Free Hooked: A Stepbrother Romance by Iris Parker

nurse nodding along as he spoke. With one last, bright smile, the nurse winked and left.
    Jesus .
    Simon turned back around, running a hand through his hair as he slowly walked back. He looked exhausted, and my stomach twisted as I began to fear the worst. Before he could say anything, however, an overweight woman wobbled into the waiting room.
    I recognized her immediately. Theo’s mother, Ella, was both very small and very wide. Her short black hair was matted to her skull, her face sweaty and tired.
    “Emilia! How’re you doing?” she asked pleasantly, her tone giving me hope.
    “I’ve been better,” I admitted. “Do you have any news? How is he ?”
    “I just got Shauna’s message from a couple hours ago, saying he’d been shot and was losing blood. She didn’t answer me when I called back, though,” Ella shrugged, seemingly offended. “You know, I always thought he was going to turn out better than the others.”
    Simon arrived just after Ella finished making her comment, and I bit my tongue. Offending Theo’s mother was only going to make it harder to get any information.
    On the opposite end of the ER, the door opened once more. The nurse was leading a very disheveled and disoriented Shauna, who wasted no time in running over to us.
    “Simon!” she called, flying straight into his arms. He held her while she broke down into sobs, just as I had earlier.
    “Well, I’d do that too, if I was her age,” Ella said with a wink as she looked Simon over from head to toe.
    My fingernails were threatening to draw blood from my palms, but I managed to stay quiet. Besides, Ella wasn’t all that bad compared to many of the so-called parents I met working at the rec center. At least she had actually showed up, and her only crime this time was making inappropriate comments. At least she wasn’t threatening Shauna for calling in the middle of the night, or telling the doctors they needed to stop helping her son.
    Ella was, in fact, quite present in her kids’ lives…when it suited her. She would also disappear for weeks at a time, when it suited her. She never seemed to think, or care, much about the consequences of her actions. Usually she was the one to pay for that, but not always. Shauna did a good job taking care of Theo, but there was only so much that the young woman could do by herself.  
    “How is he?” Simon asked softly, once Shauna had regained some composure.
    “Sleeping. They said he’s going to be fine, that the bullet only grazed his shoulder. I don’t know how a graze could cause so much blood. I was so scared,” she said, starting to cry anew. Simon held her reassuringly, softening as the good news sank in. Tears of relief began to form in my own eyes, and for the first time in two hours, I felt like I could breathe.
    “Are you Theo’s mother?” the nurse asked Ella, who was struggling to fit into the small waiting room chair. To her credit, she too looked profoundly relieved. She’d clearly been more worried than she let on.
    People always deal with tragedy in their own way, I suppose.
    “Yes I am,” she answered, and the nurse’s face turned sour.
    “The police would like to speak with you,” she said darkly. “As would social services.”
    Ella’s face once again turned impassive as she squeezed out of her seat with a sigh. Simon and I shared a look, and I could tell he was concerned about the ordeal to come. I shrugged towards him, trying to communicate that Ella had already been through this many times before. Sooner or later, she was going to have to face the harsh reality of her poor decisions, but it probably wouldn’t be tonight.
    Silently, I tilted my head towards Shauna before looking back up at Simon with a questioning expression. He understood at once, nodding in response.
    I didn’t need to say more.
    “It’s been a hell of a night,” Simon said. “You probably haven’t eaten any more than we have. How about we go find Adam and tell him the good news, then