Page 18 of Off the Wall

Leaning against the wall, I try to catch my breath. I’m panting now. And sweating. Not to mention dying a little bit inside. So I decide to torture myself by checking my reflection in the hallway mirror. Might as well get a look at the horror show the good doctor just witnessed, right?

I stand there for a moment, face to face with my worst fear.

I’m in sheep pajamas, with wild hair and zero makeup, unless you count the stain on my lips from the Red Vines. Turns out the artificial coloring is almost the same shade as my underwear.

Great.

I’m shoving the thong in the pocket of my flannel top when there’s a flash in the glass and my heart bolts to my throat.

Cash Briggs is behind me in the mirror, reaching for my hand.

With my pulse racing, I spin around to face … an empty hallway.

Whoa.

First Vincenzo’s escargot made me see things. Now there must be too much red dye in my bloodstream. Either way, I didnotimagine Dr. McBoxer Briefs in the laundry room holding my panties.

And I’veneverhated that word more.

Chapter Six

Cash

“This place is … kinda quiet, huh?”My brother picks up his water bottle, takes a few swigs, then wipes his mouth with the back of his hand. My own water bottle’s empty, but I’m too comfortable to head inside for a refill. We just finished a workout at Spring Brook gym. Now we’re sprawled on lounge chairs in the courtyard. “Almost too quiet for a Saturday,” Cullen adds.

“That’s exactly why I like it.”

“And yet you can’t wait to leave.” Cullen’s mouth slants. “My baby brother wants to abandon the state, leave us all behind, lonely and weeping.” He says this like a statement, not a question, which is good because the answer isn’t simple. It’s my former life I want to escape. The Serendipity is fine.

In fact, it’s more than fine.

The pulse of life surrounding this place makes it unlike anywhere else I’ve ever been. I imagine the people who came and went here before me. The stories they’d tell if they were still around.

Their hopes and dreams.

This property used to belong to a college or something,and the inside still has that look about it, with all the high ceilings and fancy crown moldings. There’s an actual library off the lobby, and a parlor. Old-timey mailboxes. The kind of stuff you’d expect to find in a dorm from last century.

The exterior’s pretty cool too. It’s mostly red brick, except for the part at the top made out of some kind of sculpted concrete.

What really sold me on The Serendipity, though, is exactly where we are now. I love the courtyard. The whole space is crawling with plants, bushes, and vines I can’t name to save my life. There’s a full-sized pool and a three-tiered fountain. The water’s spring fed, and rumors abound about this place and its special powers. Me? I’m a believer in medicine. Not magic. But the trickling fountain sure is soothing after a long day’s work.

“Well, I’m here now,” I say with a shrug. “That’s what matters. The future’s the future. The past is the past.” I let out a chuckle. “Deep thoughts for a Saturday.”

“Speaking of the past …” Cullen stretches out his legs, the midday sun glinting down on us. “You’re probably not gonna like what I have to tell you, but Lauren heard something through the grapevine.”

“Then I’ve got a fabulous solution to your predicament.” I offer him a smirk. “Just don’t say whatever it is I don’t want to hear.”

“Well, someone’s gotta do it. We all drew straws, and …”

“Let me guess.” I quirk a brow. “You got the short stick?”

“Hey, now.” Cullen sets his bottle on the table between our two chairs. “No cracks about the size of my stick, or I’ll tell the press about how the great Cash Briggs slept with a teddy bear until he was?—”

“That story just makes me more relatable. And anyway, no one’s interested in reporting on me these days.”

We both fall silent for a moment, but it’s true. Thosearticles stopped awhile ago. It’s been four years since the injury. Four years since my fiancée left. Four years since a team of surgeons pieced me and my spine back together.

While everyone else was busy taking bets on whether I’d walk again, those doctors gave me my life back. Well. Not so much my love life. But the rest of me is way better off now.

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