Page 27
Story: Fake the Shot (SLC Sting #2)
CHAPTER 27
SHE THANKED ME
KAYDEN
I've listened to Emory's voicemail at least a dozen times since the game ended, but even now, my hands quake as I press play one more time.
"Hey, so I know you don't care, at least not the way that I… and you're busy anyway. But I'm really, really not doing well, and I thought that maybe… It's stupid. I should have never called, but I just needed to… Never mind. I'm sorry. I am so sorry."
It's not even the words that have me gripping the steering wheel so hard my forearms ache. It's that she sounds so hollow, so unlike anything I've ever known Emory to be. By the end of the message, she's barely even there.
I should have checked my phone right after the game. Before the warm downs, before my shower, definitely before that presser. I'll never make that mistake again. From now on, I'll find a way to sneak the phone onto the ice with me.
I know from the security system that Emory got home an hour ago—my home, not Lily's dad's. It's the same time she called me, so whatever's going on, she's been dealing with it alone for way too long.
On the way home, I barely slow down for the red lights. There's no way I'm stopping .
When I get to my building at last, the elevator feels so slow, I think I could run up the thirty-nine flights of stairs faster, but finally, it comes to a stop and the doors open. To a quiet house. Quiet like it was every night before, and it never once bothered me. Tonight, the silence feels like I've been buried in a mudslide.
"Emory?" I call her name quietly at first, as if she might be taking a nap and I'm disturbing her, but when she doesn't respond, I try again, louder. And then louder as I rush through the guest rooms, the library, and my bedroom. Each of them empty.
She has to be here. There was no security alert showing the elevator was used again, so I sweep through the penthouse one more time. Her words replay in my mind. She wasn't crying—she sounded beyond tears. That's why my heart is drumming so hard I can see it pounding against my chest.
I call Lily, praying that she knows something, but I can barely hear the ringing above the roar of my pulse. After the first ring, I curse her for not already picking up, and after the second, I have to pace the living room or I'm going to explode.
That's when I notice the door propped open. The hidden door just beside the wall of windows. The door that opens onto the stairs that lead to the roof.
No. No, no, no. I end the call, not knowing if Lily picked up. Not caring as I drop the phone and sprint through the door and up the stairs, taking them three steps at a time.
The door at the top of the stairwell is propped open too. There's a book wedged between it and the frame.
"Emory?" I spin, hoping to see her, but afraid of what it might mean if I don't.
The wind is icy up here, and the twinkling city lights are indifferent as I call out for her again. "Emory!" I shout so loud my voice cracks.
When there's no answer, my body goes weak. I have to press my hands to my knees to keep from falling over. I know she came up here, so if she's not answering? —
A flash of movement to the right catches my eye. When this building was new, the developers touted the living roof—native grasses covering the roof. Now, the grass whipping in the wind makes it impossible to know what it was I saw, but I run that direction anyway.
Just ten feet from the edge, I find her lying on her back in one of the beds of grass. It feels like the weight of the entire building is lifted from me when she turns her head just enough to see me before looking back up at the sky.
"I was terrified! You had to hear me yelling. Why didn't you answer?"
"He died." Her words are barely more than a breath, and her face is twisted. Eyes pinched tight and lips trembling.
I drop to my knees beside her when I see the shining wet lines from her eyes down to her ears. "Who?" I force my hand into hers.
"I should have known. I just saw him six weeks ago."
"Who did you see? Your dad? Did something happen?"
She snorts and her eyes flick to mine for just a second. Long enough to see how blank they are. "Dad wouldn't have missed it. He would have heard a murmur. Noticed the rapid breathing. He would have ordered an echo. Started blood thinners and a diuretic. Rucio would still be alive. Rucio should still be alive." She runs her hands over her face and it leaves black smears of makeup around her eyes. Somehow, she's still gorgeous. "He's right. Dad's right. I can't do this. I can't. I can't do this, Kayden."
I grip her hand even tighter as I swing a leg over her, straddling her so I can look her in the eyes. Her body is so warm between my thighs. "I don't know what we're talking about, but if there's anyone in the world who can do anything she wants, it's you."
"Except save him. Except do the one thing everyone was counting on me to do. He was crying." The way her face contorts as she draws in a breath is gut-wrenching. "Rucio was crying out because he was in so much pain. But that wasn't the worst part. It wasn't watching him struggle to move, even though his back legs were paralyzed. It wasn't watching his body go limp at the end when the only thing I could do for him was end his suffering.
"The worst part was the hug. I'd just let this woman's cat die, and she hugged me. She fucking thanked me, Kayden." Emory's voice is so soft I can barely hear it, but I can feel every syllable twisting inside me. "She thanked me. Like I didn't just kill her baby. So no, I can't fucking do this. I can't. Dad told me I wasn't ready, and I'm not. And now that cat is dead and that woman is alone because I thought I was good enough. I thought I could be like him, but I'm nothing like him. I'm nothing, Kayden. Nothing . And fuck him for being right about me. Fuck him for always being right!"
I hover over her. My face is just inches away from hers, but she twists her head to avoid looking at me. "Emory, you're not nothing. Do you hear me?" She's so motionless I can't even see the faint movements of her nostrils as she breathes.
I don't know why I do it, but I kiss her. In the hollow of her cheek. On her cheekbone. Beside her eye, where I can taste the salt from her tears. "If he told you that you're not good enough, he wasn't right. Because you are, Emory. And that woman today knew it. That's why she hugged you. She saw the love you have. She saw exactly who you are. A woman so brilliant and talented, she believes she should be able to save the entire world. But no one can do that. Your dad can't even do that."
She twists her head in the opposite direction to force me away, but I don't budge. "You don't know. He was breathing rapidly during that first exam, but I thought it was because he was scared. It wasn't. I missed it. And he's dead because I missed it. And today he wasn't scared at all. He was so courageous all the way until the end, but I wasn't. I was in tears when he passed. I was sobbing when his mom's arms went around me. I'm supposed to be better than this. I'm supposed to fucking save them all, Kayden. That's why I do this. Dad told me I need more time, but I don't. Experience isn't going to fix this. I can't do this anymore."
"Look at me." I wait, but when she won't, I press my palms to her cheeks and turn her head toward me. Even though it's cold, her skin is so warm on my hands. "I play a game for a living—it's nowhere near as important as what you do—but I'm the best in the world at it, and I still miss way more shots than I make. Every time I slap that puck toward the net, I expect it to go in. I expect that red light behind the goal to flash. But it doesn't. You might be the best in the world at what you do, but you don't get to win every time. No one ever does."
"My patients need me to win every time."
I plant a kiss on the center of her forehead and rest my lips there. Her warm breaths swirl around my chin. Neither of us moves for several minutes. I'm not sure if I ever want to move again. But when I feel her breathing slow, I lean back, just enough to see her.
"And I seriously doubt if you're the best in the world." Her eyes are glassy and red, but when she rolls them, I see a hint of the real Emory. It's like a faint dusting of snow, but it's there. "Sure, your stats are really impressive, but there has to be someone better out there."
"You looked up my stats?"
There's just enough light for me to see her cheeks flush. "Not on purpose."
"No, of course not. That's the kind of thing a person just stumbles across when they're shopping online for lightbulbs."
"Pretend I never said it?"
"Not going to happen."
I sit up on my knees. "Let's go inside where it's warm." I give a tiny tug on her hand, but she shakes her head. "Then promise me you won't move. I'll be right back."
Table of Contents
- Page 1
- Page 2
- Page 3
- Page 4
- Page 5
- Page 6
- Page 7
- Page 8
- Page 9
- Page 10
- Page 11
- Page 12
- Page 13
- Page 14
- Page 15
- Page 16
- Page 17
- Page 18
- Page 19
- Page 20
- Page 21
- Page 22
- Page 23
- Page 24
- Page 25
- Page 26
- Page 27 (Reading here)
- Page 28
- Page 29
- Page 30
- Page 31
- Page 32
- Page 33
- Page 34
- Page 35
- Page 36
- Page 37
- Page 38
- Page 39
- Page 40
- Page 41
- Page 42
- Page 43
- Page 44
- Page 45
- Page 46
- Page 47
- Page 48
- Page 49
- Page 50
- Page 51
- Page 52
- Page 53