Panic rises, and I run my hands over my limbs. That’s when I realize my right leg feels like dead weight, stiff and almost burning.
“Don’t worry, Val.” His voice is calm, but there’s tension hiding underneath. “A few screws, and a cast for a couple weeks. Doctor says you’ll be fine. Eva and Derek are downstairs with Remi. She’s okay.”
A shuddering breath escapes me, relief slipping through the cracks of the fear. I force my eyes back to him. “And you? You came back.”
He nods once. “I did. And…now I almost wish I hadn’t.”
“Wait, what does that mean?” I ask, frowning.
He gives me a slight smile and drags his thumb across my forearm. For a second, I’m that kid again, but instead of comfort, his touch hits me weird.
I cover it with a shaky laugh. “Well?”
He leans in, close enough that I catch the scent of his cologne—smoke, spice, and something dark I can’t name.
“If it weren’t for me,” he says quietly, “you wouldn’t be here right now.”
My brain clears like someone opened a window. I stare at him. “Wait—you’re sayingyou’rethe asshole who hit me?”
It’s his turn to frown. The light in his eyes dims, replaced by that haunted look he used to wear like a second skin. Back then, I was too young to understand it. Years later, Aunt Leni told me pieces of his past—what his uncle did to him, what he survived—and suddenly it all made sense.
“I wasn’t driving,” he says quietly. “But if I hadn’t been distracted, maybe I could’ve warned him. Maybe…I could’ve stopped it.”
I reach up, fingers brushing his cheek. He flinches, and I almost pull back, until he leans into my palm.
“Maksim, it’s not your fault. I usually wait a few seconds after the light changes, just in case, but Remi and I were messing around. It was…a stressful day.”
“Are you seriously blaming yourself?” There’s a flicker of amusement under the rough edge of his voice.
I shrug too hard, and a sharp pain stabs through my ribs, threatening to break through the meds. I bite it down and force a smile. “Sounds like it was a group effort.”
His deep chuckle rolls through me, and in that sound, I realize just how much I’ve missed him. And how much I hadn’t noticed the space he left behind until now. Maksim has always lingered in the back of my mind, pulled forward by little things—a photo of him brooding like a typical teenager, or the state fair we went to every summer. Maxy, the hummingbird, he won for me when I was barely out of diapers. Maybe that’s why I’ve never thrown it away. Maybe that’s why it’s still buried in the back of my closet somewhere.
“Maksim,” I whisper, startled by the crack in my own voice. “Can you…just hug me?”
He doesn’t hesitate. He leans in, careful, his arms circling me like he’s afraid I’ll break. When he starts to pull back, I tighten my grip. I’m not ready to let him go again. Not yet.
“Valentina, I don’t want to hurt you.”
“You won’t.” The words come out soft, almost too fragile for my liking.
He exhales, the sound heavy. “I already did.”
“Then you owe me. Now shut up and hug me.”
His cautious laugh rumbles through me, touching places that were never meant for him. And stirring heat where there shouldn’t be any. I shift against it, unsettled by the betrayal of my own body.
“Are you okay?”
I nod. “I’m just…happy to see you.” Liar. “Are you here to stay?”
Maksim retreats to the chair at my bedside and exhales like a man carrying the world on his shoulders.
“For now. Mom is?—”
“In remission,” I finish for him. “Maksim, she’s the strongest woman I know—and that’s saying something.”
Guilt shadows his face. “I should have been here sooner.”
