47. Grady
GRADY
Oh shitballs.
Wily looks about ready to end me as he glares over the top of Blake’s head and yells, “Get your hands off my sister!”
“Wily.” She steps forward, her voice all out of breath and wispy. “What are you doing upstairs? Is your knee okay?”
He ignores her, still eyeballing me with a venomous frown. “What the fuck are you doing in here with her?”
“Wily, calm down.” Blake steps into his space, resting her hand on his chest.
“She’s a virgin!” he bellows, and the room goes still.
Blake swallows, closing her eyes and cringing. Wily glances down, noticing her expression, and the color drains from his face.
There’s a thick, awkward beat, and then he smacks his crutch down and thunders, “You stole my sister’s V-card?”
Stepping around his sister, he limps forward with his other crutch and gives me a forceful shove .
I let him do it, stumbling back and catching myself before I topple onto my bed.
“No!” Blake darts forward, snatching his arm. “Stop it! He didn’t steal anything!”
“Well, what am I supposed to think?” Wily turns on her.
“You’re making out in here, and you’ve just spent five days in the forest together.
Something has definitely been off with you.
Is this it?” He turns back to me, his eyes flashing with a look that makes me feel like the shittiest friend on the planet.
“You’ve been screwing around together behind my back? ”
“Wily, we were gonna tell—” Blake starts, but he ignores her once again, his dark glare focused solely on me.
Clenching his jaw, he grits out, “Look me in the eye and tell me you haven’t slept with her.”
Straightening with a resigned sigh, I keep my gaze level and my voice even, confessing the truth without hesitation. “I can’t do that, man.”
He takes a second to absorb my words, and then his anger is firing up again, turning his face red as he barks, “Are you out of your fucking mind? I am gonna kill you!”
I stand my ground, figuring I’ll give him the first punch for free, maybe even the second as well. I deserve it. I went behind his back. What kind of shitty-ass friend does that?
“You took something from her that she can’t get back!
” He points at his sister before that accusing finger swings back to me.
“And when you’re still in love with Teah too!
Don’t deny it! I know you still have feelings for her, the way you’ve been moping around for months.
And now you’re just screwing my sister like you’re over it? Bullshit!”
I don’t even know how to respond to that. With a slow blink, I’m trying to figure out my best response when Blake steps in front of him, slapping her hands on his chest.
“Would you stop? He didn’t take my virginity!”
“He just told me you were sleeping together.” His eyes hit her like laser beams, his scowl intimidating as hell, but she’s looking right up at it, not backing down.
“Wily.” She closes her eyes and huffs, her tone coming out much softer when she explains again, “He didn’t take my V-card, okay?”
It takes him another beat… and then he finally gets what she’s saying.
And the way his expression drops to one of shock and confusion… shit, it’s kind of heartbreaking.
“What?” he whispers. “When?”
She bulges her eyes at him. “Are you kidding me? I’m not talking about my sex life with you.”
“Yes, you are,” he growls. “Who? When?”
She closes her eyes again, and I’m waiting for her to reiterate her point. Her sex life is her own business—she doesn’t have to share shit if she doesn’t want to.
But then she ends up muttering, “About six months ago. It was just some guy at college. You don’t know him.”
“You lost it to just some guy ?” This news is slaying poor Wily. “Was he your boyfriend?”
“No. I mean…” She scratches her forehead, squeezing her eyes shut. “Sometimes. Maybe.”
“What the fuck does that mean?” he snaps, and I doubt he’s gonna be okay with that weird-ass group thing she had going in Chicago. Even I struggled to wrap my head around it.
I step forward to try and back her up, but that only causes Wily to growl like a dog.
Pausing before I can reach Blake, I raise my hands and step back. Her shoulders slump, agony ripping through my chest at the pale, dejected look on her face.
“I don’t… I don’t know what it means.” She sighs, crossing her arms and staring at the floor.
“How could you not tell me this?” Wily’s voice has dropped to a gruff whisper, all the fire going out of him. Shit, he looks… wounded. “I tell you everything.”
Those four little words drop into the room as a shattered whisper, and the pained look on Wily’s face is killing me. I can only imagine what it’s doing to Blake.
She looks destroyed when she raises her head and stares at her brother. Her face crumples in regret, remorse… Shit, she’s gonna cry.
Wily just shakes his head, stumbling backward out of my room. Catching himself on his crutch, he balances against the wall before staring at his sister one last time, then limping away.
“Wily. Wait…” Blake’s voice trembles, tears glassing over her eyes. “I’m… Wily! I’m sorry.” Her chest starts to hitch as she watches her brother slowly disappear down the hall. Rushing to my doorway, she calls after him. “I’m sorry!”
He ignores her, and I want to tell him to stop already. Hear her out.
But he’s hurting right now.
“Wily?” Satch’s voice calls from the bottom of the stairs, and then she’s thundering up them.
I can hear her awkward rush. She stumbles on one of the steps, then appears at the top.
I can’t see all of her from this angle, but I can hear the worry in her voice.
“What’s going on? Why are you up there? Are you okay? ”
“I had to check something.” Wily voice is dead and sad.
Blake sucks in a shaky breath, and Satch’s head pops into view. She looks confused, her eyebrows wrinkling as she tries to figure out what’s going on.
“I’m going to my room.” Wily sounds so gutted.
“Up here?”
He must nod, because Satch disappears from sight, no doubt moving to comfort him.
Blake stays where she is, gripping the doorframe, her knuckles turning white… and that’s when I notice her heaving chest. Breaths are punching out of her in shaky bursts as she bends over and lets out a whimper.
“It’s okay. Just breathe.” I lurch forward, rubbing her back as those punchy breaths turn to shaky sobs.
“He hates me.”
“He doesn’t hate you.”
“He’s never going to talk to me again.”
“Yes, he will. He loves you. He’s just hurting. He needs time to process.”
She looks up, her blue eyes wild and bright with tears. “I hurt him.”
I want to shake my head and tell her she didn’t, but I can’t… because that’s not the truth.
All I can give her is a pained frown. “ We hurt him. But we’re going to make it right, okay?”
She shakes her head, standing tall and ducking out from under my touch. “How? He hasn’t even heard the worst of it yet.”
“Blake.”
“No,” she whimpers, moving away from me.
I want to reach out and tug her back, but she’s shaking her head, stumbling down the hallway and into her room.
The door slams shut behind her, and as much as I want to demand she let me in to make her feel better, something in my gut is telling me to stay put.
I need to give her some space.
Fuck, we all probably need space right now.
Wily’s not ready for my apology, but while I’m waiting, I may as well construct a good one.
Shit, I’m gonna need help with this.
Heading for the stairwell, I race down it, jumping off the last step and heading for the garage at the back of the house.
I need Zander.