Robert’s grey eyebrow rose slowly. “You haven’t talked to anyone, not after the accident?”
Harrison shook his head. “I feel a lot of conflicting grief about Taylor. I know therapy will help, but I don’t know if I’m ready to confront the shit I’ve kept buried for years.”
“Taylor is the boy who drove the car that night,” Robert said, stating it more than asking.
Harrison shrugged, and his gaze locked on the arm of the couch, grounding him. “He was my…best friend. We were practically raised together since we were babies, so he was like a brother to me. It never once crossed my mind that we wouldn’t have the rest of our lives together because he was always there.”
Robert tapped his foot on the floor and took another drink. “You miss him.”
“Every fucking day,” Harrison admitted. “I miss them both so much, him and Luca. I know what it’s like to be angry with someone you used to love. Everyone hates Taylor for driving the car, but all three of us chose to get in after we had been drinking. And I know everyone hates him for killing Luca, ending my career, and nearly killing me, but they weren’t there that night.”
Robert reached over and placed his hand on Harrison’s arm. “I’ve got you, my boy. Get it out and I’ll be right here beside you.”
Harrison didn’t know if he could say it—he had never talked about this with anyone, not even Jett. However, Robert had a fatherly presence, which helped put him at ease. He was nothing like his father, the man who was so disappointed in him that he never bothered to call him anymore.
He was taking a chance on Robert, but he decided to try.
“Taylor is the only reason I’m not in the ground next to Luca.”
There. He said it—and it fuckingcrushed him.
“The car crashed,” Harrison said, unable to stop the words. “Luca wasn’t wearing a seatbelt, and he went straight through the window. He died instantly, but I was in too much pain to realize that. I got my seatbelt off and crawled after him because I couldn’t walk with one leg, and I held onto him and tried to wake him up, but he was gone. I was sitting in the pouring rain, holding my dead baby brother in my arms in the middle of the road. Taylor was injured too—I can’t remember how badly—but he could walk. The pole only hit my side of the car, so he was in better shape than me.”
The hand on his arm tightened.
“My memories from that night are spotty at best, but there was a point where Taylor was trying to make me let go of Luca, and I kept pushing him away. It was dark, and the car lights were out, so no one would be able to see us on the road. He knew that, but I didn’t care. He was trying to drag me away, but I fought him, and my last memory of him was the sound of his voice as a car started speeding toward us. He somehow found the strength to pick me up and throw me out of the way, but the driver of the car didn’t have time to see him. He was struck and killed, and I was left lying on the road safe and alive, and I had no fucking clue that the two most important people in my life had just…left.”
And he had spent every day after wishing he could have followed them. He hated everyone who helped him, every doctor, nurse, lawyer and family member. All of them were too determined to keep him alive, and it made him angry because all he wanted to do wasdie. He never wanted a life without Luca and Taylor, and the fact that everyone had forced him to keep going had always made him hateful. That was until Jett.
“Your son saved me,” said Harrison. “Jett saved me from myself. All the pain and recovery, the surgeries and self-hatred. I thought all of it was pointless, and knowing everything was pointless made me want to die. Butfor the first time in a long time, I’m glad that I chose to live. It still hurts, and I know I’ll probably never heal from this, but I’m glad I’m still here because now I have Jett.”
Robert offered him a kind smile, and Harrison pretended not to see the tears in his eyes. “I’m so happy for you—both you and Jett. You deserve each other.”
Harrison nodded. He felt weirdly light and exhausted at the same time. “I’m going to marry him. I hope you know that.”
He…definitely didn’t mean for it to sound like a threat, but Robert didn’t seem to care. He threw his head back and laughed, shaking Harrison’s arm playfully.
“Is that your way of asking me for permission, Harrison Killinger? You have less tact than a bear in a bush.”
Harrison’s skin flushed red, and he groaned. He didn’t know anything about bears, but he was undeniably a dumb ass.
Jett
He felt better today, despite his brain trying to tell him that a step above rock bottom was still rock bottom.
Jett sat on his messy bed, rolling his shoulder to test its condition. The bruises had turned a gross mix of grey and yellow, but he was recovering quickly. Other than some stiffness and a tiny bit of pain around the tip of the bone, he was on track to get back on the ice.
He wouldn’t be allowed to play until he had a full evaluation, but practice was doable. He needed to stay limber if he wanted to be in peak condition, so the only way to do that was by getting out of bed and back to his routine.
He put his gym clothes on and left his bedroom, stopping in the kitchen to grab a bottle of water. His dad was sitting at the kitchen island reading a newspaper—where the hell did he get a newspaper from?—and drinking his coffee.
His dad raised an eyebrow when he spotted him, his unamused expression pinning Jett in place. “What are you up to, Jetty? This is the first time I’ve seen you in days.”
Jett shrugged, brushing the comment off. “I feel good. I’m going to work out and get some endorphins rolling.”
He took a swig of water, throat working as the cool liquid slid down. Across the room, his father’s eyebrows inched up, slowly disappearing behind his salt-and-pepper bangs. Jett kept his expression sunny, casual, pretending not to notice the scrutiny.
“Morning,” he said with an exaggerated cheeriness before hurrying out of the room and toward the gym on the other side of the penthouse.
