Page 149 of Say You'll Stay

Allie has dark circles around her eyes, and her hair is slightly damp. Maybe she just showered.

“How long was I out?” I rasp. Allie reaches for a cup with a straw and holds the tip to my mouth. It’s not ice cold, but it’s cold. And damn if it isn’t stopping my tongue from sticking to the roof of my mouth.

She blows out a breath. “Six weeks,” she says in a very gloomy tone while nodding. Allie licks her lips and I might lose my shit.

“Sixweeks?”

“Yeah, it was terrible. So many people told me not to wait for you and that you would never wake up.”

She reveals an elaborate story about people wanting to let me go and something about being a braindead vegetable. Halfway through her nonsense about being vegan and loving vegetables, Allie is working extra hard to hold in a laugh while I notice today’s date on the whiteboard behind her head.

Unless they haven’t changed the date in six weeks, I was hit by a psychotic woman’s car two days ago.

“You should have let them pull the plug. You’d probably be better off with someone else, really.”

She bites on her lip and Allie’s cheeks get darker by the second. “You scared me, Lucas, but if you hadn’t shoved us both back, she would have crushed us. Jadon is too fragile that I don’t want to think about what could have happened.”

“Hey.” I squeeze her hand when Allie’s smile fades and tears stream down her cheeks. “Are you guys okay? Jadon?”

She rolls her eyes and laughs sarcastically. “He’s fine. Jadon has this way with people like you do. That Lucas Kennedy charm. I think he’s trying to be more like his father. He’s been walking around helping serve meals. The hospital staff are very kind and let him hold the doors open while he greets everyone.”

That’s all her. He didn’t get that from me. Allie is the generous one of us both.

“My dad is fine; he went home this morning. He’s going to be in recovery for a few weeks and will probably need some physical therapy. I have to talk to him, but he said not to worry for now.”

“Where’s Jadon now?” I notice his backpack on the floor and spot some toys on the other bed in here.

“He’s in the cafeteria with your dad and Jen. They stayed here while I borrowed your shower and then took him down to eat and get some space.”

Allie goes over my injuries and hers. I’m just glad she’s okay and Jadon, too.

“Joel took my statement this morning and his captain, or whatever, is leading the charge for us.”

“Huh?”

She watches me for several agonizing heartbeats while I ignore the idiot talking on the television. “Mark, Vivian, and Ted are in jail. Mark was out for a few hours until Joel had some incriminating emails between Mark and Ted. Courtesy of Charity’s fine detective work.”

That must be a joke.

“She’s helping a case against her own brother?”

“She says she’s doing the right thing, which I admire. She may be my crazy best friend, but she’s always been a good person. Mark, Vivian, and Ted are going away for a long time. Everything they keep finding out just adds to it all.”

Good. Fuck them. I don’t want to know where Allie and Jadon would be if I hadn’t caught up to Ted.

“Thank you for reaching out to Joel when it all happened, Lucas, and for recording it. It helps, no matter what, and they’re not going to drop this with all the publicity it’s getting.”

“So you mean to tell me, Allie…” I shift in the bed, but that’s a fucking mistake and a half when a sharp pain rips through my hip. Great. What am I going to do if my hips give out? My shoulder is already a piece of shit.

Once I settle back into my previous safe position, I take a deep breath. “You mean to tell me that the three assholes in our lives are in jail and now we can go home and live normal lives and argue over real shit like what to have for dinner or how to stack dishes in the dishwasher?”

She laughs and for the first time, it’s her first real carefree laugh. “You shoved us out of the way of a moving car, Lucas, and got hurt. They’re in jail and if everything goes well, they’ll be gone a long time. But the first thing you think of is arguing over dishes?”

“What else would we argue about?”

She shakes her head at me and I can’t honestly say how I got this lucky. She didn’t have to come with me that first night or could have just said no when I tried to get in her pants.

Would we still be together? I know I’d still want her.

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