With Every Heartbeat
But Cora was too busy staring at the man to answer me. “She volunteered!” she cried.
“How did she even know what was going on with you?” he boomed, stepping past me as if I wasn’t there blocking his way, so he could enter the apartment as if he owned it. “Did I not strictly forbid you to have any more contact with her after you graduated from high school, after I sent you out here to get you away from her?”
Cora shrugged, looking only slightly repentant. “Oops,” she said.
“Damn it, Cora. How could you disobey me like that? And don’t tell me you were just curious what she was like. You had three years to get to know her. I know the only reason you brought her here was because you knew she’d be a match as a donor, don’t even pretend it’s not. How could you? Your mother and I sent you here because it hosts the best renal treatment center in the county. I hired a nurse to help you. We even pulled strings to raise your name on the transplant list. Why did you have to go after Zoey and drag her into it? She’s already been through enough because of us.”
“Hey.” I stepped between the two of them to get their attention. “What’re you talking about?” I wasn’t the type to butt in on a conversation, but tonight was just not my night to act like my usual self. “What is he talking about, Cora? And who is he?”
The man blinked at me as if remembering I was there. Then he noticed Asher, Noel, and Ten with an irritated scowl. Turning back to me because I’d been the one to talk, he said, “I think the better question is who are you? I’m her father, and if I learn you’re the one who gave her that black eye, I assure you, you’ll live to regret it.”
“I didn’t...” Wait. Huh? Cora’s father? That wasn’t what I was expecting him to say at all, though now that he’d said it, it made sense for him to speak to her in that authoritative way. But he looked way more like Zoey than he did Cora.
He didn’t. Cora had never even bothered to tell her own father the name of the guy she was dating.
He turned toward Cora for an explanation, so I turned to her for the same thing.
She sneered, meeting my gaze. “Surprise. You fucked sisters.”
“What?” Mr. Wilder and I said at the same time. We glanced at each other, both of our gazes full of accusation. Then we turned right back to her for clarification.
“Tell me what?” I growled, because there was nothing to tell. There couldn’t be. Because Zoey and Cora were not... They couldn’t be…sisters.
No. Just…no.
“Dude, sisters?” Ten whispered to Noel, sounding awed. “I’ve never even had sisters.”
Spinning to him, I yelled, “They’re not sisters!”
“Oh, yes, we are.” Cora’s smirk turned my stomach. “Half sisters anyway. Dear old Dad over there could never keep it in his pants. And when Zoey’s mom started prancing around him, in heat…well, you know what happens when you don’t use protection.”
“Cora,” her father warned, his voice low.
“What?” She glared at him before turning back to taunt me. “I’m surprised Zoey never told you, Quinn. She seems like the type who can’t keep a secret.”
He asked Cora the question, but I was the one who answered. “She doesn’t know.” She couldn’t.
Spotting the couch nearby, I sank down and dropped the box of Zoey’s things on the floor by my feet. At least two people grabbed my shoulders for support as I buried my face into my hands.
But how the hell was this happening? Zoey and Cora were sisters?
When the front door opened, I didn’t have to look up to know who entered. I could sense her presence tingling my skin. And then her voice came to me, trapping that lovely sound in my ears. A sigh of thanksgiving eased from me, knowing she was close, while at the same moment, my muscles tensed with dread. She had no idea what she’d just walked in on, and there was no way to warn her, no way to soften the blow.
“Mr. Wilder?” she said, clearly surprised by his presence. “What’s going on?”