detox, I assume.” She raised her voice. “You cannot ignore this. You’re their father!”

Dale beckoned Kyran over and handed him a cup. “Coffee. Not fabulous, but it’ll do.” She cocked her head toward Clara. “What’s up with her?”

Taking a deep breath, he said, “Arguing with my father. From what I can gather, he thinks he doesn’t need to be here or help with Taylor’s recovery.”

“Rather harsh.”

“Yeah.” He placed his hand on her elbow and led her down the hall and out the door. The cold weather slapped him in the face, his skin breaking out in goose bumps. An intense shiver racked his body, causing his coffee to slosh over the brim of the cup. Kyran led Dale around the corner of the building and set his cup on the ground.

Dale leaned back against the wall, her eyes brimming with unshed tears. He placed his hands flat on the bricks on either side of her head and leaned in. With their bodies pressed against each other, it warmed his bones and calmed his anger. One of them exhaled softly, though he didn’t know whether it came from his mouth or Dale’s.

“Thanks for the coffee,” he said, his throat raw.

“If I get thanks like that every time, I’ll buy you coffee every day.”

“Deal.” Kyran moved within a millimeter of Dale’s lips. “And thanks for staying with me—for being here. I don’t lean on anyone, Dale.”

“You’re leaning on me.” She pushed her hips forward to prove her point.

“You know I don’t mean physically . . . even though that’s good, too.”

“I know, but you don’t have to thank me. I care about both of you.

Seeing Taylor like that scared me as much as it did you. I’m here for you, and I’m here because I want to know he’s going to be okay.”

Kyran pecked her lips with a quick kiss. “Worried about your job?” He kissed her again.

“You’re a real comedian, Ky.”

Kyran found the situation far from amusing. He needed Dale. She could make him forget his life for just one moment. “Kiss me, Dale. Kiss me and make me forget everything. The hospital, my father, Taylor . . . but most of all, kiss me until I know what’s going on with us.”

She didn’t speak again, instead she did as he asked and kissed him.

Dale made Kyran feel far more than he’d felt from any kiss in his whole life.

Having been at the hospital for the last twenty-four hours, Kyran was exhausted. The minimal naps on the crappy chair in Taylor’s room did little to alleviate his aching back. It would have been nice to be able go home and shower, but Clara hadn’t returned after her short visit, and his father hadn’t made an appearance at all.

He should be surprised by it, but after years of dealing with his father’s shit, Kyran was now at a hostile level of acceptance. He didn’t like it, but since no one else was going to deal with it, he had to. Sometimes he wondered if his father’s love for his sons had died when his wife did. From that day forward, they had been left with only each other.

Dale had stayed, but when she started snoring on his shoulder, he’d sent her home to bed. He wished he could have followed her.

The nurse came into the room a few times to check Taylor’s vitals.

She must have felt sorry for him because each time she entered she had brought Kyran a coffee. The stuff was disgusting. In fact, he was fairly sure the sludge had never seen a coffee bean, let alone been made from one, but it did the job. It gave him the jitters, but he could still function.

About four hours earlier, the doctor had advised him that Taylor’s medication had been lowered. There was no reason for him to remain unconscious. So Kyran waited.