Page 106 of The Season
My lips quirk in a smile despite myself, and I shake my head, then drop to the floor beside Matty’s head, my back resting against the wall. “You did good today, champ,” I tell him, ruffling his hair. He grunts in reply, and my smile widens. “I can tell you’ve driven in snow before.”
“Thanks, man,” he mumbles, tugging what is definitely my pillow against his head.
“She’s been talking in her sleep,” Antoine says, dragging one palm down his face. “But she hasn’t woken up yet.”
I hum, biting the inside of my cheek. My sister did say it could be several hours before she wakes up.Keep her on her side, in case she throws up. Keep an eye on her, if it sounds like she’s having difficulty breathing, call an ambulance.
“I still think we should take her to a hospital,” Antoine continues, his green eyes flashing with challenge. “This… this waiting thing is ridiculous.”
“I agree,” Liam says, biting his lip. My gaze drops to where Antoine and Liam’s fingers are intertwined, and I snort. A few days ago, Liam would have been vehemently opposed to anything Antoine suggested, and now he’s siding with him, like they’re some power couple.
“We should wait,” Seth says, scrubbing at his cheek. “If it’s not an emergency, it should be her choice. She’s had enough of her choices taken away from her tonight.”
I rub at my sternum, feeling that increasingly familiar bite of pain behind my ribs at his words.
“You don’t agree with that, do you?” Antoine asks, his hushed tone doing little to hide the irritation in his voice. “Surely you don’t agree with him?”
“I…” I look between the three of them, then at Lily sleeping, and Matty on the floor beside me. Matty makes a sleepy, snuffling snore into the pillow, offering up absolutely no thoughts of value. “I don’t know,” I admit reluctantly, my voice going tight. “I don’t know what to do.”
“The mountain’s health insurance is awful,” Seth continues, his voice growing stronger. “If you take her in, she’ll end up with a massive bill, and what if she can’t pay it?”
“I could pay it,” Liam retorts. “I’ve got money saved up…”
“Your house deposit money?” I ask, incredulous. “You’d use your house deposit money on her?”
Because that’s what he’s been saving for, for as long as I’ve known him—trying to get enough money together to buy an exorbitantly priced shack in Wanaka or Queenstown. Even though he could probably ask his parents for help with a deposit, if he really wanted to.
Liam shrugs, not meeting my gaze. “I’m just saying. I could pay it.”
I stare at him, then look at Lily, then back at him again, his fingers twined with Antoine’s. My brow dips, mind racing to make sense of everything.
“I have some savings too,” Antoine admits, his dark cheeks flushing. “Not much, but I could help pay.”
“Same,” Seth grunts out. “But I still think it should be her choice.”
I scrub at the sides of my head with my fingertips, and stare at the three guys currently taking up the entirety of my mattress, then at the guy snoring into my pillow on the floor next to me, and it’s like all the puzzle pieces fly into place.
“You guys like her,” I blurt out, then instantly regret my choice of words. It’s like I’m seventeen again, at my all-boys school, talking in the boarding house about Chloe Barker. The girl literally every single boy had a crush on.
Turned out she was into chicks, so all our fights about who would ask her out to the next school formal had been pointless.
I clear my throat. “I mean… you guys are all interested in her?”
Liam gives me a sharp look, his jaw tensing, and Antoine gives a haughty tilt of his chin. Seth’s cheeks pinken, his lips pressing together in a thin line.
“Holy shit,” I say, grinning widely, even though the feeling threatening to crack me open is nothing like joy. “Of fucking course you guys are.” My gaze drops to Matty, and I huff out a mirthless laugh. “I mean, I knowhe’sinto her. That’s been obvious from day one. But you guys? Seriously?”
“You have a problem with that?” Seth bites out, cracking his knuckles. I shoot him a look of disbelief that has his gaze dropping. “Sorry,” he mumbles. “I didn’t mean… I’m just so worked up from…”
From when he hulked out protecting Lily.
How did I not see this before? I should have. I mean, Seth and Antoine have been cuddling up with Lily for weeks. And Liam… well, Liam is about as easy to read as a blot of ink, but even he’s been weird about her.
“Okay…” I scrub my palms on my thighs. It’s not like this changes anything for me. “Fine.”
I pushed her away. She kissed me and I pushed her away. She was never going to be interested in me after that.
“So what? You guys all like her,” I say, lifting my hands, making finger quotes around the word ‘like her’. “So what? You’re all going to ask her out, see who she wants to choose? How do you know she even likes any of you guys back?”
