RUSH
By the time I got to Nan’s hotel room, I was pissed. I had left Blaire upset and it was all Nan’s fucking fault. If she weren’t so damn selfish, I wouldn’t even be here. I needed to tell her that she had to grow up and deal. I was done. I couldn’t keep on doing this. She had to figure this out. I was her crutch.
I knocked on the door to her hotel room and waited. I’d checked with the doorman and Nan had returned about fifteen minutes ago so I knew she was here. I waited a few minutes then knocked again and got nothing. More damn games. I started pounding on the door harder. “Nannette, open this door,” I called out.
A bellman paused when he saw me beating on Nan’s door. “My sister’s in here and she isn’t answering. I’m worried about her,” I lied. “Could you open the door?”
The man still didn’t look too sure about me. I could tell by the look on his face he was close to calling security. Nan would love that. I reached in my back pocket and pulled out my wallet. “Check my license. I’m Rush Finlay. My sister Nannette is in that room. Having me escorted out is a really bad idea.”
“Yes sir,” the bellman replied. He had recognized my last name. In LA that happened a hell of a lot more than it did in Florida.
He had the door opened and I was stalking inside the suite getting ready to yell at Nan for being a child when I saw her crumpled body on the sofa. She was lying there in an unnatural position. I ran over to her and felt for a pulse to find a weak one against my fingers. I wanted to weep from relief. “I need paramedics, NOW,” I roared as the bellman stood at the door gaping at Nan.
“Yes, sir,” he replied and took the phone from his waist and started telling whoever was on the other end exactly what was going on.
“What did you do, Nan?” I asked as my heart slammed painfully against my chest. My throat was tight and I couldn’t get a deep breath. I hadn’t believed her. I had thought she was trying to get attention. I’d become like everyone else in her life. I had ignored her. I was a horrible brother. I held her against my chest as my phone vibrated in my pocket. I pulled it out, saw Harlow’s name on the screen and tossed it aside. I wasn’t in the mood to talk to Harlow. She was part of what tormented Nan. I didn’t have anything to say to her at the moment.
I rocked her in my arms gently. This was Kiro’s fault. He’d pay for this. If something happened to her he’d pay for this. “I have you Nan. I won’t leave you but you can’t leave me,” I whispered as we waited for help.
It felt like forever before I heard feet pounding down the hall and the doorman say, “In here.”