Page 101 of Reckless

I shook my head. “Hannah.”

“What happened?”

“I told her,” I scanned Chloe’s face for anger. Nothing. I clarified. “I told her about the night Liam was born.”

I preferred to use that clarification, then the other possibilities.

The night I almost killed my best friend.

The night you almost lost your baby.

The night I ruined all of our lives.

Chloe’s face remained expressionless.

“Aren’t you pissed? Annoyed?” I pressed.

“No. I waited for you to talk about that night for years. And the way you ran after her after the last fight made it pretty clear you had feelings for her. Why wouldn’t you tell her?”

“Aren’t you angry with me that I told the most horrifying thing that happened in your life to a total stranger?”

“Liam and I moved on. A long time ago. It was hard and painful. I’m not going to lie. We blamed each other. We blamed you.” That felt like a stab in the heart. “But eventually we moved on. I tried to pull you out too. It didn’t work. I’m glad someone else helped you get unstuck.”

“I’m still stuck.”

“That will change. You started talking about it. That’s progress.”

We stared at each other in the darkness, my pulse racing. I wanted to leave and stay at the same time. I wanted to talk and I was terrified of saying the wrong thing.

“Is Liam asleep?”

“Which one?” She asked her eyes digging holes in my face, trying to read me.

“I am a dick, but even I wouldn’t wake up a three-year-old in the middle of the night for a chat.”

“But you would wake up your best friend after ghosting him for years?” A low rumble filled the room.

My eyes flew in its direction and found Liam. In his wheelchair. I imagined him in that thing a thousand times and still it made my heart sink. Chloe approached me, squeezed my shoulder, then strolled over to Liam. She gave him a quick peck.

“The booze is on the top shelf in the kitchen, Ty,” she yawned as she walked away.

“Is she hiding it from Liam or from you?” I asked.

“Both. She started doing it because of me. I had a period of self-pity around the time Liam was one. He started to walk, and it hit me all over again that I never will. I drank all day and all night.”

“For how long?” I frowned. Chloe never mentioned that. She also wasn’t the type of woman to just go with the flow and let Liam get hammered on a daily basis. He scratched his face that was now covered with beard and smiled.

“Four days,” we both chuckled. “On the fifth day she put every bottle up there. Then Liam got older, and it seemed safe just to keep the alcohol there. Go get us a drink.”

“Are you allowed to have one?” I asked walking over to the kitchen. It was way easier to make jokes than to get down on my knees and beg for forgiveness.

“I am not an alcoholic, asshole.”

I poured us both a drink and went back to him, offering him one glass. “My mom is. An alcoholic.”

“I would be too, if I had a son like you.”

“Oh, yeah?” I cocked my head sideways. “What does your mother think about that nest around your mouth?”

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