stand next to her and wait. It was the second-longest hour of my life. Nearly losing River had been the first.
Wren would live, but I wasn’t sure how much of Lou would survive after almost losing him. I knew just how fractured she was feeling right now. Wren was still unconscious and probably would be for a while, so I steered Lou to the waiting room while they prepped him for visitors.
“I have to check on something,” I told her even though I really didn’t want to leave her alone. “Are you going to be okay for a few minutes?”
At her weak nod, I exhaled and stood from my crouch in front of her. If she noticed the baby monitor in my hand, she didn’t speak a word. I turned and didn’t make it further than a step before I came face-to-face with Four and Ever. The grip they had on each other’s hands loosened as soon as our gazes met.
“Tyra?” Four said, taking a hopeful step toward me. “Wh—ho—” She didn’t get a chance to choose which question to ask me first before she enveloped me. She hugged me so tight I wondered if she’d ever let me go. Considering these past months, I wouldn’t be surprised though I’d wonder why she bothered. I’ve been a shit friend. “I don’t care why or how,” she whispered to me, making me feel like pig shit baked in the sun for too long. “I’m just glad you’re here.”
I wasn’t sure how long I stood motionless before I pieced some semblance of myself back together. Just enough to hug my best friend. Any other time it would have been super weird, but I didn’t care as I inhaled the vanilla and jasmine wafting from Four’s hair. She had her very own scent that Ever’s possessive and obsessed ass purchased from the soap maker in Cherry, Four’s hometown.
“I missed you, too,” I finally told her because it was the truth. I felt a gentle tug on my hair, a silent greeting from Ever as he walked around us. Four and I pulled away from each other to watch as Ever lifted a silent Lou from her chair and wrapped her in his arms, and then Lou was holding on tight as if she might crumble any moment. At some point in the year and a half since they’d met, Ever and Lou had bonded like brother and sister despite them fighting constantly. Then again, everyone fought with Lou constantly. Seeing them share their grief like this tugged at heartstrings that I thought destroyed by Vaughn long ago.
Speaking of the devil, Ever kissed Lou’s forehead before pulling out his phone. “Someone needs to tell Vaughn to get his ass down here,” he griped.
My heart dropped to the pit of my stomach as I watched Ever type. If today proved anything, it was that it was much too soon for Vaughn and me to be in the same room. If ever. Not without killing each other.
I needed an out.
Something that would avoid suspicion or too many questions.
As if my baby knew what I was up to and took it upon himself to thwart my plans, a small cry filled the room. My friends’ gazes, including Lou’s, immediately flew to the monitor in my hand. By some miracle, I kept my grip on it rather than drop it as if it were a smoking gun. Slowly, their attention drifted back up, and I was their focus as they waited for an explanation. One I wasn’t ready to give. Heart pounding, I was already backing away, the elevator doors opening in the nick of time as people poured out. I quickly slipped inside before Ever, Four, or Lou could speak a word or shake free of their shock. I didn’t allow myself to breathe until the doors closed again.
That could have gone better.
I had the feeling that it was only going to get worse.
Back in NICU, River was inconsolable as I fought to soothe him, and that was how Four found me—with a screaming, red-faced baby in my arms and me two seconds from bursting into tears myself. The hunt hadn’t taken her long at all since there were only two places I could have gone. The maternity ward was on the floor below NICU, so I figured that must have been her first stop. The automatic door to River’s room opened, and I silently watched the strained expression on Four’s face soften the moment her wide-eyed