"Actually, I don't," I say. "I haven't seen a mirror."
"Trust me, you look like shit but I would too if it'd happened to me. Remember that party we went to when I got in that fight?"
I smile. "Yeah, you looked pretty bad."
"What happened?" Brook asks.
"This guy thought I took his girl," Danny says. "Turns out it was some other guy who looked like me. Anyway, the guy was drunk and came at me with a beer bottle. I didn't know what the hell was going on. I fought back and then the guy's friend starting punching me. Long story short, I had to get stitches all over my face. It wasn't as bad as that." He points to Dean. "But it was close."
"I have a better face to begin with," I say. "So even like this, I look better than you did after that fight."
"Bullshit," he says, pretending to be offended.
Brook laughs. "Let's just say Dean looks a lot better compared to Monday."
"That's fair." Danny sits beside me. "So how you feeling?"
"Like I just got hit by a couple three hundred pound linebackers."
He shrugs. "Two? That's not bad. It's better than four."
"Is everything about football with you two?" Brook asks.
"Pretty much," we both say.
It's good to have Danny here. I've missed him. It feels like home having him and Brook here. Now I just need Jake back.
How I do find him? I don't even know where to look. I just know we need to find him soon. If we don't, we never will.
Chapter Ten
Brook
It's good to see Dean awake and alert and on the road to recovery. He's really improved the past couple days. I just hope he'll be able to rest now that he knows what's going on with Jake.
I wanted to be the one to tell him but the police beat me to it. I wasn't sure how Dean would react but he's taking it better than I thought he would. When Danny showed up, Dean actually smiled and laughed, which I didn't think was possible given what's going on. But maybe Dean's convinced his dad wouldn't hurt Jake, or maybe he's just hiding his feelings. I don't want him hiding his feelings from me. He should be able to tell me anything.
The same is true for me. I need to tell Dean about my dad's plan to send me back to Haverhill. I'm not actually going back there but I still need to tell him this because it's something major going on in my life and something I need to share with him. But not now, not with so much else going on.
Danny and I head back to school for the afternoon, and when classes end, Eve drops me off at the hospital on the way to her job.
"You sure you're okay?" she asks. "Because I can be late to work if you need me."
"I'm good." I get out of the car. "Thanks for driving me."
"Anytime. Tell your man I said hi!"
"I will." I shut the door and watch as she drives away. She colored her hair with streaks of purple last night. It looks good on her.
When I get to Dean's room, he's sleeping. I sit by his bed and look through my phone for any updates about his brother. There hasn't been anything all day on the news, which worries me. I didn't think the story would go away that fast. It needs to stay in the news so people keep looking for Jake.
"Brook?" Dean says in a groggy voice.
"Right here." I get up, taking his hand and leaning down to kiss his cheek. "Did you have a good nap?"
"No. Nightmares," he says, taking a deep breath. He cringes from the pain. Every time he breathes, his ribs hurt, and probably the rest of him too. I know he's in a lot of pain but he refuses to admit it.
"Nightmares about Jake?"
