Total pages in book: 88
Estimated words: 81488 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 407(@200wpm)___ 326(@250wpm)___ 272(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 81488 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 407(@200wpm)___ 326(@250wpm)___ 272(@300wpm)
Roman blinked back painful tears, then swallowed. There were so many words in the English language, but he couldn’t think of one that fit how he felt at that very moment.
“…Daddy.” His voice croaked. “It’s me. Roman. I … I spoke to Mama, Dakota, and Jordan a little bit ago. They’re all worried and rootin’ for you.” He paused, then slowly glided his hand over his father’s. Just then, he noticed the man’s eyeballs moving beneath the lids. “Daddy? I know you can’t speak… but if you’re hearin’ me, do somethin’, if you can, to let me know.” Nothing happened. But his father’s eyes kept moving about, as if he were dreaming.
Dreaming? That’s it.
“Daddy, I think you might think you’re dreamin’. Your eyes are moving around like you’re havin’ a nightmare. This is real. Your second born is here. The royal pain in your ass.” He smiled sadly. “Wake up if you can.” Suddenly, his father squeezed his fingers. Roman’s chest flooded with warmth. Tears welled in his eyes. “You can hear me? Squeeze again.” And this time he watched as his father pressed his thumb and fingers against his hand. “Old man, I love you.” The tears flowed freely. “You can’t leave me. I know I’m a grown man. I still need… I still need my daddy, though.
“We’re finally friends! Please, Daddy… you told me last time I saw you that you kinda felt like your days were numbered. I dismissed that sort of talk. I don’t like it when you do it, but this time, I could tell you were serious and not just tryna garner sympathy. I need you to, in some way, somehow, tell me who did this to you. I don’t trust that prison to give us justice. For all I know, it was a set-up. You don’t cause no problems in there, but you also don’t pay or bribe the guards. They know who your father is and offer favors to get some of that Wilde money, not realizing that you and Grandpa are estranged.
“I believe they let you lay there for a while, bleedin’ out, because when I called the prison and asked to see the camera footage, they tried to say it wasn’t caught on video, when we both know that is a damn lie. You already told me over the years what was up in there, and I thank you for that. I…” He stopped talking when he noticed his father’s eyes moving again, and this time, open slowly. “Oh, shit.” Roman slowly slipped his hand away from his father’s and got on his feet, his jacket falling to the floor. He didn’t care. Instead he rushed to the man’s side and looked at him—into a mirror of sorts.
Daddy’s lips curled, and Roman smiled back. The man tried to speak but then issued a grunt of pain.
“Nuh uh, don’t talk. Your throat was badly wounded. They did surgery on you, and it’s going to take a while to heal. Even if it does though, they don’t know the extent of the damage just yet.” Daddy blinked, as if trying to convey something. “What? Point to what you need.”
Instead, his father made a motion with his hands, like he was trying to draw in the air.
“Paper and pencil?” His father nodded. “Yes, yes, I can get that for you. I’ll be right back!”
Roman made a mad dash towards the nurse station. He caught sight of Genesis standing up and looking out of a window. She was on the phone, quite a distance away, her back turned towards him.
“I’m sorry to interrupt you, ma’am. ’Scuse me, nurse, I need a piece of paper and a pen, please for my father, if you don’t mind.” He hitched his thumb towards his father’s room.
“Sure. Hold on just a moment, honey.” The nurse put a caller on hold and spun around in her chair. Reaching into a drawer, she pulled out a pad of yellow paper with blue lines and the hospital name and logo at the top, then handed him an ink pen that looked as if it had been chewed on the end. He didn’t care—as long as it worked. “Thank you. I’ll bring them back when I’m done.”
He returned to his father. Daddy was sitting up a bit more, his eyes open, but rather sleepy looking. He heard music. His father had turned on an alarm clock radio and ZZ Top’s, ‘La Grange’ was playing. The old man loved that band. He remembered him playing them a lot when he was a kid. Daddy’s eyes were hooded like those of an owl during a slow blink. He took a hold of the pen and pad of paper, then sat a bit straighter, a serious look on his face. With uneasy, shaky hands, the man began to write while Roman stood waiting patiently.