AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Don’t worry, I can fix it,” he says with a wave of his hand, already moving around me to head for the broken chandelier.
I hold up a hand, stopping him. “No, it’s okay.”
He rolls his eyes, appearing unbothered by the close proximity as he places his hands on my shoulders, forcing me to look at him. “Mia. Just take the help.”
“I’ve taken enough help.”
“No such thing,” he tells me, giving my shoulders a gentle squeeze, holding my eyes with his.
“There better be enough, because I’m not walking back down there. Ava and Conner are making goo-goo eyes at each other.” Logan cuts off as he enters the room, seeing Riley standing so close to me with his hands on my shoulders, us staring at each other. Amusement twinkles in his eyes as a sly smile appears on his face. “And apparently, it’s happening in here.”
I practically push Riley away from me and retreat to another part of the room, opening and closing the drawers to my parents' bedside table to give me something to do as stammer out, “No, the light almost fell on me. Riley pulled me out of the way.”
I can feel everyone’s eyes on me, looking at me like I'm a crazy person and, if I'm honest, I don't know why I pushed Riley so far away. We were just standing there, so why did I panic and retreat?
The excuse appears to work as Logan whistles, seeing the chandelier on the floor of the walk-in. “That’s really lucky, it reminds me of the time-”
I zone out then, all too aware of Riley still looking at me, like he knows what I was running from and why. I just wish I knew.
“I should go get the stuff to fix this.” And just like that, Riley leaves me to Logan’s incessant chatter and my own thoughts.
The day wentby in a blur, with Logan’s chatter I occasionally listened to when he looked at me expectantly, Ava constantly coming up to check on me with nothing but worry in her eyes, and Riley nowhere to be seen as he proceeded to fix the chandelier in my parents closet.
Logan and I ended up in my father’s office until everyone decided to head home around 5pm, wishing me a happy night and that they will be back tomorrow to help some more.
Ava touched my shoulder, offering to stay with me, but I knew she couldn’t do it. I knew she offered out of obligation and that she still had Charlie. That’s where she needed to be, so I smiled and wished everyone a good night.
Closing the door behind them, I felt a wave of tiredness take over, making me slump against the front door, pushing strands of hair off my face and rubbing my eyes.
I knew this tired feeling was not only from packing and moving things, but stemmed from something deeper, from the strength and energy it took to put on a brave face for my friends, so that they can’t see the uncertainty and anxiety that is plaguing my life, so they can’t see how I have no idea how to process my parents deaths. I do not wish to be a burden on them, and I never will.
I count to three in my head before pushing myself off the door and freeze when I hear it.
A creak sounds from upstairs, followed by another creak, then nothing.
I should just ignore it. I shouldn’t do what I’ve yelled at stupid bitches in horror movies for doing, but without even thinking, I start climbing the stairs with my brows furrowed and my eyes focused on the landing of the stairs.
Even though I hear nothing, every hair on my body stands as I climb the stairs, trying to convince myself that it was wind or some shit, but knowing deep down, it wasn’t.
I swallow, bracing myself as I reach the landing, turning to head to my bedroom, when a tall figure appears before me, pulling a surprised scream from me, my heart jumping into my throat.
I blink, happily realising that it wasn’t a psychopathic axe murder coming to kill me, when a pair of familiar dark eyes look at me as I try to calm my racing heart.
I try to control my breathing, putting a hand to my chest as he says, “Shit, sorry.”
I glare at Riley. “You really need to stop doing that.”
He looks around the vacant space around us as he shrugs. “I didn’t realise how late it was.”
“What are you still doing here?”
He points a thumb down the hall in the direction of my parents' room. “I was fixing the light. Had a bit of a mess to clean up, but it’s all done now.”
I blink again, remembering that I hadn’t seen him go, but just assumed he had left before everyone else. I was grateful that he had spent the time to fix something that wasn’t his fault. “Oh, thank you.”
He looks around again, raising his brows. “So everyone is gone?”
“Yeah, do you have a ride back?”
