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Today’s been hard for all of us, most of all Asher, but I’d never seen them so stoic with each other. Something was definitely off, but I didn’t want to start anything while we were in Asher’s room. I’d have to wait to question Brandon once we left.
The midday sun has disappeared, it looks dark as midnight outside during the winter hours. Though it’s only quarter to five. The day feels like it’s over after everything that’s transpired in a few hours.
Asher begins nodding off after the nurse comes in and administers morphine. Brandon still has a tight expression since Madison and I returned to the room. The atmosphere between Brandon and Asher is considerably colder than before I left.
“I think Brandon and I should head out,” I say softly so as not to wake Ash.
Madison reaches over and squeezes my hand. “Thanks for staying. I’ll go home and check in on Lola soon.” My niece is with her nanny and luckily too young to understand what is going on.
Brandon?” I say, getting his attention. He’d been absentmindedly staring off through the window.
“Oh, yes. Let’s go,” he says, gathering our coats discarded on an extra chair in the room. After we both hug Madison goodbye, Brandon and I descend in the elevator in silence. He’s grown sullen. The ride down to the lobby is uncomfortable. When the elevator door opens, I can no longer stand the strangequiet behavior and place a hand on Brandon’s arm to stop him.
“Brandon, wait,” I say outside of the hospital entrance. The streets are loud with evening traffic honking and breaking the footsteps of the workers shuffling past us. Brandon ushers us out of the way of nearly getting struck with open umbrellas. We stand under the awning of the hospital entrance, away from the light rain drizzle.
“Why are you acting so strange?” He’d done a complete 180 from how we were earlier this afternoon.
“I’m not acting like anything, Ava,” he says, but the tight way he’s holding his jaw lets me know something is up.
“You can barely look me in the eye. Did something happen with you and Asher when I left? The two of you looked ready to pummel each other. I waited to say something because I didn’t want to upset Madison.”
“Ava, it’s nothing to be concerned about.” Brandon’s phone goes off and he extracts the device to read a text message.
Brandon’s face falls at the message.
“What is it?” I ask.
“It’s Bree,” he responds, scrolling through something on his phone. “One of her contacts from her old precinct say they went to talk to Reid as a person of interest in Asher’s attack. When they arrived, he wasn’t home and there’s been no sign of him for hours. In fact, his father wants to report him as a missing person, but he has to wait for 24 hours to pass before he’s deemed missing.”
I clasp a hand over my mouth. “Do you think Reid attacked Asher?”
Brandon puts his phone away before answering. “I don’t think this is a random attack, and I sincerely doubt Sierra could have done any harm to Asher.”
I didn’t think it was Sierra either, but she admitted to not being above employing others to do her dirty work. Which leaves Reid. God, just when I thought all this was behind me. I’m tired of it all, and Brandon’s surly mood is not helping.
“I have to go,” I say, moving towards the green poles at the end of the street, alerting me that I’m a quick train ride away from home.
Brandon’s long strides quickly eat up the distance between us. “There’s someone out there attacking Asher and you think it’s a good idea to walk around by yourself?”
“Well, I’m not in the mood to deal with this broody, macho attitude of yours,” I say. “I’m going home.” I descend the stairs to scan Apple Pay to get through the turnstiles, not looking back to see if Brandon has followed.
“Ava, wait.”
I stop walking farther down the platform at the sound of Brandon’s voice. I allow him to catch up to me, even though I want to storm off, but the sign show that the next train won’t arrive for another two minutes.
“You know it’s still not safe for you,” he says, standing before me.
I look up into his dark eyes, completely unreadable right now, but I know he’s right. I want to scream at him to tell me what happened with him and Ash. I want to pull his mouth down to mine and make me forget about these attacks. Just keep kissing Brandon until the world falls away and it’s us alone.
I do neither, instead tucking my head down in my hands. Brandon wraps his arms around me, and the train finally swooshes into the station, blowing my hair away from my face. The way Brandon holds me doesn’t feel like the other times, almost like he’s holding some of himself back.
Almost like this is goodbye.
The sense of foreboding doesn’t escape me as Brandon and I round the corner of my block on Greene Street. The sirens and police car lights stop me in my tracks.
“Oh, no, they’re all in front of my building.”
The bright yellow crime scene tape is a mockery of the dark and dreary day. “Come on. Let’s see what happened,” Brandon says, taking my hand. “Ava, hold onto me.”
