Spread For Dad’s Alpha Best-Friend

BACK TO WILLOW CREEK

NOLA

THREE YEARS LATER

“Dad! Dad, can you hear me?”

I lunge after dad’s white stretcher while the nurses and doctors roll him so fast I’m panting from trying to keep up. His skin looks like paper and his eyes are shut no matter how many times I call out for him. His left arm has even slid off the stretcher, limp.

And his neck.

A huge bite maps the side of dad’s neck, angry and ugly. They have managed to stop the bleeding somehow but the wound glares at all of us. Something tells me it is slowly sniffing the life out of dad.

They end up wheeling him into a room, shuffling him in faster, then shutting the door in my face.

“Dad!” I shout, ready to slam my fists against the door, but a nurse grabs my arm in a soft hold, pulling me away. I snatch my hand away from her grip, but she blocks my path before I can rush back to the door.

“I need to see my dad! I need to—“

“Calm down, calm down. Please breathe. I need you to breathe right now, look at me.” Her voice is sweet and syrupy, calm… everything that is supposed to be out of place in this moment.

For some reason, I drag in some air into my lungs as she directs, staring into her moss green eyes.

“Good. Good, baby. Your dad was bitten by a wild animal, he was knocked out unconscious by this bite. We promise to do everything we can to help him. Promise.”

I nod quickly, even as fresh tears roll down my cheeks. Her eyes follow the trail of my tears and with a deep sigh, she pulls me into her arms. My eyes drag shut and I hold her for what seems like hours, before pulling away.

Forcing a smile, I mutter, “Please go in there, please make sure they do their best.”

“Sure.” And she bypasses me immediately, rushing towards the door which dad has been taken through. I spin around slowly to read the inscription on the door just as it swings shut.

EMERGENCY UNIT.

This is an emergency. Of course.

“Lala.”

I freeze.

There it is. A voice I have trained myself to be indifferent to, a voice that belongs to a man I have spent four years trying to forget.

I raise my palms to my face, frantically wiping the tears away. When I turn, he is even closer than he sounded and it is a miracle I manage to keep my jaw from hitting the ground.

It is unfair. Why is he still so ruggedly handsome? He looks tired—granted—but still so beautiful, it physically hurts to look at him. No matter how hard or long I look though, this almost seven-foot, olive-tanned, gray eyed hunk of a man is never going to look my way.

He made it very clear three years ago. I’m his best-friend’s daughter, nothing more.

“Hello, Uncle Rhett.” I manage to keep my voice steady.

He slips his hands into his pocket. “How’re you here so soon? You’re supposed to be in New York, at work.”

I shrug. “I was already on my way home when I heard.”

He nods once, then looks away and silence ensues between us both.

Even with how uneasy I feel about dad, I can’t help but wonder what’s running through this man’s mind.

Did he remember that night? Worse, did he look at me and immediately see the wasted, horny girl who’d spread her legs for him and asked him to f**k her… unprovoked?

I swallow, my eyes fixed on the door to the ward where dad was taken. I wish he’d just wake up. This is not the night we planned. I haven’t seen him in eight months and when I’m finally back to see him, he’s being wheeled into the emergency unit. Yay, life!

A tear rolls down my cheek and I quickly wipe it off, not chancing a glance at Uncle Rhett, even if I could feel his eyes transfixed on me.

The door to the Emergency Unit busts open and I rush to the doctor. He manages to hold me a few inches away from him, his eyes wide with concern.

“Dad? How’s my dad?”

Hands grip my arms and pull me away from the doctor. I know it’s Uncle Rhett without turning around. I try to fight him, but he’s too strong. I eventually grow calm in his grip. I don’t look back.

My voice is a plea as I say, “I just… I just want to know how dad is. He didn’t respond to me, I… I just want to know if he’s fine.” The doctor has a sad look on his eyes as he watches me.

He answers, “Mr Banks is in a critical, vegetative state. He just entered a coma. We don’t know if he’d be in this coma for days, weeks or months. It was not just a bite. He’d received a hit to the head, too. You both can’t go in yet, but you can watch him from the window. I’ll tell you when he can start receiving visitors. Any… questions you might have?”

But I’m already walking towards the glass—the window where the doctor said we can watch dad from.

Dad is lying pale on the hospital bed, different wires connected to his body. Tubes run into his arms, machines beep steadily beside him. I watch the transparent liquid seep into his veins through the IV, how he let it without complaining. Dad hates hospitals.

“Dad?” I call out. “Dad, it’s me. It’s Lala. We were just dancing together on that call, you were just showing me all the ingredients you got for my favorite food. Why are you so quiet now, why haven’t you said a word to me since I came back? At least open your eyes and look at me… I wore… I wore the silly shirt you got for me. The one that has your face on it… we were supposed to match, daddy.”

My body starts to tremble. I’m in the middle of a panic attack, but I don’t know how to stop. I keep talking but I can’t hear myself anymore. I start banging on the glass, and that’s when those familiar arms pull me away, again.

“Let’s go home. You’re exhausted, and that exhaustion is messing with your head right now. You need to rest.”

I wriggle out of his arms and go over to the glass again. “You’re not in a coma, dad. I know you’ll wake up soon. I’ll come back for you, okay? Okay?” My lips tremble and I turn to face Rhett. “See, his lips are so blue, he’s cold but they won’t give him a blanket! I have a blanket in my bag, I should give it to him. Wait, you know what? You can leave. I can’t leave dad here, I have to, uh…”

But I’m breathing too fast. Rhett pulls me into an awkward hug. I know he’s bad at being around people like this. I’ve never even seen him hug once.

“I promise we’d come back here first thing tomorrow morning. I’ll bring you myself. But we have to leave now, baby girl. You need to get some good rest. Lawrence would be fine. I’m sure of it.”

Just like that, my breathing starts to calm and I snuggle closer to him. His breathing deepens, and it’s not long before he pulls away. His expression is hard, even as he wipes a tear off my cheek.

“We’ll come back tomorrow.” He reassures me again. “For now, let’s go home. Okay?”

Home. But is it really home without dad? I turn to spare dad one last glance, and then I start to walk side by side with Rhett, away from the hospital.

The drive back home is silent, save for the soft, country music playing through the car’s speakers. My head is rested against the window by my side and I look out as we drive, concerned about how much thicker the bushes in the town had become.

The animal that attacked dad could be hiding in any of these bushes. Uncle Rhett used to warn me about never going close to these bushes. Why didn’t dad stay away, too?

The car slowly comes to a halt in front of our houses, and I quickly push the car door open, eager to get away from Uncle Rhett, so I could just go cry my eyes out in the house. Okay, and because it’s mighty uncomfortable sitting so close to him, smelling him in such close proximity.

“Lala. Would you be okay—”

“Yes! Yes, uh, goodnight.” I say, scurrying to the backseat to take out my luggage.

I was wrong during these past few years. I didn’t kill my feelings for Uncle Rhett. They’re alive as ever, even more intense and suffocating than I remember.

I need to focus my thoughts on dad. He’s fighting for his life, and I’m fighting to subdue my feelings for Uncle Rhett, his best friend.

I finally take my luggage, rush inside the house, turning around only to slam the door shut. Uncle Rhett is standing there as I shut the door.

I don’t bother turning on the lights as I make my way inside the house. I can’t stand seeing anything that would remind me that dad isn’t here.

I stumble into my room, leaning against my door after locking it. Long seconds later, I start to walk towards my bed. I sink into the mattress, fully clothed. My phone buzzes from somewhere, but I don’t pay any attention to it.

Laying on my back and staring up at the ceiling, I can’t help but wish this is all a dream. I shut my eyes.

The air suddenly changes. I’m not in my room anymore.

I’m standing barefoot on… wet grass. I look around to see that I’m surrounded by tall trees, shrubs, thick bushes. But it’s weirdly quiet. No birds chirping or anything. Just pitch silence.

A familiar figure moves ahead of me while I’m still trying to understand my surroundings.

“Dad?” I rub my eyes. But dad doesn’t turn to acknowledge me. He keeps walking further into the woods.

Panic claws at my chest. Why isn’t he answering me?

I take a step forward, stopping when an arm brushes against mine. I look up to see Uncle Rhett standing beside me. His eyes are fixed on dad’s retreating figure.

“Don’t just stand there!” I snap, grabbing his arm. “You always say we can’t go into the woods. You even fought dad for it and overreacted for nothing! Why’re you so calm now!”

He doesn’t answer. He doesn’t move. Uncle Rhett still just stands beside me, looking helpless for the first time since I’ve known him. I glance ahead, and the trees are closing in on dad now. I can’t take it anymore. I break into a run, and that’s when Uncle Rhett finally moves.

“Lala!”

He’s hot on my trail, screaming my name. The grasses and leaves make crackling sounds under my weight as I run, but dad just seems farther away the more I run, the more I call out to him. Dust covers my vision, more footsteps ring out in the distance. I start to slow down, struggling to catch my breath.

The footsteps become louder. I turn side to side, trying to decipher where the sounds are coming from.

“Uncle Rhett… Unc… can you… hear that?”

He says nothing to me. Just stands there in silence.

I’m about to yell at him to say something when I see shadows slip between the bushes and some pairs of eyes gleam from the dark.

“What… No…” But the words barely leave my lips before they burst out all at once.

Huge, furry beasts. They charge towards dad. His scream rings out through the woods.

A loud shriek follows his. It takes a while for me to recognize the voice as mine.

Blood splutters everywhere but I can’t move. Uncle Rhett has his arms around me, holding me in a vice grip.

“Please don’t look, baby girl.” He tries to cover my eyes. I claw his hands off. My chest is raw with pain as I cry out for dad.

Uncle Rhett’s grip tightens around. That’s when I notice that his hands around me feel wrong. Too rough, too coarse. Nothing like skin.

My heart stutters, terror flooding every vein, but I can’t tear my eyes away from what’s left of dad. The animals start to retreat slowly. Then they suddenly stop and turn to me. It’s less foggy now.

On the ground before us, the blood and dad’s broken bones shift, rearranging themselves into words I don’t need help understanding.

YOU’RE NEXT.

Another scream rips out of my throat.