Page 54 of Her Brother's Billionaire Best Friend

But who knew what would have happened if Lucien hadn’t gotten there in time? If one of the other boys had gotten hurt—or done something stupid, and gotten Kyle in an even worse situation? I tried to let my shoulders relax, but they were so tense and bunched up that I just sat down and blew my nose.

I felt awful. Not just because Kyle had gone and gotten himself hurt. Not just because he’d disobeyed me. The real sting was that it had been Lucien who’d gotten him the help he needed. Not me.

His own mom.

I felt angry, and insecure, and worst of all, I didn’t know where to turn my feelings. So I turned them on myself as I got up and went out of the corridor into the waiting room.

David was there, a magazine balanced on his lap. “Look,” he said. “I got you some coffee.”

“Thanks,” I said, gratefully accepting the Styrofoam cup. It tasted bitter and nasty, and for a moment, I wished I had access to Lucien’s fancy coffee machine in his kitchen. But I had so much else to be grateful for, I didn’t even mind.

Slowly, I started to shake again, and I felt the tears coming.

“My own baby,” I said. “How could this have happened?”

“The mom of one of the kids called me,” David said. “Apparently the other boys talked him into it.”

“That’s the last time I let him out of my sight, you hear me?”

“What did the doctor say?” asked David eagerly.

“He’s got to wear a cast for a month.”

“Oh, shoot,” said David. “I guess he’s not going to have much choice.”

“This is awful, David. Nothing like this ever happened in the city. It’s just—he was so far away.”

David nodded. “If Lucien hadn’t showed up when he did…”

“Does this mean you’ve forgiven him for whatever you were angry at him for to start with?”

David shook his head. “I still think he’s weird. But hey, the guy went and pulled Kyle out of a godawful situation. I gotta hand it to him. And did you see how he looked when we got there? Guy must have run five miles with Kyle in his arms. He was barely breaking a sweat. Hey, you don’t think he might have—”

“What?”

“Nothing,” said David. “It’s not the time to talk about that with him. Besides, I can ask him myself when he gets here.”

“When’s he coming?”

“He called your cell while you were in with Kyle. Said he’s coming down right away.”

By the time Lucien touched down that afternoon, the press had arrived. Somehow news had already broke across the valley, and by the time I went downstairs to leave the hospital, Lucien was stalking through a crowd of reporters outside the front door, asking questions.

He brushed them off, looking mad as hell, and for a moment, I chuckled.

He came in through the sliding doors, and then he saw me.

“How is he?” he said brusquely, as he marched towards the elevator, where I was standing.

We got in together, and I hit the button.

“He’s fine,” I said.

“Is it broken?”

“Yeah. The doctor’s going to put him in a cast tomorrow.”

“I’ll fly him back then. You guys should go home, get some rest. It’s a long drive.”