Page 106 of Flare

I breathed a sigh. Maybe Rhys wasn’t coming back. Maybe he’d gone to Hunter’s. Maybe... anything. “Yeah, sure. If you would. And give him this, will you. He’ll know what it means.” I handed him a bag with my purchase from the markets and a note. “And tell him to call me.”

Leon took the bag, regarding it with amused interest. “Sure.”

I was halfway home when my phone rang. My ridiculous heart leapt into my throat and I pulled over, hoping it was Rhys. It wasn’t.

Instead, the nameHillsflashed on the screen, sending my stomach into a dive.A call from the prison was never good news. I listened to the matter-of-fact voice on the other end and then called Jack with shaking hands.

Jack’s teasing chuckle greeted me. “What now? Do you need some more dating advice?”

“Jack, listen.”

He went instantly quiet. “What’s happened?”

“I’m on my way home to pick you up. Your mum’s been taken to Auckland Med.” He gasped and I quickly continued. “She collapsed in the rec room. They’re not sure what the problem is, but the paramedics think it could be a bleeding stomach ulcer. She might need surgery.”

Jack’s breathing quickened. “But she’s okay, right?”

“They couldn’t tell me anything except she was stable when they got her into an ambulance, but she’s apparently lost a lot of blood.”

“Okay. Okay.” He sounded anything but. “Hurry up. I’ll wait outside.”

“I’ll be there in ten minutes. I’ll call your grandad on the way.” I hung up and dialled my father’s number before pulling out into traffic and praying to any entity that might be listening to keep my sister safe and to please, please not fuck with our lives any further.

CHAPTERTWENTY-TWO

Rhys

I pulledout the neck of my black merino and peered down the front.

Hunter snorted. “What the fuck are you doing?”

“Checking to see if I have any skin left after that whipping you just gave me. What next? Gonna pull my fingernails as well.” I took a swallow of my beer—who cared that it was noon on a Sunday? Not me. “You’re supposed to be my friend. You’re supposed to takemyside.”

I’d driven around Auckland aimlessly for a couple of hours and then parked at the beach to stare at the sea for another, all while stewing about the arrogance of people talking shit about stuff they didn’t understand and trying to tell you that everything would be okay. That done, and having worked up a suitably self-righteous lather, I found myself in the driveway of Hunter’s townhouse, and once he booted his overnight hook-up out the door—shoes and socks in hand, poor guy—I vomited the whole sorry story expecting a sympathetic ear.

Not so much, as it turned out.

“Iambeing your friend.” Hunter gave his biggest eye-roll to date, which had some serious competition considering what had come before it. “Unlike you, I’m thinking of the wider picture. Such as how much you like this guy. And how he was only trying to help because he likesyou. And how I haven’t seen you this alive in years. You’ve been smiling for weeks, goddammit. I thought I was going to have to kick your arse to turn the wattage down before you seared my eyeballs past redemption.”

I sniffed. “I always smile.”

He bestowed one of his patient looks on me. The one that reminded me of my mother.

“I do.” I pouted. “Well, a lot, anyway.”

He waited.

“Okay, sometimes. Sometimes I smile. Satisfied?”

He sighed and threw up his hands. “You know, I don’t give a fuck whether you smile or not, I’ll still be your friend. But I was kind of enjoying having happy Rhys in my life again. Haven’t seen that guy in a while. A long, long while.”

The beer went sour in my mouth, and I put the bottle down. Happy? Yeah. Fuck. Me. Ihadbeen happy. I scowled at my friend.

Hunter leaned forward, arms resting on his thighs. “Look, I’m not saying Beck was right in how he handled things, but shit, Rhys, how many times didIscrew up in those first few months? How many times did I press you to tell the police, to get help, and then when you wouldn’t, to just forget about it and move on?”

I reached for his hand. “We were kids, and you were my best friend.”

“No, I was ignorant. There’s a difference. Once I understood, I did better. Beck will too. From what you said, he wasn’t trying to diminish what you felt, at least not deliberately. He was simply trying to show you that having a fucking limp dick on occasion didn’t matter tohimso you wouldn’t worry about what he thought.”

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