Page 24 of After All This Time

And right now, I want to shut everything off.

Celia nods and turns to me. “Can I steal you for a moment?” Her voice takes me out of my deep thoughts.

I lightly furrow my eyebrows. “Sure.”

She gestures to Dani to go wait out in the hallway.

Once she leaves, Celia stares at me with her big, brown eyes that look like her daughter’s. “I need you to stay with Dani. I know this is a lot to ask of you since you two don’t get along, but I don’t know who else to ask. I just don’t feel comfortable leaving her alone in the vulnerable state that she’s in. When Jacob passed away, she was knee-deep in anxious thoughts. It got so bad to the point where she missed half of her freshman year of high school. I don’t want that to happen again.”

There’s no goddamn way.

“Uh…I don’t think that’s a good idea.” I say.

“Noah, I’m going to be honest with you right now. I care about my daughter’s mental health and maybe it wouldn’t be such a horrible thing for you two to spend some time together. Maybe, you’ll actually get along for a change. I’m going to stay at your house to help out your mom. I want to be there to help her out when Lizzie wakes up.”

I roll my head around, exhaling. “Fine, I’ll do it.”

I highly doubt we’re going to get along.

“Thank you, Sweet Boy,” she says, placing her hand on my shoulder before she walks out of the room.

Dani peeks her head into the room. “Grayson is here and there’s another guy I don’t know who’s with him.”

I rush out of the room and see my best friends walking towards me.

Grayson looks like he just rolled out of bed with his tousled dark hair and wrinkled shirt compared to Xander’s perfectly placed dark curls and wrinkle-free shirt.

They look tougher than they are with ink covering both of their arms—Xander with significantly less than Grayson, his tattoos popping against his tan skin.

It’s not that it didn’t occur to me to text them and tell them what was going on. A lot of shit has happened in the last twenty-four hours.

These guys are like my brothers, especially Grayson. I’ve known the guy since we were in elementary school. It wasn’t until high school that Xander joined our trio.

We’re family.

“Dude, I’m so sorry about your dad,” Grayson tells me, his voice full of concern. He hugs me and lovingly taps me repeatedly on the back with the palm of his hand.

“Your mom called us because she thought we’d want to know what happened. Why the hell didn’t you tell us about this yesterday, man?” Xander asks, meeting my gaze.

“This is why.” I gesture to their faces full of pity. “Look, I’m happy you guys are here, but I need some time alone, okay? I-”

I get cut off when their heads turn towards Dani coming out of Lizzie’s hospital room.

Grayson crosses his arms across his chest, sticking his tongue out enough to wet his lips. He glares at me, shaking his head.

“Holy shit! Well, if it isn’t the famous Dani Solomon!” Grayson shouts as he goes over to her, picking her up.

Her body is stiff, barely moving and her eyes are widening so much they might pop out of her head

Why is he picking her up like that? Why is it bothering me so much?

“Put me down!” she demands, slapping his back and flailing her arms all over the place.

He gently places her back on the ground before she smacks his arm.

“So, you need some alone time, huh?” he whispers, smirking and raising his eyebrows at me.

I shush him, telling him to cut it out by narrowing my eyes and doing a swiping motion under my neck to make him stop.

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