Page 32 of A Simple Mistake (Deadly Mistakes #1)
THIRTY-TWO
Gabriel
Present
Liam’s going to be pissed.
That’s all I know. I mean… at this point, I’m not even sure I blame him. I reach his hospital room door and lean against it for a moment. Then I take a deep breath, push against the door, and step inside.
Liam’s asleep, so I move quietly over to the bed. Thankfully, the aid he needed was pretty minimal. Once they got the bleeding under control, they just had to stitch up the layers that’d been damaged, but the drugs they have him on pretty much knocked him out.
I glance down at my phone, then slip it into my pocket before climbing into his bed, much like he’d done to me the day I’d been hospitalized after getting free from Tobias.
Unlike him, I don’t have an overflowing vase of flowers or anything else to offer, but I’m positive the gift I do have for him will be better than anything else I could ever give him.
Liam mumbles something before his arm stretches out to wrap around me. “Hey,” he whispers, sounding half asleep.
“I’m still mad at you,” I say as I roll into him and tuck my head against his chest.
“Yeah? I’m pretty sure I deserve it.”
“You really do.”
“But I would rather you hate me and be safe… though I guess I fucked that up anyway, didn’t I?”
My fingers dig into the sheet that’s lying over him. “They’re trying to place blame on William. They’re considering him the mastermind and are building some story about how he faked his own death to go on a murder spree.”
“‘They’ as in primarily Tobias’s father?” Liam asks.
“Yeah. He has ‘proof’ that Tobias was in the house during the entire thing. And the book of fingerprints… it was found among William’s things.”
“Tobias is obsessed with William; he’d never do something to implicate him.”
“I’m thinking it’s all his father. They’re claiming William manipulated a random man to act as the second party, like what was done to Robinson and everyone else he fucked with.”
“They sure got a lot of bullshitting accomplished while I was getting my beauty sleep.”
“They bullshit best when there’s not someone like you present to tell them how wrong they are,” I say.
“I see that.”
I reach into my pocket and pull out my phone before I set it on Liam’s chest. “He’s going to get away again and again, and people are turning a blind eye to it. They’re shit-talking you for being so fixated on believing that it was Tobias that you ‘let’ the real criminal get away.”
“Wait, I thought they believed the real criminal was William?”
“I don’t fucking know. It’s just theories and bullshit everywhere I go.”
He glances down at the phone on his chest. “And the phone?”
I hesitate, honestly not sure if I can even play it again. I close my eyes, and instead of urging me on, he gives me time while taking my hand in his. He kisses the tip of each of my fingers as he patiently waits for me. But it’s like this dark cloud hanging over me, threatening to destroy me. The thing is, I have to destroy it first. I have to stop it before it ruins me.
I open the phone and swipe to the voicemail. I press play and put it on speaker then listen as the voice of my nightmare fills the room.
“ You dare take what I love from me again? You can’t even fathom the rage that is consuming me. I’m going to haunt your fucking nightmares. I’m going to be watching you when you wake up in the morning and go to sleep at night. I’m going to be the fucking shadow that walks with you. Then one day, I’m going to take you, and I’m going to rip you apart piece by fucking piece until there’s nothing left of you. And I’m going to deliver every single piece to Liam as he rots in a fucking prison I’ve made for him. ”
The voicemail ends and I find myself struggling to look at Liam’s face. When I see it, it’s like he’s wearing a mask of what he thinks a human face should look like.
I reach around his head and slide my fingers into his hair as I press my lips close to his ear. My stomach aches; the sound of my nightmare’s voice tears my insides out and makes me feel unmanageable fear.
“Liam,” I whisper. “I need you to kill him. Please make this end.”
His eyes shift over to mine and the mask he wears cracks. He reaches out, fingers sinking into my hair as he tips my face up. “You’ll never have to be afraid of him again.”
Convincing Liam not to rip his IV out and run off that night is hard enough. I know he wants to make sure I never have to fear Tobias again, but the risk of him going out while hurt is too great, so I manage to get him to wait several days.
I’m sitting in the living room at his house when he comes in and walks around to the front of the couch. “You’re awfully handsome tonight,” he praises as he kneels in front of me.
“You’re buttering me up,” I say.
“Tomorrow we should watch a movie while we eat dinner. Figure out what you want to see. We’re doing all the date things. Everything. We could even go out to see a movie, if you want.”
“Are you even fully healed yet?”
“Never felt better,” he says as he lays his head on my lap.
I don’t know what it is, but I can feel something different about him—something that tells me that tonight is the night he’s leaving to deal with Tobias—and anxiety eats at me. “I made a bad choice,” I whisper. “I don’t want you to go out alone.”
“I’m just going out for a few. I’ll be back before your movie is even over.”
“What if you’re not?”
“Do you have such little faith in your boyfriend?” he asks.
“He’s still at his father’s.”
“I love you,” he says as he kisses me before picking up feisty Lucille. He sets her on my lap as he stands, his hand finding my hair before sliding off it, and then he’s gone far too quickly.
“I love you too,” I whisper to the quiet house as I question if I’ve just fucked up.