“You don’t have anything to eat at home?”
“It all needs to be cooked, and I’ll perish before any of it finishes cooking.”
Ryder looks at me trying to hold back a laugh. “Perish? Really? Who the hell talks like that?”
Matt’s stomach grumbles again. “Oh my God, I’m going to fade away from lack of food.”
I can see him holding his stomach in the rearview mirror, making a weird, anguished face.
“What do you want,” I ask. “And pick something that’s on the way home. I’m not making any detours for your stomach.”
He thinks for a second before jumping forward, almost head-butting Ryder.
“Portillo’s! I need gooey cheese fries, a double rodeo burger, and a large chocolate cake shake!” His excitement radiates off him.
“Damn. Guess you’re taking advantage of no practice for two days,” Ryder says, turning back around in his seat.
“We don’t have practice tomorrow? Sweeeeet!”
I hear Ash growl at Matt, but nothing can faze him when food is in the near future.
Pulling into the drive-through, I place our orders and pay. Matt digs for the bag of fries and shoves a handful of steaming hot fries into his mouth, making moaning sounds as he chews.
“Those are yours. Don’t take any from the other ones. I’ll know if you take some of mine,” Ryder glares at him.
Matt grabs another handful and makes a show of eating them.
Ryder reaches for the bag, but Ash snags it before either idiot rips the bag open and sends fries all over my truck.
“Hey, I was eating those,” Matt complains while still chewing.
“That’s enough children. We’ll be home in five minutes.” I roll my eyes at them.
Parking in my spot, Ryder and I split up the food. We wave bye as Asher and Matt walk down to their condo, and we take the elevator up to ours.
It’s quiet as we enter. I set my food on the island and walk to my room. I find Charlie on his opposite side, facing Lily who’s leaning against my pillow, playing on her phone.
She looks up as I step closer to the bed. “He’s awake but zoned out.” She looks down at him before sliding off the bed.
She smiles sadly before leaving.
Walking over to my side, I can see both of his eyes open. There’s a gloss to them that I’ve seen a lot this week. I strip down to my boxer briefs and slide under the covers, coming face to face with him.
“Hey, baby. I’m back from the game.” I stroke the side of his face. He blinks a few times and slowly lifts his eyes from my neck up to my eyes. I want to cry seeing both of those golden-brown orbs. The gold flecks are brighter than they’ve been since before he left. “Beautiful,” I whisper tracing under his eyes.
He bites the corner of his lip as his doe eyes become watery, a tear slipping down his cheek when he blinks. I lean over and kiss the salty tear away.
“Don’t cry, baby. I’m here.”
I weave my fingers in his dark hair, not taking my eyes off his. He reaches for me, his hand landing on my neck. There’s so much pain and sadness in his beautiful eyes that I can’t help but pull him closer to me until his face is in my neck.
“I love you, Charlie.”
He lets out a soft whimper as the side of my neck starts to get wet.
“Everything…hurts,” he whispers brokenly into my neck. “I don’t want to feel this way anymore. P-Please make it stop,” his last word breaks as his body starts to shake.
I hold him tight against my chest, trying to give him some of my strength.
