Boys Like You(53)

Me: Sorry to hear about Trevor.

Brent: It’s so screwed up.

It was so much more than that. I gunned the car and hoped like heck Gram wasn’t watching, because honestly, I barely missed her prized geraniums as I barreled down the driveway and headed for town.

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It was the only place I knew to go, but once I got there, I wasn’t exactly sure where to look. I drove past the fairgrounds where the Peach Festival had been held but it was empty.

Nothing going on.

The baseball diamond next door was dark as was the football field behind the high school. I drove down Main Street and followed the signs to the hospital, retracing the route I’d taken only a few weeks earlier.

Weird. It felt so long ago. The festival. That first “non-date.” How had he managed to mean so much to me in such a short time?

I thought that maybe I loved Nathan.

No. That was wrong. I didn’t think anymore. I was sure of it.

I loved Nathan Everets, and I couldn’t picture my tomorrow without him in it.

“Crap,” I said aloud, glancing in my rearview mirror to make sure no one was behind me.

I had no idea if he would come to the hospital, but it was a place to start. I parked as best I could, considering I had to parallel Gram’s giant-ass car, and two minutes later, I ran through the front doors.

Trevor was on the fifth floor, and when I got off the elevator, the lounge area near the nurses’ station was empty. The whole place was quiet.

It smelled.

It smelled like pain and fear and death.

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Juliana Ston e

A walk around the nurses’ station and a quick glance down each hallway that led from the main desk told me the place was deserted. More than a little nervous, I returned to the lounge, unsure what to do.

I sat on the old, worn vinyl sofa that I’d sat on before and shoved my hands underneath my legs for warmth, shivering when I heard someone cry out from down the hall. Was it a patient? Or a family member.

I guess it didn’t matter, because either way, it meant that someone was in pain. Someone hurt, and that sucked.

A nurse at the station smiled at me. She looked young. Too young to be a nurse, but her pretty eyes and soft smile made me feel a little better. “Can I help you, hon? Visiting hours are nearly over.”

I shook my head. “I should go,” I said and jumped to my feet.

“Who are you here to see?” she asked.

“It’s fine. No one.”

I ran to the elevator, and once inside, pressed M for the main floor. The doors started to slide back into place but a large, meaty hand stopped them and a tall man stepped in with me.

I knew this man. I knew his tortured eyes. His large, powerful shoulders. The tattoos.

I recognized him from the last time I’d been here with Nathan. It was Trevor’s dad.

And boy, did he look awful.

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know I was there. He was off somewhere, somewhere dark and sad, and when he stepped off, I followed.

I followed him out the front doors of the hospital and down the side until he stopped near a stone bench and a waterfall.

I shivered slightly as I watched him pull out a cigarette and light it.

He took a long drag and leaned against the bench, head bent toward the starless sky as he slowly exhaled.

I watched him take another long drag. I stepped back, wishing the shadows were darker here. Why had I followed him? What was I doing? I needed to find Nathan, not creep Trevor’s dad.

“Do you know him?”

I jumped at the sound of his voice and glanced around quickly just to make sure he wasn’t talking to someone else. But there was no one there.

Shit.

“No,” I said carefully.

Trevor’s dad glanced my way, and the unmistakable sheen of tears glistened on his face. He didn’t try to wipe them. He just took another drag and flicked his ashes onto the ground.

“So why are you here?”

I stared back at him, unsure and more than a little intimi-dated by his size and his pain. I remembered how angry he’d been with Nathan. How he had threatened to kick Nathan’s ass if he ever…

Panicked, I took a step closer.

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Juliana Ston e

“I’m looking for Nathan.” The words tumbled from me before I could take them back, and I waited for his reaction, my gut churning with fear and my heart hurting at the pain in his eyes.

He didn’t say anything. He just watched me for a few seconds and then took another drag before tossing his cigarette. Carefully he ground the butt with his booted foot and then pushed off from the bench.

He was too quiet, and suddenly I was more than a little scared— not for me, but for Nathan.

“Did you…did he come by? His parents are worried and I know that…” I need to find him.

He stopped a few inches from me, this large, powerfully built man. His hands were tight at his sides, fisted, and I took a step back.

“Who are you?”

Surprised, I didn’t answer at first, and he shifted his feet, exhaling tiredly as he rolled his shoulders. The lines around his eyes deepened, sinking into his skin. I held my breath, not sure what to expect, but then he whispered, “Never mind.”