Page 13 of Sweet Oblivion

Detective Mitchum hands Olivia his own card and smiles at Delaney before following Brooks through the door.

As we watch in silence, the two men disappear into the hall. Liv lets out a visible breath and crosses the room behind them, like she’s making sure they’re actually gone.

Delaney’s hand shakes in mine, bringing my eyes back to her as she sits silently, petrified. The terror in her eyes grows as Olivia shuts the hospital room door and stares at us for a beat too long.

“I need you to listen to me very carefully.”Liv stays standing in front of the door, blocking it, in what appears to be a power move, or more accurately, a protective one.

She’s stopping anyone from entering.

“I spoke to Finn a few minutes ago—”Olivia starts.

“Why?”Delaney fumbles the sign for the word, but I’m sure that’s what she means as she cuts Liv off. “What does he have to do with any of this?” She adds, giving up on signing in the silent room. “I haven’t spoken with Ashton yet. He’s going to tell her and Jamie before I can.”

Apparently satisfied that no one’s coming back in, Olivia drops her bag to the counter and smooths her hands down her pencil skirt in a nervous habit you need to know her to recognize. And I know my cousin. She rarely gets nervous. This isn’t good.

“I spoke to Finn because he’s a doctor at this hospital, and according to Hendrix, was working tonight. I needed to know what I was walking into to formulate a plan. Because the press has already gleaned as much information as they can from the police department and filled in the blanks with what they can from social media.”

“Social media?” I ask before I can think better of it.

Of course, all the assholes with their camera phones would post the worst moment of someone’s life with absolutely no regard to what it would do to Delaney to have thatmoment memorialized for the world to see and her to relive. Fucking scumbags.

“Yes, Ryker. Social media.”Olivia doesn’t bother to hide her annoyance. Got it. Dumb question.“She gets attacked, and maybe it’s any other day. It would be a blip in the news cycle and they’d move on to something else. The Kings’ star defensive player beats a man to death protecting her in the parking lot of a bar, after a game. A man he was pitted against during the game... That makes the rounds pretty damn fast, and that owns the news cycle for the foreseeable future.”

My cousin has known sign language for over a decade, and she’s been choosey about her words for just as long. While the rest of us never shut the fuck up, Liv has always been the quiet cousin. The one who preferred to be by herself while we all got up to no good even as preteens.

Olivia St. James doesn’t misspeak.

She never has.

And she just saidbeat a man to death.

I’m not sure I heard anything after that.

“Liv,” I plead as her words sink in, and her face softens.

Anger turns to sympathy, and my entire body revolts.

Wanting a man dead for what he did and killing him are two very different things.

“Ryker...”She walks back over to the door, and presses her back to it again, like she needs to know no one is walking in unannounced.“Roger Dennings coded twice in the OR. They managed to revive him, but he’s in a medically induced coma. I doubt the officers even knew that yet when they were in here,”she says slowly as she vigilantly signs each word.“This is bigger than Delaney being attacked.”

Holy shit.

He coded.

I killed him.

“But you didn’t,”Olivia answers me when I hadn’t evenrealized I’d said that out loud.“And now you’re going to do exactly as I say.”

“What?” I ask, struggling to follow, my brain fighting to keep up with what feels like quicksand threatening to swallow me whole.

“As your lawyer and your family, I need you to do exactly what I tell you.”

“Fuck, Liv...” I groan and drop Delaney’s hand, a million things racing through my mind, least of all the fact I’m not sorry.

I’m not sorry, and I’d do it again.

One minute later and I’m not sure she’d be here right now, next to me. And this woman’s life is worth ten of his. “What do I need to do?”