Page 55 of Fall Into You
“Liza,” I start, sighing. “I know now probably isn’t the best time, but I’ve been going crazy here. I hate that we’re fighting. Today has been the longest fucking day of my life.”
She inhales sharply, her eyes meeting mine, filled with sadness. “I missed you so much,” her voice cracks. “I missed you so much, Matt. I’m so sorry.”
“Hey, no.” I reach out and pull her into my arms. “Shh, it’s okay. I was an ass. I think that, deep down, you were right—I did want us to get caught. We had agreed not to say anything, but here I was, just blatantly going against what we talked about.”
Liza shakes her head against my chest. “But I’m the one making you lie every day to your best friend. You wanted to come clean, and I’ve made you a liar, and that’s justhorrible, Matt. I don’t know how you can forgive that.”
“Don’t—please stop crying,” I whisper against her forehead before kissing it, inhaling her coconut scent until my lungs are filled.
God, I missed her.
“I was just freaked out, and I’m so sorry.” Tears flow easily out of her now, and I hold her, rocking her gently from side to side. After a minute, she calms down enough for me to remind her that we should probably get back soon before we raise any further suspicion. “I want to tell them tonight,” she says with full confidence.
“You what?” I breathe.
“I want it to be tonight, together. I want to do it over dessert and tell them how much you mean to me and just have it be out in the open.” She smiles, wiping at her eyes.
“Liza…” I kiss her, smiling against her lips. “Yes, that would be incredible.”
She sniffles and laughs once. “Okay, I just need to get this stupid bottle open.” She places the tip of the corkscrew on the cork of the bottle and presses down, but her hand slips, and the sharp end slices across her palm instead. Liza yelps in pain, and a shot of adrenaline shoots through me.
“Are you okay?” I ask, freaking out as the blood starts dripping down her hand. I pull her hand to me to inspect the wound while my heart races. I’m a fucking doctor, for fuck’s sake, why do I feel like I’m about to have a panic attack? “It doesn’t look too bad, but I want to run it through water to get a clearer view—see if you need any stitches.” She’s crying again, and I feel a pang in my stomach at the look in her eye. Pain. I want to take it away.
I turn on the water at the kitchen sink and hold her hand tightly in mine because I know she’s going to want to remove it, and I need to get a clearer view before I wrap it up. “This is gonna hurt a little,” I say, preparing her. She looks down at our hands, both covered in her blood, and she buries her face in my neck as I push her hand under the stream of water.
Liza yelps louder this time, screaming, “It hurts!”
“I know, baby, I’m—”
Suddenly, something pulls me back by the shoulders with incredible force, pushing me against the counter, the edge of it painfully hitting my spine.
“What the—”
I don’t understand what’s happening until I see a fist headed for my jaw a split second before feeling the white-hot searing pain all throughout my face, completely disorienting me, leaving me in a haze.
Oh, fuck.
IFEELMatt quickly pull away from me, the sudden disappearance of his body—which I was using as my support—causing me to trip and almost fall flat on my face. It’s only after I hear a loud crash and look up that I see him being pushed up against the kitchen counter. Vinny has him by his shirt, pulling and pushing his back against the counter over and over again. Matt is clearly in a lot of pain.
I scream and tell him to stop over and over again, but Vinny won’t listen. He completely ignores my pleas.
Finally, he stops pushing Matt enough to ask, “What the fuck were you doing to her? Why is she crying? Did you hurt her?” I see rage and betrayal in Vinny’s eyes, and my heart starts racing.
“He didn’t hurt me!” I yell, trying to stand up for him. But Vinny ignores me, pretending like I’m not six inches away from him.
“I saw you! You were forcing yourself on her, hurting her, and she was crying!”
“Are you kidding me?” Matt looks like he’s about to lose it, and I imagine weeks of frustration and tension are catching up with him. “I would never hurt Liza!” Matt says, shocked at the suggestion. Anyone who knows my relationship with Matt would never say that. He’s always been incredibly attentive and loving to me, putting my care above anything else.
“Oh yeah? Then why the fuck is she crying, asshole?” He grabs Matt by the shirt and pushes him again. I wince, running to Vinny, pulling on his shoulder with my good hand.
“She cut her palm open, you idiot,” Matt tells him. I wave my hand in front of Vinny’s face to show him the pooled blood dripping down my wrist, and Vinny loosens his grip on Matt’s shirt. “Jesus, you okay?” Matt asks. My brother just punched him in the face and pushed his spine against the sharp edge of a kitchen counter over and over again, and he’s asking me ifI’mokay?
I’m crying now, the shock of seeing my brother hurting Matt hitting me hard. I ignore Vinny and run to my boyfriend’s side to see how he’s doing. His back must be in a lot of pain. “Am I okay? What about you? Are you okay?” I ask between sobs. “Oh my God, Matt.” He wraps his arms around me, panting, whispering that he’s okay, he’s okay.
“What the fuck is going on?” Vinny asks, his breathing coming fast.
My mother and Danielle walk into the kitchen at this point, looking back and forth between the three of us until realization dawns on them on what must be going on.
