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Her body heaved silently; her parents’ eyes were on me.
“What’s wrong with him?” Erin asked.
Scrubbing a hand down my face, I chanced a glance at them before turning back to Kelly. Her head was turned slightly, her face almost buried in her arms. Almost. Like she was waiting for me to go on.
“He jumped off the helicopter into the lake.” I scratched at my chest. “Got some sort of chronic lung problems from when he was born. The cold and the water”—she squeezed her eyes closed—“and getting pushed under… He gets sick easily. He—”
Kelly swiped at her cheek with the heel of her palm. My chest squeezed.
“Is he going to be okay?”
Kelly stilled, as if she was holding her breath, waiting on me to respond.
“He will be.” My voice sounded more confident than I felt. “He’s too stubborn to not be.”
A stubborn fool.
But if it hadn’t been for him, for his hacker friends… I never would have found her.
“And Jen?” Erin’s voice had Kelly snagging a pillow off the bed and pulling it to her chest. I opened my mouth to answer, only to be interrupted by a knock on the door.
“Everything’s in order.” A nurse pushed into the room, her smile wide as she swept her gaze over Donovan and Erin. It fell straight from her face the moment she saw me. “Oh. I’m so sorry, I didn’t realize you had company.”
Donovan stood, his hands gripped together. “No worries. It’s not your fault.”
“Can we go now?” Kelly was halfway off the other side of the bed, her hair pulled tight to her head, her fingers whipping through the long strands, twisting and turning into some sort of braid.
It wasn’t until that moment that I realized she’d changed. No longer in a hospital gown, she wore a pair of too-loose sweatpants and a sweater the color of her eyes. On the floor at the foot of the bed sat the same duffel bag that’d appeared the first day she’d been in here.
The same day her parents showed up.
The nurse turned a smile her way before looking down at the clipboard in her hands. “Just need to give you these.” She pulled papers from the clip, handing them to Donovan before turning her gaze to where Kelly stood. “You take care, Kelly. Remember to call your doctor if you have any problems.”
Kelly dipped down, grabbed the bag, and slung the strap over her shoulder. She gave a tight smile. “Will do. Thanks.” She turned to her parents. “Can we go?”
Erin let out a sigh. “The traffic is going to be horrible this time of day. Are you sure you don’t want to grab something to eat? It’s going to be a while before we get home.”
Kelly’s brows dipped, and the nurse made herself scarce, rushing from the room. “I’m not going home with you. My home is across town.”
“Sweetheart, you’ve been through—”
“I know what I’ve been through,” she snapped. “I was there, remember? And you weren’t. It doesn’t change the fact that I’m not going home with you.”
“Wh—”
“Look.” She tossed the bag onto the bed and put her hands on her hips. “I’m twenty-three years old. I’ve been living in this city for the past five years, and I’m not moving home to live with my parents.”
“It doesn’t have to—”
“No!” She grabbed the bag again, though the strap tangled against the footboard before she could pull it free. “I’m not going home with you.”
“Can we at least drive you to your apartment?” Erin asked, scrambling to her feet as Kelly stepped around the foot of the bed and went for the door.
That question made her pause. She tilted her chin toward the ceiling, and I tracked her every movement. The rise and fall of her chest. The way her legs shuffled without her feet moving an inch. Her mouth working as she formulated a response.
“I don’t need your help.”
Donovan stepped toward her. “I’d feel better if you had someone with—”
