"Tell Nico I said hi!" Lily calls after me.
I'm already running.
Nico
Apparently, assholes live a lot longer than they should.
The moment I crack my eyes open and spot Aria sitting by the window, I know things got bad.
Fuck.
My chest feels like someone parked an SUV on it. Every breath scrapes against something raw inside me. The beeping machines next to my bed sound like accusations.
"Nico." Aria's voice cracks. She's at my side in seconds, her hand cool against my forehead. "My boy. Mio figlio."
I try to speak but my throat feels packed with gravel. She presses a button, calls for a nurse, fusses with my blankets. I let her. What else can I do?
After I fully wake up, the entire family cycles through like I'm some kind of zoo exhibit. Pietro stands at the foot of my bed looking like he wants to strangle me and hug me simultaneously.Nora brings flowers that make my nose itch. Lorenzo claps my shoulder and tells me I look like shit.
I could tell them all to go fuck themselves and leave me alone.
But I know what it would've done to me if someone else was in my shoes. If it were Pietro lying here. If it were Vittoria.
So I shut the fuck up.
Now Vittoria sits in the chair Aria vacated, picking at her chipped nail polish. She's been talking for five minutes about something but I can't focus on the words.
"How are you feeling?" she asks. "Honestly?"
"Like I got shot."
She rolls her eyes. "Smartass."
The door opens.
I forget I need to breathe.
Kristen.
She stands in the doorway, grey-blue eyes wide. She's wearing jeans and an oversized sweater that swallows her frame, and she looks exhausted.
She looks fucking beautiful.
Vittoria says something. I don't hear it. The words blur into white noise because Kristen is here, in this room.
My sister squeezes my arm and leaves. The door clicks shut.
Then it's just us.
"Kristen." Her name scrapes out of my throat like a prayer. What else can I say? I'm sorry feels inadequate. I love you feels like a confession she didn't ask for. Please don't leave makes me sound pathetic.
So I just say her name again. "Kristen."
She moves closer. Her sneakers squeak against the hospital floor. She's holding something small and brown and...
A rabbit?
She reaches my bedside and holds it out. Her fingers tremble slightly. "Lily says hi. She wanted you to have Sir Floppington. Says he helps when you don't feel good."
