Ant is the only person in the world who understands. The one who knows who I am and where I came from without explanation.
Weeks after I should have sucked it up and done what he wanted, I finally pull out my phone and call Maddox.
Ready to take him up on his request.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
EVIE
A doctor arrivesten minutes after the phone call. He performs a check-up while Ant wakes and dozes, sometimes coherent enough to answer questions, other times closing his eyes and slipping into a dream.
“His breathing and pulse are low but within normal range,” he tells me once he’s finished. “He’ll feel rough for the next day or two. The testing strip picked up fentanyl, but his signs are improving. If that changes, call an ambulance.”
I start to ask questions, but Maddox shows up, taking me into his arms before the door’s even fully open. “Are you okay?”
“Fine,” I say with a shaky laugh. “Never better.”
The doctor repeats his assessment, ending with, “I’ll send a referral to the outpatient clinic at Abbottsvale. Since he’s previously been enrolled on a program there, they’ll be able to schedule an emergency appointment.”
“We don’t have transport.”
“I’ve arranged a car and driver,” Maddox says, arm around my waist as he stands beside me. “The service will take himthere and back tomorrow, and on Friday we’ll fly him down to Dunedin for assessment.”
The gratitude wipes away any lingering fears.
I expect Maddox to go but he stays with me, holding me against him on the couch while Ant sleeps in fits and starts throughout the night. Every time I doze off, I wake inside his comforting embrace.
In the morning, I drink twice as much coffee as normal until I’m jumpy as a feral cat. When the car arrives to take Ant to the neighbouring town’s clinic, I hover.
“You’re getting treatment and you’re going to do everything they recommend,” I tell him, trying to convince myself as much as him. “I don’t care how much it hurts or what your opinion of the facilities is. Do you hear me?”
He nods and I fuss around him to make sure he’s comfortable, set him up with a bottle of water for the journey that I know he won’t touch.
Anything to make sure he knows I love him.
The fear sparks as the car leaves and I run out of ways to postpone the inevitable. I didn’t even think to check where we would go, but now presume Maddox will take me to his home.
Which gives me another load of stress because what if I run into his dad? What if he mentions something to contradict what I told Maddox earlier? The lie I’m nowhere near ready to confess.
“What time do you think I’ll be back?” I ask as the silence of the drive makes me shiver.
I don’t care but another query hides underneath.
I want to know if this is truly happening.
After our closeness yesterday, the stark change is surreal. This isn’t the Maddox from school. This is the same boy who thought nothing of sticking a gun in my mouth two minutes after meeting.
“You’re allowed to stay over if you prefer.”
“Can we… is it alright if we go to a hotel, instead?”
“You don’t want to see my shiny new dungeon?”
A joke that might be funny at another time, but right now my sense of humour has completely deserted me.
He pulls to a stop at the next set of lights, reaching over and resting his hand on my knee. “We can but I’d prefer to be home. There’s nobody else there if that’s your worry. The housekeeper is finished for the day and Dad’s in Auckland, wining and dining some corporate clients.”
“Okay.”
