Page 38 of Fall

“I’m guessing that Tris got a lot closer to his nurse than he told Allie.”

“Are you going to say something?”

“No. Allie told me Tristan has given up on life. He doesn’t care about anything anymore, but what I just saw–”

“Is a man who cares about someone, I agree,” I say, there was no missing the way he looked at her, even despite what he said.

“Let’s hope Tria doesn’t give up.”

“I don’t think she will, she didn’t seem to be giving up on Tristan at all,” I comment, and Izzy smiles, hooking her arm in mine.

“Should we tell Harley about how you might have seen Daniel?”

“No, not with the fight so close, and I bet it’s not even him. I just didn’t sleep much last night; in fact, I haven’t slept well for weeks. It’s just stress messing with my head,” I reassure her as I can’t be sure it was him.

Chapter Twenty

Tilly

"You're kissing me, then leaving," I mutter as Harley kisses me gently and steps back. I don’t want to make him feel guilty, but as my hands tighten on his shirt, I know I don’t want to let him go. I don’t want him to stop kissing me.

"You know I have to do this. I will be back for you later. Look after our girl," he tells me, and I shake my head as I force myself to let go.

I hear Luke open the front door and walk out and, for some reason, that makes this all real to me. I’ve tried my best to get my head away from maybe seeing Daniel on the same day that Harley is going to walk into this fight.

"You can’t promise me that, it’s impossible for you to promise me anything right now," I say, and he sighs.

"Tilly."

"Just come back because . . ." I go to say the words I’ve only thought, but they get stuck in my throat just as Sebastian and Elliot come into the room.

"Have a good girls’ night," Sebastian says to me, referring to Maisy, Allie, Izzy, and Emilia, who are waiting for me in the lounge.

They have already said their goodbyes to Harley and the others. The guys decided they all need to be at The Cage tonight. Except for Blake, who had to deal with Tristan tonight and didn’t want to upset Allie with how Tristan is at the moment. Izzy told Blake to just try to help, and he has been, but it’s, apparently, far more complicated than we knew.

"I will," I reply, faking a smile as they all walk out.

Harley stops at the door and looks at me. "I feel the same if that’s anything. I have to say it before I leave," he tells me, and I smile.

"Me, too." I sigh, watching as his eyes light up, but then he nods, leaving and shutting the door behind him.

I go back into the lounge, where the girls are sitting across all the sofas eating various foods. Emilia has a gap next to her, and I go and sit down. Jake and my baby girl are sleeping upstairs in the cots we have, and Maisy has a baby monitor in her hand. It was so cute to see Jake come over and try to give baby girl one of his toys, and then he stayed next to her until she fell asleep.

"How long until your baby girl comes?" Emilia asks Maisy as Izzy puts in the DVD we have chosen for tonight. I don’t know the movie, but it’s something about bridesmaids.

"I’m due in for a section tomorrow," she says, and I can’t believe how excited she must be. It’s awesome that our babies are going to be so close in age. That they will grow up together and go to the same schools around here. Hopefully, they will be friends.

"Are you nervous?" Allie asks gently.

"Nope. I’ve done this once before, and yeah, I can’t think about being nervous right now," she says, and we all settle down to watch the movie. The movie is funny and opens with a bad sex scene.

It has us all laughing within moments when Allie says, “That is not how Elliot–”

“Allie, don’t,” Izzy says, putting her hands on her ears.

I sit eating popcorn and drinking Coke as we watch the rest of the movie. My mind running over and over what Harley is about to do, and I know I can’t stop him. I can’t even be there for him.

"Guys," Maisy says, and Izzy pauses the movie.

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