Page 122 of Lunar Crest University

A knock sounds at the door, and we both look up to see Levi standing in the doorway with his mouth popped open. He’s frozen for a second, like his brain hasn’t caught up with what’s going on, before he darts toward me. Sitting on the other side ofme, he wraps his arms around me just as Luca removes his from my shoulders.

“Thank God,” Levi breathes.

“You’re okay?” I ask, pulling back slightly as I feebly reach out to touch the bandage on his neck. Flickers of the blood trickling down it under Javier’s blade flash through my mind, and I try not to shudder at the thought.

Grabbing my hand before I can get to it, he gives it a gentle squeeze. “I’m okay. We both are, thanks to this crazy fucker.”

Levi points a finger at Luca, and my eyebrows raise as they both start to chuckle at the comment. My head tentatively turns to look back and forth between them, and my heart begins to swell in my chest. They’re not at each other’s throats. When didthishappen?

“You guys don’t hate each other?” I squeak.

They both share a knowing look.

“Trauma bonding, I think,” Levi jokes.

I pout playfully despite the actual tears that fill my eyes again. As soon as Levi notices, he shakes his head, but they’re falling down my cheeks before he can reach up to catch them.

“Don’t cry,” he shushes quietly, rubbing my shoulder. “Hey, look at me, Finn. I don’t want you to cry, okay?”

“They’re happy tears.”

More movement in the doorway catches my eye, and I turn my head to see my parents standing there, gawking at me like they’re seeing a ghost. My mom looks like she has been crying for days; her eyes are puffy and swollen with dark bags underneath. My dad looks just as tired, but he’s rubbing Mom’s back comfortingly as her shoulders shake with small sobs. I haven’t seen them in so long, it feels like a dream.

The boys move from my bed as my parents descend upon me, pulling me into a group hug that’s also the tightest bear hug I’veever had. I can hardly breathe, and my stomach aches from the pressure, but I don’t care. I’ve missed them so much.

“Oh, my baby,” Mom cries.

“I’m sorry.”

Pulling back, she brushes my hair out of my face as she cradles my head delicately. “Why are you apologizing, my girl?”

“I know I haven’t visited in a while,” I say, fighting the tears so I can get the words out. “I hate that this is why we’re finally getting to see each other.”

“Oh, honey,” she coos. “No. None of that.”

“Don’t say things like that, kiddo,” Dad says, his hand gripping my calf and giving it a comforting squeeze as he stands behind my mom. “We’re here now. That’s all that matters.”

My chest feels so…full. All the people I care about are here, safe and intact, in this room with me. There was a point when I was fading on that concrete floor that I thought I’d never get to see them again, never get to tell them goodbye. Only a couple of days ago, everything was on the brink of being ripped away from me completely.

“The nurse will be doing her rounds soon,” Luca cuts in, his eyebrows knitting apologetically as he looks between all of us before finally landing on me. “Want me to stall her?”

I shake my head. “No, actually, would you grab her now? I think I just want to get this part over with.”

He nods once, giving me a tiny smile as he turns to leave. He and Levi share another look, and I don’t know what was shared between them, but Levi follows closely behind him as they both leave the room. It’s then I realize Luca must know me better than I know myself sometimes because he’s giving me the space to just be with my parents for a minute. He knows how much I have missed them and how much the guilt has eaten me alive some days when I haven’t taken the time to go see them.

“He hasn’t left your side for six days.”

I lift my head to look up at my dad, frowning.

“He hasn’t left at all,” he continues. “He showers here, sleeps here,eatshere.”

“He does?” I whisper.

Of course, he does.

Dad nods. “So, who is he?”

Luca didn’t tell them. For the hundredth time since opening my eyes, I tear up. As terrible as this situation has been, going through what I have in the last week, it has been an eye-opener when it comes to him. I love him, and I’ve loved him nearly since I met him, but seeing how much he has done for me since this all happened… God, I love himsomuch. Every time I think there’s no possible way I could fall any deeper into this, he goes and surprises me. He didn’t divulge anything to them because he knows it’s important to me that I explain everything to them in my own words, my own voice. He saved that just for me and is giving me the space now to do so.

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