Page 103 of Awestruck at Dusk
“You placed the flowers under your pillow?” Nathan asked with a curious-filled glance aimed at me. “Did you dream of me?” He joked, pulling me in for a hug.
I was afraid of what William would say next—that he would reveal my dream to everyone. He didn’t mind saying that comment about me loving his bed, so why wouldn’t he mention my dream?
I quickly replied before allowing William to speak. “Nah, they don’t work. I’m sorry to ruin it for you guys. I know it’s kind of a big deal.”
“Well, we hadn’t met yet. I’m sure they’ll work this time around,” Nathan said with a chuckle, kissing my cheek.
William laughed a bored kind of laugh and said, “I agree with her. I don’t think they work either.” He excused himself and walked inside the house. Zara followed him; how strange.
William looked annoyed, but what did he want me to say? That I dreamt of him after putting the flowers under my pillow? In front ofeveryone? That he still lingered in my subconscious and made himself present every other day, even in my nightmares? Because I was certain that he was somewhat aware of that too.
Nathan caught me staring at William as he walked away, and I couldn’t even smile back and pretend otherwise. I unlatched myself from his embrace, took a step forward, and poured sparkling water into a glass.
Everyone resumed their chatters. And Tobias, bless him, turned the music up, filling up the gaps of silence that remained from the previous interaction.
The show must go on.
Zara and William came back out ten minutes later, carrying a plate of snacks in each hand. Eric tried to attack one of the cheese plates, but William lifted it away from his grasp, laughing. They walked over to the long table by the garden and placed the plates there.
The rest of us followed them and lingered near the table to enjoy the evening snacks. William wouldn’t keep his fiery glare off me. Even when I dared glance his way, he didn’t look away. He made me feel uncomfortable, mostly because Nathan was sitting next to me, but that didn’t stop him.
“Everything all right, mate?” Nathan asked William in a rough tone after realizing the staring wouldn’t stop. William turned to look at Nathan with a world-weary face and a slightly raised brow as if he couldn’t be bothered by Nathan. “I asked you a question.”
Joel walked over to Nathan and said something in Swedish to him, tapping his shoulder, to which Nathan replied, “Well, he’s making her uncomfortable.”
“Am I?” William asked, looking at me. I bit my lower lip, not knowing what to respond to him. I parted my lips to speak, to tell Nathan that I was fine, that there was no need to engage with William, but I guess I took too long to reply because William stood up, grabbed a couple of plates, and an empty wineglass, and sauntered back to the house.
William climbed a couple of steps up to the terrace, but he must’ve slipped or something because I saw him stumbling on the wooden deck. A loud clatter of shattering glass accompanied the fall.
“William!” Lily and I shouted at the same time. We stood up and rushed to see if he was okay. He was already standing up when we reached him, but his soft pink linen pants were stained with blood that poured out of a deep gash from his left hand right below his thumb. A long, sharp shard of glass from the wineglass stuck out from the cut.
“DAVID!” I shouted. Everyone else rushed to see what happened. Some stared at William’s hand with wide eyes, looking at the blood flowing out. Others at the blood-stained deck and the shards of glass on the floor.
“I’m fine,” he grumbled, looking at me. I could only shake my head. He wasn’t okay. The blood poured out like an open faucet.
“David’s a doctor. You should let him see your hand. You’re probably going to need stitches.”
“Oh, my God!” Zara said, gaping at William’s hand. “Shit, I’m—” She clung to Nathan, who guided her inside, and Sivert followed them. Nathan told me later that night that Zara would usually faint at the sight of blood. I guess it would be best not to cast Zara for any gory horror movies in the future.
David and Amena darted our way and evaluated William’s hand as he grimaced from the pain. But he wasfine. Right.
“The cut is too deep. I can stitch it up for you,” David said. “We carry a comprehensive first aid kit in the SUV. I’ve got everything I need to do it. Or you could go to a hospital, too.”
“No,” William replied instantly. “No hospitals.”
“Let’s do this, then,” David replied. He asked Amena to get the first aid kit, and she rushed back to get it. David asked Lily for a few things he needed like water, towels, and such and asked William to take a seat inside on one of the kitchen stools.
Amena came back with the first aid kit, and David got to work. William hissed and looked away when David removed the pointy shard of glass from his hand. Another gush of blood flooded from the cut down his wrist when the glass came out, but David seemed to have everything under control.
David asked me to apply pressure to the wound while he prepared an injection of lidocaine to numb the area around it and make the stitching more bearable for William—or so he explained. Joel and Tobias checked on Zara while Lily and Eric watched how David worked on William’s hand with curiosity.
“Are you okay?” I asked William, meeting his pain-filled gaze. He nodded at me with a furrowed brow and mouthed back,thank you.
Zara fainted, so after David was done with William, he tended to Zara. She finally woke up, but Nathan and Tobias helped her upstairs to rest. Lily went up with them to help her change out of her dress while Joel, Eric, and I helped get the kitchen and the deck cleaned up after the stitching.
William wanted to help, but I shooed him away. He joined his father on the living room couch after realizing I wouldn’t allow him to do anything. I thought it was best if he rested his hand. We wouldn’t want the stitches to burst open.
We were done with the kitchen and almost done with the deck when Nathan walked down the stairs.
