Page 68 of What He Always Knew

“You, too,” Christina said, but I could tell by looking at her that she was a bit overwhelmed now, and once Mom and Dad barreled in the room, her anxiety showed even more.

The volume in the room rose exponentially, everyone talking over each other and laughing, but I just stared at where Blake hung on Reese’s arm.

He watched me, our eyes connecting long enough for me to lower my brows in question.

What is she doing here?

But he couldn’t answer, and judging by the way his tail was tucked between his legs, I guessed he wouldn’t have an answer I’d like even if he could.

This was my family,ourfamily — the same one he couldn’t come with me to see the night I got the call. But now, here he was.

With her.

“Oh, Charlie,” Graham said, talking loud so he could be heard over where Mom, Dad, and Blake were laughing by the door. “Reese and I were thinking of taking a drive later out to the old park we used to all play. You know, take a little trip down memory lane. Want to come?”

I just stared at Reese, trying to calm myself down. I knew he wouldn’t have brought Blake if he had a choice, but in that moment, I couldn’t rationalize, and I couldn’t make excuses for him.

I was pissed.

Cameron seemed to pick up on my energy, because he squeezed my shoulder, offering my brother a smile. “Charlie and I were actually just about to head out. We’re going to go home for the night, check on the birds, catch up on a few things.”

“Oh, of course,” Graham said, and yet again, he watched me with curious eyes. “We’ll see you guys Monday for dinner? As long as the doctors still agree to let Christina go that day, that is.”

“Yeah, we’ll see you then,” I answered sharply, jumping up out of my chair. I needed out of the room, away from Blake, away from Reese.

I quickly kissed Christina’s cheek and hugged my brother and parents, carefully maneuvering the room so that I could avoid Blake and Reese. Cameron followed behind me, staying in the room longer than I did to say the more proper goodbyes and accept gratitude from my family for all he’d done that week. I waited outside the door, arms crossed, nose flaring like a dragon.

“Charlie,” Reese said, joining me in the hall. “Please, don’t leave. We can go.”

I just stared at him.

“Come on, don’t be mad. I didn’t mean to…”

“Bring your girlfriend to my sister-in-law’s hospital room?” I finished, my voice low but menacing. “Huh. Wonder how it happened, then.”

Reese’s expression flattened, but he didn’t have time to offer an excuse before Cameron joined us in the hall. He put an arm around my shoulder, turning me toward the exit.

“Ready?” he asked, his eyes hard on Reese.

I just nodded, not leaning into him but not leaning away, either, as he walked us out of the hospital. I didn’t look back at Reese even once.

“You okay?” Cameron asked once we made it to the parking lot. We’d driven separately, since I’d been late on Wednesday, and I dug through my purse for my keys with shaky hands.

“I’m fine. I’ll see you at home?” I said, but I didn’t wait for an answer before I yanked open my door and climbed inside. I couldn’t look at Cameron, and I couldn’t take the way he was looking at me.

I peeled out of the parking lot before Cameron even got in his car, and I took the long way home.

Reese

All I could do was curse under my breath as I watched Charlie go.

Cameron had his arm around her, and though she didn’t exactly lean into his touch, she still looked comforted by the way he held her. And that murdered me.

I blew out a frustrated breath, making my way back inside the crowded hospital room with Blake’s eyes on me like lasers. She smiled a little at my return, though I could see the questions she wasn’t asking me.

She had insisted on coming when I got the call from Graham. I tried everything I could to get her to stay, to let me go on my own, but she was like a bull once her mind was made up. There was no reasoning with her, not without telling her therealreason why I didn’t want her to be here.

“Everything okay?” she asked me, her voice low where we stood off to the side. Graham was by Christina’s bed, the two of them in conversation with his parents.