Maybe heisseeing it and seeing the cost of it.
The walls inch in again, cracks narrowing in my vision. My world keeps getting smaller.
I slump against the chair, sorrow filling me. I’ve always feared this day would come. From the first time I admitted something was wrong in my body, I’d feared being cast aside and labeled weak. But to hear it from Declan?
Is this really how they see me now? I used to drive combat vehicles and haul hundreds of pounds of gear across the desert. Now I’m nothing more than a doorman.
It fucking hurts, and it digs a thumb into the bruise of my heart.
I scrub a hand along the back of my neck, ignoring the painful tingles. What am I going to do?
20
FLETCHER
Vince follows me out of the bedroom the following day in almost perfect silence. He’d slipped into bed with me after he got home, even with Georgie home. I hadn’t questioned it, just pulled him against me and held tight.
The silence coming from him isn’t warm or calm at all this morning. It’s messy, clouded by something I can’t read. He sinks into the chair with a deep sigh, his shoulders tense. He doesn’t look at me, his gaze fixed on the rim of his mug like it’ll give him all the answers.
I search for a way to distract him as I spread jam on my toast. “Georgie was happy with the autographs I got for her. I bought her a shirt and a new album too. She was thrilled.”
He manages a small smile but doesn’t look up.
“I really wish she could’ve gone. She would’ve loved it.”
“Yeah.” That single word comes out flat and emotionless.
I try again. “Did you like her new song?”
“I’m not too familiar with her,” Vince says. “Couldn’t tell the new ones from the old.”
“Oh.”
His hollowness shouldn’t bother me. Vince has never been a morning person as long as I’ve known him. Sometimes, he’ll say fewer than five words to me before I leave for work. But I can’t stand it today. He’s been so damn distant from me, so closed off. I wish I knew why. Is it just the upcoming doctor’s appointment, or is Vince mentally pulling away?
I don’t want to believe that. Not with the way he’d held me last night.
Georgie comes through the kitchen in a rush, adjusting her backpack and zip-up hoodie. She downs the last of her milk, sets the glass in the sink, and rushes toward the door for the bus. “Bye!”
Vince forces a smile for her, but it fades the second she leaves. Bones shoves his nose against the front window, whining low.
A strange silence stretches between us. I finish off my toast and wipe my hands on the napkin. “Okay. I’ve only got a few minutes before I need to go, but talk to me. What’s wrong?”
Vince doesn’t answer. He gets to his feet and carries his mug to the sink, washing it and Georgie’s glass with meticulous care.
“Vince?”
He sighs. After a minute, he hangs his head, defeated. “Declan basically told me to take this weekend off,” he says in a rush, back still turned.
I blink hard.That’swhat’s bothering him?“That’s… good, right? Means you actually have a weekend off?”
He snorts quietly. “Not when it didn’t feel like a suggestion.”
Something tightens in my chest. I keep my voice even. “What do you mean?”
Vince finally turns, sucking in a deep breath. “He didn’t give me a choice about it, Fletch. He just told me to take some time off. Like it was a command.” He grits his teeth. “I don’t know. It just makes me think he’s going to let me go.”
The words hit like a punch.Fuck.
