Page 54 of The Destruction You Desire

"I know."

The room is about what I expected. Dated and smells faintly damp, but to my surprise, it is actually clean.

"Well, this is…"

"Close to the hospital," I finish for her, pulling her into my arms.

She nods against my chest, thankfully relaxing against me and allowing me to comfort her.

"I'm so sorry, baby."

She blows out a long breath and pulls away from me.

"Are you going to order that pizza?"

Pulling my cell from my pocket, I find the place and put in an order.

"It'll be here in fifteen."

"Okay." Without another word, she leaves me in favor of locking herself in the bathroom.

With a heavy heart, I kick off my sneakers and drop onto the bed, unlocking my cell once more and finding Leon's number.

"How's Libby?" he asks the second the call connects.

"Bad, man. It doesn't look good," I say, scrubbing my hand down my face. The doctors may try to be as realistic as possible but I can see in their eyes that they're not expecting a miracle here.

"Fuck. Peyton?"

"Falling apart. I don't know what to do," I confess quietly, not really wanting to have this conversation with him but knowing I need to.

"Just be there, bro. Be the best friend she's needed for the past five years."

Pain slices through my chest.

"Fuck. How did I screw this up so badly?" I ask, not really expecting a response.

"I understand why you didn't want to believe it, trust me, I do. But you handled it really fucking badly, man. That cunt should never have had your loyalty over your girl."

"I know, I know. I just—"

"I get it. I don't want to believe it either. But it's true. And that little boy, bro. He's fucking wicked."

A smile curls at my lips as I think about my very brief encounter with Kayden, our little brother.

"How are you really doing with all this?" I ask, knowing his MO of locking everything down and festering on it until he suddenly explodes. It's not happened for a few years, but if anything is going to set him off then it's going to be this.

"I'm… well, I'm sober right now."

I glance at the time. "That’s… good, I guess."

"I just need some time. What are we going to do about it?"

"Right now, nothing. When I'm back, we need to talk to Mom, then we can make a decision. But I ain't letting this go. He's not doing that to Libby, to anyone, and getting away with it."

"I hear ya, man."

"Okay."