Page 124 of Drive

Neil gauged Reid’s shock and interjected. “Paige!” he scorned, trying to do damage control, “Reid, chill out, man,” he said, backing him away from the both of us.

“It’s true,” she snapped at Neil before she looked back to Reid. “Loving you damn near killed her. She went down hard, Reid. Proud of yourself? Because you hurt her, my baby sister! She had to put medical tape on her eye to keep it closedfor monthsso she could sleep normally.

I skipped right from horror to humiliation.

Tequila. Is. The. Fucking. Devil.

Or Paige was. I couldn’t definitively decide at that moment.

That was the most embarrassing fact about my stroke, aside from my slightly lazy eye, which everyone swears is barely even noticeable. I was over the theatrics of the whole episode, which was ironic because that’s what got me in the hospital in the first place. Waking up with my motor skills on the fritz was terrifying, but I recovered quickly. Still, my family made too much out of it. I wasn’t dying. I didn’t have a condition. I’d had a reaction. And Reid was feeding into it.

He was throwing Neil’s arms off as he tried to get to me. “Stella.” His face fell as his eyes swam with unshed tears while he tried to push past Neil, who was doing his best to try to keep him from confronting me. I remained calm because I had to. My heart was threatening to start that odd beat. As much as I wanted to push past all the debris between us, I was helpless against it. My family, my new life with Nate, even my own damn heart refused to let him past it.

“Is it true?” he asked with a haunted voice. He was so breathtakingly beautiful in that moment, vulnerable and susceptible to the cruelty of whatever venom that came at him. Larger than life, he had conquered the world, only to be spat at by the ones who set him off to do it.

Paige would never forgive herself when she sobered up.

“Reid, it’s not your fault,” I swore to him as he shattered like I knew he would.

“Goddammit, Neil,” he said, pushing at him to get to me, “just let me talk to her!”

“Stop, please,” I begged them both as I turned to glare at Paige. “Why? Why hurt him like that?”

She threw her shoulders back. “He can’t hurt you anymore, Stella. He won’t.” She looked back at Reid. “Just leave her alone. If you care about her, just leave. Her. Alone.”

Reid stopped fighting as her words hit him like blows. He jerked himself away from Neil’s clutches before he cleared the bar of every piece of visible glass.

Paige shrieked as I took a step toward him. “Reid.”

His breath sounded in gasps as he hung his head, broken.

I reeled on my sister, rage boiling over. “Damn you, Paige!” I turned to Neil with a shriek. “Get her out of here!”

Paige looked between us with wide eyes and hesitation, but let Neil usher her out of the room.

I steadied my breathing in an attempt to calm his.

“Stella.” His voice was a whisper as he turned to me. A tear fell from his eyes, pain twisting his face.

“I had my first stroke when I was fifteen,” I told him. “It wasnotyour fault.”

I saw him visibly crack in front of me with his question. “And when I left?”

I shook my head. “It was so mild, Reid. I didn’t even feel it. It happened in my sleep. The doctors think it was because I overheated and then stood in the cold.”

“For how long?”

“Long enough,” I said, hating myself for it.

“How long were you out there after I left?” he asked.

“Too long.”

“It’s not my fault, huh?” He looked me over skeptically. “Then why did you overheat?”

I shrugged. “I’ve always been emotional. Like I said, thesame thinghappened when I was fifteen. I was fighting with Paige, of all people, so easy forherto point the finger. That hadnothingto do with you.”

“Please don’t lie to me,” he said softly. “Please, Stella.”