Page 204 of The Fake Date Agreement

“For fuck’s sake.” I slam my glass of water on my bedside table, wincing as I lever myself up, grumbling and cursing under my breath on my slow hobble to the door.

I wrench the door open. “I told you to…Tobie!”

She’s breathing hard, hair windblown, glasses askew.

But she’s here.

Right-fucking-here.

Her eyes search me, and they linger on every bruise and cut on me. There’s a lot of them.

When her eyes swim with tears, there’s no guessing what she thinks.

“This wasn’t your fault,” I say. Too late. The first fat tear is rolling down her cheek.

“It was…” she sobs, hands covering her face, “… I’m so sorry you nearly died because of me.”

I’ve been hurting for the last five days.

The only time I stop hurting is when I’m asleep.

And now.

Because Tobie is hurting, and I can’t have that. I ignore every ache in my body and step forward, scoop her into my arms, and wince as I pull on a cut.

“Caleb!” She yanks her palms from her face. “You nearly died. Put me down.”

I kick the door closed, failing to hide a wince which Tobie spots and wiggles to get down.

I clamp my arms tighter around her and walk over to my bed, set her down on it, and follow her down.

“Are you okay?” she whispers.

“Fine.” My muscles are trembling, and I’m stupidly out of breath for five steps to the door and five steps back.

She peers down at me, teeth worrying her lip. “I shouldn’t have come.”

She moves to get up. I grasp her arm and nudge her back. “This is not your fault. If you get up, you’ll force me to get back up. Tell me where you’ve been.”

“With my dad.”

“In Nebraska?”

She nods.

I study her as she looks down at me. When a lock of hair falls from her scrunchie, I can’t stop myself from tucking the hair behind her ear. “I thought I lost you. We all did.”

She lowers her gaze. “I should have been the one in the hospital. I know you said it wasn’t my fault, but it was.”

“Tobie, it was?—”

She jerks her head up, hazel eyes spitting with fury. “If I’d just kicked him down the nearest flight of stairs,noneof this would have happened.”

My mouth snaps shut.

Her head drops again, and a second later, lifts a couple of inches as she peeks at me from beneath her lashes. “What?”

“That, uh, wasn’t what I thought you were going to say,” I admit, swallowing my smile. “You’re more bloodthirsty than I thought.”

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