Page 103 of The Season
“Yah. Okay.” I lick my lips, mouth feeling suddenly dry. I should lay down. I’ve felt like this enough times to know what’s coming. The inevitable crash that will leave me feeling hungover—sometimes for hours, sometimes for days.
My vision blurs, and I stumble down the hallway, my feet heavy as I trod to my bedroom. But for some reason, I can’t quite make my feet move past Liam and Eddie’s room. The door handle gleams at me in the dim light, glimmering like a beacon through the haze of my mind. My hand reaches out, looking like the hand of someone else as it turns the handle. Looking bigger, stronger, and not quite mine.
Liam, Antoine, and Seth are sitting, huddled together on the edge of Eddie’s bed. Lily is stretched out on Liam’s double mattress, eyes shut, cheeks pale, lips parted. She looks peaceful and perfect, but there’s an off-ness about her too. Like Sleeping Beauty in an enchanted sleep.
I could be her Prince Charming,I think idly, then almost laugh at myself. Why would she want someone like me—damaged and awkward. So inexperienced, it’s laughable. And so broken, I could barely drive her home safely.
But I did drive her home. I got behind the wheel for the first time since it happened. And I’m standing here. I might be exhausted, but I’m here.
That thought has a surge of resolve rushing through me, a solidness that has my legs moving, my knees bending, my body drawn toward her like a magnet. I kneel beside the mattress, feeling for a brief moment like a knight in the stories my mom used to read. Like I could pledge my heart and soul to her, for nothing more than the promise of her smile.
Her eyelids flutter, a garbled sound escaping her lips, and my hand lifts of its own accord, the desire to reach out and stroke the hair back from her face almost impossible to resist.
I don’t dare touch her though. Not while she’s sleeping. Not after everything she’s been through.
“Do you think we should take her to a hospital?” Antoine murmurs from behind me. “Make sure she’s okay?”
“Eddie called his sister,” Liam reminds him, his voice low. “The doctor, remember? She said it should be fine to keep her here, told us what to look out for…”
Seth is silent, but I can practically feel the nervous energy humming off him in the dimly lit room, buzzing alongside the low-watt bulb overhead.
Lily opens her eyes, pupils blown and eyes unfocused. “Matty?” she rasps against the pillow.
“Yah,” I croak, eyes burning. “I’m here, baby.”
“Hmm.” Her brow dips, expression pinching, eyes closing again.
“I’m not going anywhere,” I tell her, even though I’m not sure if she can hear me. “I won’t leave you, I promise.”
Her expression smooths, a shuddering sigh escaping parched lips, and I feel my shoulders slump in relief.
“That’s good, right?” I ask, turning to give Liam a questioning look. “That’s a good sign, if she’s talking?”
Liam rubs the back of his neck, his mouth pulled into a thin line. “I… I don’t know,” he admits, expression shuttered.
He pulls his knees up, hugging them against his chest, and fixes his gray eyes on Lily. Sitting like that, he doesn’t look anything like the confident coach who urged me down double-black diamond runs. He looks lost, uncertain, and just as terrified as I am.
“You might as well make yourself comfortable,” Seth says, throwing me a pillow and speaking for what must be the first time since we came home. His eyes are fixed on Lily though, with an intensity that mirrors what I’m feeling.
He likes her, remember?I think with a sinking sense of resignation. And how could I possibly compete with him?
“She seemed to relax when she heard your voice,” Seth continues, his voice a low rasp. “So I’d rather you didn’t leave.” His gaze flits to me, sharp and full of warning, and my eyes drop to where his hands are folded on his lap, the knuckles swollen and raw, small cuts still bleeding.
“Yes, sir,” I say without thinking, nodding empathetically. “I won’t leave her.”
Seth gives a curt nod, then goes back to staring at Lily. Antoine reaches across, taking Liam’s hand in one of his own, threading their fingers together, pausing to give me a challenging look that I don’t quite understand.
I put the pillow on the floor beside the mattress, then stretch out on the musty carpet, so that I’m lying next to Lily. This way, she can see me when she wakes up. She’ll know that I didn’t leave her, just like I promised.
Chapter32
Eddie
“You’re an ugly fucker, aren’t you?” I observe idly.
I tilt my head, considering the bloodied layout of Tom’s face, half obscured by his pillow. The movement causes Lily’s air mattress to squeak beneath me.
“I mean, you didn’t have much to work with before,” I continue. “But now… you’re a bit of a mess, mate.”
