“Whoa, Ry, you don’t know how far that’s in there or if it’s hit anything,” Dane tells me.
I brush him off with a wave, moving closer to Maddox. “I have only ever loved her. She’s the only thing I’ve ever wanted.”
“Really? Because for the last couple of days, you’ve made it your mission to make her life hell. Not to mention how many times you’ve said you hated her. You basically treated her like a whore right here in this house. You served her with papers to just take her son without so much of a discussion. Do I need to go on?”
“I didn’t know everything,” I growl.
“You didn’t know what? That you didn’t have limitless time to pull your head out of your ass? You, of all people, know that already. At any point in the last nine years, she could’ve died. She could die tomorrow. Why does knowing that she might die sooner than she would have without the disease make any difference?”
“Why are you being like this?” I push him hard, making him stumble, but also bringing my attention to the glass in my side for the first time as pain shoots through me.
“Because you need to hear it.” He pushes me back.
“There are a lot of things you need to hear, Maddox,” the warning in my voice is crystal clear. He just doesn’t care.
“Difference is, you are finally ready to hear it. I know what I need to hear. You’ve all said it. I just don’t care.”
“Look, if we don’t get you to the hospital for that,” Dane gestures to the blood coming from my side, “youmight die. Then all of this will be moot.”
“I fucking hate how goddamn self-aware you are,” I grunt.
“It’s easier to see your own flaws when you wallow in guilt every day. When you feed on the anger, all you see is the injustice done to you.”
“Always a bloody poet,” I mutter as I let them help me out. “Sorry about the mirror.”
“What were you trying to do?” Dane asks.
“He wanted the reflection to match the man, I’m betting,” Maddox’s answers before I do.
“Bloody poet.”
“Wait here,” Dane says when we reach the top of the stairs. “Jake and all the girls just got here with the kids. Don’t want them to see this.”
I nod, leaning against the door frame. Bone deep weariness settles over me. I’m exhausted. More than I’ve ever been.
“What are you going to do?”Maddox asks me.
“You know what,” I say as my eyes close. “You already know the answer to that.You knew before I did. You always do.”
“Nah. I just know you, Ry. I know exactly where your heart has been all this time. Glad it didn’t take you long to figure it outonce the truth of everything was revealed.”
“Don’t know if I would’ve if she hadn’t told me what she did,” I admit.
“So, you talked?”
“More like I was an asshole, I fucked her, then we fought.”
“Yeah, that sounds more like it. You can’t ever do anything the easy way, can you?”
“Can you?” I raise my brow daring him to argue.
“Nope. Hanging on to the baggage is what keeps us downandkeeps us moving.”
“Contradiction if I ever heard one.”
“Didn’t we invent that word?”
“By the way, want to tell me where you keep disappearing too?” We’re standing here alone. Dane seems to be taking his time. If I don’t keep the conversation going, I might just decide to go to bed instead. I can handle a piece of glass for a few hours.
