Stripped Down Read Online Free PDF Page B

Cres and Sutton’s coworkers, when Melissa appeared a half hour after they’d parted ways.
    “Is everything all right?”
    “I had a few things to do that I’d forgotten about. Why?”
    “I would’ve tracked you down if you’d tried to turn this into a fuck and run encounter.”
    She hip-checked him. “You rocked my world, Wynton Grant. I’m ready for more.”
    A Pitbull song started and she grabbed his hand. “You didn’t think they’d play only country music tonight?”
    “I could hope.”
     
    * * * *
     
    Two songs later, Wyn and Melissa were leaving the dance floor when he saw his dad stumble back. Then he clutched the left side of his body and hit the floor. Wyn’s mother, always the picture of calm, screamed and froze in place.
    Wyn raced across the dance floor. That last shot of tequila threatened to come back up when he noticed the ashen tone his father’s face had taken. And the fear in his dad’s eyes sent Wyn’s alarm bells ringing louder.
    “Dad? Can you hear me?”
    He nodded.
    “Stay still. We’ll get you some help.”
    By that time Cres was next to him, as well as Mick, one of the guys Sutton worked with at the gun range.
    Mick said, “I have medical training. Let’s focus on slow and steady breathing until the ambulance arrives.”
    Jim Grant nodded.
    Then Mick glanced at Cres. “Can you deal with your mother please?”
    “Of course.”
    “Stay with me, Jim,” Mick said soothingly.
    Wyn listened while Mick asked basic questions that didn’t require more than a nod or a head shake. He vaguely heard Melissa advising guests to return to their tables because everything was under control.
    It seemed like an hour passed before the EMTs arrived. Wyn pushed to his feet and looked around while medical personnel assessed his father. He sidestepped them and moved to stand beside his mother and Cres.
    “What’s going on?” his mother demanded. “Is it a stroke? A heart attack?”
    “I don’t know. They’ll get him stabilized enough to hand him off to the docs in the emergency room.”
    “How far is the hospital from here?”
    London’s mother, Berlin, stepped into the circle. “About twenty minutes. The staff is top notch. But if the issue is out of their level of expertise, they’ll Life Flight him to Denver.” She slipped her arm around his mom’s shoulder. “Take a deep breath, Sue. We don’t need you passing out too.”
    The EMT interrupted. “Is anyone riding in the ambulance with him?”
    “I am,” Wyn said and took his mother’s hand. “Cres and I have both been drinking so we can’t drive to the hospital. You haven’t. So I’ll need you to drive Cres so we have a vehicle there, okay?”
    She blew out a breath. “Okay.” Then she turned to Berlin. “Could you—”
    “Chuck and I will handle everything here as far as explaining to the guests. No worries.”
    “Thank you.”
    Wyn walked alongside the rolling stretcher, his entire focus on his father. Although he had been drinking, the instant they closed the ambulance doors, he was stone-cold sober.
     
    * * * *
     
    As soon as they were through the emergency room doors, the medical team whisked his father off, leaving Wyn to wait for the rest of his family to arrive. He couldn’t fill out anything regarding his dad’s medical history. That helpless feeling he’d experienced riding in the ambulance expanded. He’d watched in near shock as his dad had become completely unresponsive. His skin had turned the same gray color as his hair. And beneath the oxygen mask he wore, Wyn thought his lips looked blue.
    He paced in the waiting room for a good thirty minutes before other family members arrived.
    His mother seemed calmer. The staff immediately took her back beyond the swinging doors, leaving him and Cres alone.
    “How is he?” Cres asked.
    “He was unconscious the entire way here.”
    “They give you any indication of what might’ve happened?”
    “I overheard heart attack when the EMT was on the