Page 183 of Sincerely, Your Enemy

“Hey, Lace, could you give me a hand with this?” Oli’s voice carries across the house.

I need a few seconds to collect myself before I’m walking out of my room and into the kitchen, where my brother’s standing. I understand what the problem is as soon as I see him fumbling with his tie.

“Here, let me do it.” I make my way over to him and try to undo his tie, but the knot he made won’t cooperate.

“I’m so sorry, Lacey,” Oli says after a few seconds of silence.

I can’t do this. I can’t do the “I’m sorry your boyfriend died” sympathies. I got enough pitiful looks when my dad died.

I avoid making eye contact. “It’s not your fault.”

“Let’s not tell her, okay? Not yet.”

It’s as though my brain short-circuited when his voice reaches my ears.

I immediately stop wrestling with the fabric of his tie, looking up at him in confusion. “What?”

“She’s exhausted. Leave her be.”

“What? I… I don’t understand.”

“Shit, here comes the doctor” is all Oli says.

My brother’s face changes in a split second, his features twisting with panic as he grips my shoulders and begins shaking my body as if to drill some sense into me.

“Lacey, you need to wake up!” His voice is snuffed out and replaced by a soft, feminine one.

“Oli, what’s going on?”

“Lacey, wake up!”

White lights hitme as soon as my eyes fly open. My vision falters, momentarily overwhelmed by the brightness, and I sit up straight, the nightmare I was stuck into quickly fading.

“I’m so sorry to wake you, but the doctor’s here,” a voice I recognize as my best friend’s says a moment later, and my vision returns to me, along with the memories I’d buried in a deep corner of my brain.

I’m not at home but in a hospital waiting room. I was so tired I fell asleep on Dia’s lap, which means…

TJ isn’t dead.

Thank God.

I have no idea how long I was asleep. I glance at the clock on the far wall for answers. Dia, Finn, and I have been here for sixhours. Vera showed up as soon as the hospital managed to get a hold of her, and she’s been waiting with us ever since.

I manage to push to my feet and follow Vera to the man standing by the double doors leading to the operating room. Doctors have been refusing to talk to anyone but Vera and I, seeing as Finn and Dia are not family members. The only reason they agreed to talk to me is because I’m TJ’s girlfriend.

“Hi, I’m Dr. Hartman. We talked earlier in regard to Mathias Jacobs.”

Vera nods, and it becomes clear that the doctor stopped by while I was sleeping. I’m guessing she didn’t want to wake me.

God, I hope I didn’t miss anything important.

“As I mentioned before, we’ve managed to control the bleeding and stabilize your nephew. But we can’t determine just how severe the internal damage is until we investigate further. We’re going to have to do a CT scan to assess the extent of his injuries.”

“Does that mean, if there’s no internal damage, he’ll be okay?” Vera asks.

“I can’t guarantee anything, but if that’s the case, I’m confident he’ll pull through. Of course, we’d still have to keep a close eye on him afterward.”

“And if hedoeshave internal injuries?” I ask.

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