Page 37 of The Sound of Us

“Dante.” Nick stepped in front of me and put a hand on my shoulder. “Let him go. Skye’s okay. He took it too far, but it won’t happen again. He’s not worth it.”

Nick tugged on my arm again and the darkness receded. With an irritated growl, I released Ben and made my way to Skye, who was on one foot, supported by Haley and Isla.

I was still so riled up, I could barely string two words together. “Sit.”

Skye lifted an eyebrow. “Excuse me?”

I dropped to one knee in front of her. “Let me see.”

She drew in a shuddering breath and lowered herself to the bench. Haley and Isla offered to get some ice, giving us a few moments alone.

“Are you okay?” I lifted her foot to my knee.

“Yes.” She put a gentle hand on my jaw, tilting my head until our eyes met. “Areyouokay?”

No, I wasn’t okay. Now that my mind was clear, I kept having flashbacks to the night I’d found Sasha in the tub. I’d spent my life trying to protect her from our father, but I hadn’t been able to protect her from herself.

“Dante?” Skye’s voice was a light in the maelstrom of emotions that were swirling inside me. “What happened?”

I tried to shake it off, focus on the warmth of her touch. “He hurt you. I want to tear him apart.”

“While I appreciate the sentiment, I don’t need you to tear anyone apart on my behalf.” She cupped my face with both hands and dropped her forehead to mine. “What I need is for you to channel that protective anger into kicking some metalhead ass.”

Her gentle voice was doing strange things to my stomach and something in the air was making my damn eyes water. Maybe getting back on the court was a good idea.

Haley and Isla returned with ice and attended to Skye’s ankle while I joined the rest of the team. Ben wisely sat out. The remaining players didn’t know what hit them. Twenty minutes later it was high fives and victory hugs as the losers turned tail and walked away to the dulcet tones of Nick and Isla’s new team song, to which they’d added extra screams.

“Yeah. Run to mama,” Isla called out. “Go listen to your black death doom music on a cheap dollar-store speaker.”

“This was supposed to be a team-building exercise,” Chad muttered. “We were here to make friends with the other people at the station, not alienate them.”

I returned to the bench where Skye was testing her foot. “I’ll call an Uber,” I offered when she winced.

“It’s not that far. I can hop if I have a shoulder to lean on.”

I crouched down in front of her, giving her my back. “I’ll carry you.”

It took a moment before she understood, and then she laughed. “Piggyback? I haven’t done that since I was a kid. I’d be too heavy for you.”

“Go on,” Isla said with a grin. “It will take forever if you call an Uber and then you’ll miss out on the food trucks.”

With a sigh, Skye wrapped her arms over my shoulders. I lifted her and reached back to settle her against my hips. She fit perfectly against me, her body soft against my back. Safe. She was safe with me. Something inside me loosened and sighed.

“Why did you ghost me?” she asked quietly as we trailed behind the group.

I looked back, frowning. “What do you mean?”

“I mean we had a moment in the basement and then you ghosted me. You didn’t respond to any of my messages. I just wanted to make sure we were on the same page about what happened since we have to work together.”

“You said in the basement that you didn’t want me to say anything.” I’d been relieved I hadn’t had to tell her it was mistake, but now it seemed I needed to be clear, even though I regretted every word. “What happened shouldn’t have happened.”

She let out a ragged breath and her grip loosened around my shoulders. “Okay. That’s fine. I just don’t want things to be awkward between us.”

“It’s not… what I want,” I continued, hating myself for having to lie. “It’s complicated.”

“I get it. You don’t need to explain. I’m sure you’ve got girlfriends lined up and—”

I stopped so suddenly, she almost lost her grip. “I haven’t been with anyone since I met you.” And it wasn’t because the opportunities weren’t there. Molly was still trying to get me to go out with her. Even Rose had dropped some hints. But there was only one woman I wanted—the woman I couldn’t have.

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