Page 83 of Next in Line
I exhale heavily and look over at Kate who has her hand clasped tightly over her mouth, completely failing to hide her amusement.
The doctor then adds flatly, “He was crying pretty hard during the stitches, so we gave him some pain medicine that will make him a little loopy. He shouldn’t drive himself home.”
Kate explodes with snort-filled laughter against her palm, spit flying everywhere as she loses her will to stay cool.
The doctor frowns over at her. “He’s completing his discharge papers now and will be out soon.”
I press my lips together to keep from laughing and manage to reply. “Okay, thank you, Dr. Dick, I mean, Doctor.”
Kate erupts into full-on hysterics as he turns to leave. I shake my head at Kate whose eyes are wet with tears of laughter. Miles is still doing the brooding brother routine, so I feel a little alone with my relief that Sterling is okay.
Regaining her composure, Kate turns to Miles, and says, “Babe, can you go get me a water?”
With a glower, he nods and takes off down the hallway around the corner where we’d spotted the vending machines. I watch him leave, and then groan, “Is Miles ever going to talk to me again?”
She shakes her head sadly. “Mostly likely. But honestly, I can’t even tell what exactly he’s mad about.”
“Me neither,” I reply and drop back down in my chair.
Kate sidles up next to me. “He should be mad at Sterling. Good God, the way he was carrying on when the ambulance showed up, I thought for sure he was leaking brain matter.”
A burst of manic laughter explodes out of me because holy heck, she’s right. What a mess that was. And all just for two stitches?
“My emotions are shot,” I say by way of an explanation for my outburst.
Kate turns to face me. “What the heck happened out there anyway? Tell me quick before Miles gets back.”
I shrug helplessly. “Sam and I were talking, and Sterling showed up. It got heated, and the next thing I knew, Sterling was bleeding on the ground.”
“Some football player,” Kate murmurs.
I pin her with a look. “Tonight was all my fault. If I never would’ve started sleeping with Sam and lying to Miles, none of this would have happened.”
“What the fuck?” Miles’s voice bellows as he comes around the corner with two bottles of water in hand. “What did you just say, Meg?”
“Miles!” I exclaim, my eyes wide as I stand.
“Did you just say that you fucked Sam? Tell me I heard wrong.”
“There’s more to it than that—”
He holds his hand with the water bottle out to stop me from speaking. “Wait…wait, wait. Answer me. Did you fuck my best friend?”
I inhale sharply. “Yes.”
“That’s all I need to hear,” he says, shoving the water bottles into Kate’s hands and shooting daggers at her. “And you fucking knew?”
Kate winces. “I did, but Miles, Maggie and Sterling were broken up. She was totally single—”
“What?” Miles growls, looking at me with accusing eyes. “When did you break up with Sterling?”
My heart inverts inside my chest as I quietly reply. “He broke up with me on Christmas morning. I was supposed to go visit him, but instead of going to the airport like Mom and Dad thought, I drove to Boulder and checked into a bed and breakfast for a week to get my head on straight. I didn’t want to tell you about my breakup.”
“So you’ve beenlyingto me all this time?” he roars, the veins on his neck bulging angrily. “I’m your brother, Maggie. You should have told me.”
“I know!” I reply, my voice wobbling at the end. “But I thought Sterling and I would get back together, and I didn’t want you to hate him.”
“I hate him, all right,” he replies, clenching his jaw and exhaling out his nose like a bull ready to charge. “And now I get to hate my best friend…so thanks a fucking lot, Megs.” He turns to walk away, and I reach out and grab his arm, trying to drag him back toward me.
