Page 66 of Duke's Daring Bookworm
Lily stood talking to another girl.
“—Sam’s not a threat. I just panicked. Now, I want to go home, but I need to call someone. Sam was my ride.” The girl she spoke to, someone I recognized from school but couldn’t name, looked square at me before she spoke.
“Not anymore. I’m Frankie, I’ll take you home.” Shestood with her hands on her hips and her chin held high, like she would fight off a hoard to protect Lily. Shame curled through me. It was all my fault. The town fuck-up lived up to his name.
“I’m not sure,” Lily said. One sharp look from Frankie kept me in my place. Lily caught her look and turned around to face me. I leaned against the wall, needing support while the world spun. “Oh, there’s Sam.”
She stepped toward me, but Frankie put a hand on her to stop her. I hated that hand. Lily was mine.
And I’d fucked up.
“He’s clearly drunk. Sorry, I’m intervening as the unfortunate and reluctant co-host to this party.” She pulled Lily back and angled herself between us. This one had guts. She was small—small enough that I could flick her, and she would fly away—but she wasn’t backing down. Maybe Lily would be safer with her. The truth of that knifed through my heart.
“Drunk?” Lily looked so confused, but Frankie was right. I was drunk, too damn drunk to take care of her like she needed.
“Yes, drunk,” she said to Lily before turning to face me fully. “Sober up before you drive.” She looked like she wanted to hurtle me straight into the sun.
I opened my mouth to say she should go with her, but Frankie beat me to it.
“Nope.” She held a hand up to me. “Let’s go, Lily.”
She turned on her heels, dragging Lily along behind her.
“Lily.” I reached out for her, certain that if she walked away now, I wouldn’t get a second chance, but Frankie pulled her around another corner. The space she had stood mocked me with its emptiness.
I slumped on the floor beside me, the world stillspinning, and even more bile filling my mouth. This time, though, it was because I’d lost the most important person in my life, and I didn’t know if I could ever make it right again.
When the world stopped spinning so much, I pushed up from the floor and made my way to the Bronco. The party raged around me, but I pushed my way through the booze-soaked crowd. Lily was nowhere to be found, and I just had to hope she made it home safe.
I slumped in the driver’s seat of the Bronco. It took three tries to get the key in right and Lily’s voice filled the space before I drove off.
“Wear your seatbelt, Sam. What if you’re in an accident? Then who would be my friend?”She would always sit until I did, even though I never did when she wasn’t with me. I could do this, though. I’d already made her sad tonight. I could do this.
The lights around me blurred and blared, blinding me as I drove. It wasn’t far, just a little down the road until my driveway.
The familiar lights lining the great stone fence around our property had just come into view when a big truck drove by, blinding me again. Except I swore this one headed straight for me, and I swerved to avoid it—straight into a fence pillar.
Sound and light blared around me, and a slow trickle of something tickled my lips. A metallic taste met me when I stuck out my tongue and then my head throbbed.
“Fuck,” I groaned, sitting up from when I’d slumped over the steering wheel. I could already feel a bruise forming where my chest hit the wheel.
“Sam?” Jenkins’ voice came to me all disjointed, as if he spoke through static from very far away.
Hands grabbed at me, and then I sat in the damp grass, moisture seeping through my jeans, the stench of urine clogging my nose.
“How much did you drink? Shit. Stay with me now.” He pulled out a phone and called someone. The doctor, maybe. I couldn’t pay attention to what he said.
I just wanted to sleep.
“Sam, don’t close your eyes, ok? The ambulance is on the way.”
I couldn’t open my mouth to talk, but I tried to focus on his face.
I don’t know how long it took for the ambulance to reach us, but by the time I sat under the fluorescent lights of the hospital, my head pounding, it hurt to breathe, and I just wanted everything to stop.
Low voices sounded from the other side of the curtain. My dad—who the hell called him—Jenkins, and one person I didn’t recognize.
“Useless snot,” my dad said. His words stung, but I couldn’t exactly argue against them.
