Page 82 of Tempest

“You are nothing like an asshole, Victoria,” I reassure. “Nothing at all.”

A man walks toward us. “Tori,” he says when he’s close enough.

“Brock? Why are you here? Where’s my mom?”

“She’s…” he starts to say when Isla walks through the door.

“Hey, Johnnie is going to take you back to where Gavin is. Both of you, go on back,” she says, pointing to a door on the far side of the room.

“Thanks, Isla,” I say.

As soon as we’re through the door, a man wearing a Blades shirt meets us.

“Come with me,” he says. “I’ll take you to him.”

Tori bursts through the door into the room Johnnie takes us to, rushing to her dad, who sits with his back to the door as Caroline stands in front of him, her hands cupping his cheeks.

“I love you,” she tells him.

“Dad,” Tori cries when she rounds the table he’s sitting on. He wraps her in his arms, whispering things into her hair, and Caroline wraps her arms around the both of them.

I stay where I am, just here, holding the door, wondering where I belong in this situation. Tori is the priority, of course.

But how is Caroline here already? And why? And what the fuck did she just say?

And what the fuck am I supposed to do? Interrupt? Wait on the sidelines?

The panic from earlier resurfaces, but now it’s mixed with the fear I felt when he was lying on the ice, and the small relief of him getting to his feet, and the love that I finally feel. Tears spill from my eyes. I don’t wipe them away. I don’t move.

Because Caroline is in my spot. But it’s also hers. And I don’t know what to fucking do as my heart tells me to run and my head screams don’t be so stupid.

This is my only nightmare in life. Falling in love and having it taken from me again. Why is she here? Why is she the first in the room with him? Why does she think she has that right?

Why did he let her? It should be me checking him over. It should be me touching him.

“Ode.”

The logical answer is that he wants her here. Her. Not me. She’s more important. Like she always was. They were best friends. Are they still? Probably. Why wouldn’t they be? They know everything about each other, they’ve had a lifetime together.

I’m just…what? The distraction? The backup plan? The placeholder until his wife returns?

Someone brushes by me. I don’t see who because my eyes are to the ground and blurry from the tears.

“Ode. Pumpkin, come here,” Gavin says louder. I blink up and see him, Tori still in his arms but Caroline is gone. “Will you come here? Please.”

Unsteadily, I take the steps until I’m standing in front of him, scanning every inch of his face to make sure he’s okay. He’s pale, but there aren’t any marks, no blood.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. I just got the wind knocked out of me. I think they’re going to run me through concussion protocols, just to be sure,” he says, reaching to pull my face close to his. “Are you okay?”

“It’s terrifying,” I say, not explaining that I mean not just the hit he took. I don’t say much else, as Tori and I take seats in the chairs against the wall while we wait to see when they’ll let him go home. Tori looks ready to fall asleep, obviously wrung out from the stress.

“Tori, go home, get some sleep. I’ll call you in the morning.”

“Are you sure? I could go home with you. What if someone needs to wake you up every half hour or something?”

“I’m sure, kiddo. I told you, I’m fine.”

---