AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I put my hand up and shook my head. Mouthing the word no, I pressed my finger to my mouth. Yeah, I was seconds away from passing out, but I didn’t want Damon knowing that.
He needed to get away from this place.
And I needed him to leave.
The fury rolling over his face was exactly what I’d envisioned would happen. And took part in. I deserved his wrath.
The chair he pushed hadn’t hit me, but it was close enough to kick my nerves into gear.Shit.
Drey glanced in my direction a split second before the door shut behind Damon, and I caught the sorrow on his face. He knew he was wrong to ask me to keep the secret I’d kept, like I was wrong to go along with it. But we’d done it. Even the doctors had done it. Sarah and Angelina and Hunter, too, not that they were around Damon as much as Drey and I were.
Drey would take care of me. Tell Damon so he’d understand.
If he ever understood.
I pulled out my phone and speed-dialed Angelina, and she picked up on the first ring. “Hey girl.”
“Hospital…come…get me.” I handed the phone to the doctor and sat in the chair.
Smoothing my shirt, I worked to get myself to the beach. To get myself calm. Closing my eyes, I pictured the water. Damon’s face flashed, though. His tight jaw. His lips pressed thin. His fisted hands.
Three, six, nine, twelve.Twisting the ring, counting, finding my beach. Nothing was working.
Well. At least I was in a hospital.
“He’ll be fine,” Doc said as he handed me my phone.
I rubbed my thumb along the side of the phone. Then the top and bottom. Damon’s face came up on the lock screen. He had such beautiful eyes.
“I’ve seen this before, Lizzie. It’s a shock. There are stages of grief he has to go through.”
“Were—we wrong—to wait to tell him?” I needed to calm down or I’d start hyperventilating.
“No. As much as I didn’t initially agree with waiting, his reaction today confirmed Drey was right to ask us to wait. That kind of emotional response, the pressure it triggers, and impulsivity…those are not good combinations for someone who just woke up from a coma. He has a head injury as well, that doesn’t help with impulsivity at all.”
“There’s reallynothingwe can do for him?”
“Other than get him the best mobility coaches, physical therapy, and a support system, no. After having sight for twenty years, to abruptlynothave it, he has to grieve.”
“It’s not fair,” I whispered, tears stinging my eyes.
“It’s not. But it’s how it turned out.” He patted my shoulder. “Are you okay?”
“Not even close. He’s not gonna forgive me for lying.”
“He will. Drey will see to it. Like I said, he’s angry. Go home. Look up the stages of grief. I know you’re familiar with them.”
“I’m anexpert.”
“Then you can help Damon.” He let out a sigh. “I don’t know the details, but I know you lost your parents. Overheard you and Angelina talking a while back. So you’re the best person to help him, Lizzie. You know that, right?”
“He woke up from a coma. Finds out his mom died and didn’t get his goodbyes, since he was in a coma during the funeral. Now he learns he’s permanently blind—never to see anyone or anything again.”
“Tough road ahead.”
“For us both.” Because yeah, I was going to help him. If it was the last thing I did, I was going to get him through this.
Chapter Twenty-One
