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Heard the shit he was spitting at her.
Saw him shove her.
That was a good thing and went well in my favor.
“Can you make sure Valen’s work is also aware of what happened before it comes out on the news?”
She nodded, grabbed a pen, and quickly scribbled a note on the back of her hand before sticking the pen through the center of the messy bun that sat atop her head.
That was new.
And I also hadn’t ever seen her with glasses on—I assumed she usually wore contacts.
But it was one in the morning, and I’d dragged her out of bed to do some kind of damage control for the shitstorm I’d created earlier in the evening. The party itself had gone off without a hitch. Even after I’d beaten Chad’s ass out on the sidewalk, we’d still sold over eighty percent of the spaces that were for sale—a record for me. And I knew it was in part thanks to Valen and the ideas she’d suggested.
“Thanks for coming so late,” I told Tracy as I walked her downstairs to the foyer. “Appreciate you looking after this.”
She laughed softly as she paused at the door. “You’ve been pretty tame up until this point. I’m actually kind of glad I get to finally put my skills to use. Now go look after that girl,” she insisted as she walked to the bottom of the stoop where Karl was waiting to give her a ride home. “She needs you.”
I nodded, closing the door with a soft click, my eyes dropping to where I held the handle. My knuckles were still red, and there was a few spots of blood still splattered across them. A lot less than what there could have been if Valen hadn’t grabbed me.
I wasn’t super excited about this interaction getting out into the world, given I had a pretty good reputation for being someone who was always in control and hardly ever shaken, but I hadn’t always been that way.
I’d lost my shit before.
And I could remember the last time pretty fucking clearly.
“He’s not gone, he’s not,” I screamed, fighting against the nurse who was attempting to drag me from the hospital room. I grabbed hold of anything I could get my hands on, tossing the metal pole with the bags of liquid onto the floor and upturning the table he’d usually use to eat his food or color with me.
“Reed, stop!” the nurse screamed. “Help! I need help!”
“No! Gabe!”
I kicked back, driving my heel into the nurse’s shin. She screamed, dropping me like a load of rocks onto the floor. “Jesus, Reed,” she cursed, but I didn’t care. I scampered across the floor, throwing myself onto my brother’s bed and onto his chest.
I’d seen nurses do it before.
Two hands.
Over his heart.
I thumped hard, jolting Gabe’s lifeless body.
Over and over and over…
“Get him off,” my father screamed, hands reaching for my body, grabbing at my arms and legs. “Reed! Leave him alone.”
“He’s not dead,” I cried, fighting for breath.
My father finally grabbed me, lifting me onto the floor and holding my face in his hands so I couldn’t look away. “Gabe is gone. He’s gone. Stop making this harder for us.”
Harder for them.
Like it was so fucking easy for me to watch the only person in this whole world who really loved me, and now he was leaving me on this earth without him.
No.
Please, no.
