Conviction(63)

Meebs nods this time. “I was too scared, Con. I didn’t know the system. My brother said I needed permission or something from you. I was so scared you’d say, no.” She looks down at the tiles on the floor and I follow her gaze, noticing the pink polish on her toenails. Her feet and her toes are so tiny and sexy…

I’m f*cked.

So totally f*cked.

She’s been back in my life for about twelve hours and right now, if it were to become necessary in the next few minutes, I would be quite prepared to lay down my life for her.

“I should’ve been braver,” she says very quietly.

“What? No, no, this isn’t your fault.” I pull her into me, hold the sides of her face in each of my palms and tilt it so she has to look up at me.

“This isn’t your fault.” I kiss her gently on the mouth. “This isn’t your fault,” I repeat.

“I gave them to your brother,” Josh says.

She stiffens instantly in my arms, her eyebrows pulled into a frown as she turns around to face Josh.

“What did you say?” Sophie asks before either of us do.

Josh looks at me while letting out a long sigh.

“I saw him in the pub one night and I asked how Nina was doing. He said she was doing great and moving on with her life.” He switches his gaze to Meebs.

“I told him that you’d given me a couple of letters for Reed, but I hadn’t had a chance to get to see him.” He shrugs his shoulders. “Fuck! I f*cked up.” He scratches the back of his head as realisation dawns on him.

“He told me he would talk to you and see if you wanted the letters delivered. He texted me the next day and said that you didn’t. Then he came around and collected them... he never, I never…” His eyes dart from mine to Meebs and I know he’s feeling almost as gutted as we are right now. “I’m so sorry. I gave him the letters and never gave them a second thought. He never told you, did he?”

She stands rigid in my arms, staring ahead at nothing. Her fists opening and closing. She turns to Sophie.

“When I was in the hospital and I asked you to call Conner—” Sophie starts to shake her head almost immediately.

“Holy f*ck, Neen,” Sophie whispers.

“Why were you in the hospital? When?” Josh asks. Meebs ignores him.

“Why Soph, how? I asked you to call him. My phone was in your car, you had your phone on you. All you had to do was call him.”

“He offered Neen. He told me to stay with you. He said you needed me with you more than him. He said he called and called him. He even took my car keys and went and got your phone from the car and told me that he called from your phone, in case Reed didn’t recognise the number.”

I’m frozen to the spot, even my chest is barely moving as I take short breaths in and out. My arms and legs feel like lead weights and my skin prickles and tingles in the weirdest way.

Meebs turns and looks at me, her blue eyes are wide. The flush she wore on her beautiful face earlier is gone. Her skin is now so pale, it almost looks see through. She swallows hard.

“My brother… I, you don’t… I haven’t told you what he did.”

My world tilts. It spins off its axis and I feel like I’m freefalling.

What did he do?

I’m going to kill him.

At that moment, I have no hesitation in my mind, not a single doubt. If she tells me that he laid a hand on her, if he touched her or even thought about touching her.

I. Will. Fucking. Kill. Him.

“What’d he do, Meebs?” I don’t mean to sound harsh, that’s just the way it comes out. Her face crumbles and never, for as long as I live will I forget the pain that’s etched across her features right now.

“He stole my life. My brother. He stole us.” She slides to the floor as she sobs. My reflexes are slow, but I manage to catch her before she hits the tiles.

I get on the floor with her and hold her while she cries. I’m still not entirely sure what exactly has gone on, but it obviously involves that little prick of a brother of hers, Pearce. Pearce f*cking Matthews. My heart actually hurts the walls of my chest, it’s pounding so hard when I think about what he might’ve done.

We all sit in silence for a few moments. Each of us trying to get our heads around all of the information that’s just been shared.

“I still don’t understand. When was Nina in the hospital?” Josh asks again.

Nobody answers.

Sophie wipes tears from under her eyes, then gets up and starts opening cupboards.

“I need a drink, Reed. What ya got? Nice crib, by the way. Totally not what I was expecting.”

I’m still struggling to form words. I open my mouth, but nothing comes out.

“Will someone f*cking answer me?”

Sophie and I both look at Josh. Meebs lets out a deep sigh but doesn’t look up or say anything.

“Let me make us all a coffee, with a dash of something stronger in it and I’ll tell you all I know,” Sophie says

“What did he do, Soph? Did he touch her?” Something flickers across her face for a split second.

“Who?” she asks me with a frown.

“Her prick of a brother, did he touch her?”

Meebs looks up from where her face has been curled into my chest and shoulder. She’s a blotchy, tear-stained mess. The most beautiful mess I’ve ever seen.