Page 151 of All This Time
“If I recall, there was some avoiding on your part, too.”
“Well, I think it’s safe to say that we’ve both made mistakes.”
“I’m not perfect, Laney. I mean, fuck. Look at my life. Asking you to be a part of it is a lot. You sure that you want this?”
She drags her nails through my scruff, pulling my lips to hers. “I’ve never been more certain of anything in my life.”
“I don’t deserve you,” I mutter between nips of her lips.
“Yes, you do. You deserve to be loved unconditionally, and that’s exactly what I plan to do for the rest of our lives.”
***
Laney squeezes my hand as we follow the nurse down the hallway to my father’s room.
“He’s on some pretty heavy painkillers right now, so he probably won’t know that you’re here,” the nurse says as she stops outside the door. “Dr. Esser will be by shortly to talk to you more about his recovery. The police have already been by to question him, but I know they wanted to talk to you too.”
“Of course. Anything I can do to help.”
Laney looks up at me. “You ready?”
“He’s not going to like what I have to say to him.”
“And you give a shit, why?”
Squeezing her hand, I say, “Thank you for being here.”
“I told you, you don’t have to deal with this alone anymore.”
I push the door open to his room, and even though I know he was in an accident, I’m still not prepared for what I see.
The massive man that raised me and taught me everything about the game we both love is lying in a hospital bed with cuts all over his face and bruises on his arms, and his right leg is in a cast. Honestly, he looks better off than he deserves.
The couple that he drunkenly crashed his car into last night though? They have a long road to recovery. Laney shed tears when we found out that they survived, and I’m grateful they did. I’m beyond relieved that another set of siblings won’t have to face the horrifying task of burying one of their parents like the woman next to me and her brother have.
I stand at the side of his bed, gripping Laney’s hand still.
“The windows must have shattered,” she says. “He has a million cuts.”
“Serves him right,” I grate out as anger and grief blur my vision. “He deserves much worse.”
“I agree.”
A groan leaves my father’s lips as he blinks himself awake, staring up at me. “Fletcher?”
“You should be dead,” I say without pause, my body shaking from the adrenaline racing through me.
“Fletcher,” Laney warns me from the side. I know I sound like a selfish bastard wishing my father would have died last night, especially because the woman next to me would give anything for her mom to still be alive. But I can’t deny how I feel. I can’t deny that part of me wished for that news just so this part of my past could have been buried with him.
“Son…” His lip trembles as his eyes fill with tears.
“No. You don’t get to cry. You don’t get to be sorry.” I point to the hallway outside. “There’s a couple out there, fighting for their fucking lives because of you.”
“I know.” He swallows roughly. “I didn’t…”
“You don’t get to blame this on anyone else but yourself. You’re a fucking alcoholic, Dad. When the hell are you going to admit that?”
“You’re right.” He reaches out for me, but I back away. “Fletcher…”
