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Today had taken more out of me than I knew how to process, stripping away whatever energy I had to keep pretending I was fine. Tomorrow was bound to be full of conversations I didn’t know how to have, apologies I probably didn’t need to make, and problems I couldn’t solve yet no matter how badly I wanted to. But tonight, I just let Theo take care of me. It was all I had left in me.
CHAPTER 71
Theo
Icouldn’t sleep. Not really. I drifted close a few times, only for my mind to go right back to picking the day apart. Rhodes. His father. The blood on his lip. The way he’d stood in the kitchen looking more broken than I’d ever seen him. Over and over, those things played on repeat in my head.
He was completely passed out with his head on my chest, one arm heavy across my stomach and one leg tangled between mine beneath the blankets. I refused to move, except for the slow pass of my fingers through his hair. He looked peaceful as he slept, the tension between his brows gone. There was no hurt or anger in his expression. He was just Rhodes. My Rhodes.
My chest hurt as I tightened my arm around him. I wanted to fix everything he’d been forced to endure tonight. It was stupid—I knew that. There was no fixing something like this. There was no Operation Get Rhodes His Family Back. All I could do was be here for the aftermath.
That had to be enough. But as I stared at the ceiling fan, counting its slow rotations, it didn’t feel like enough.
The sudden vibration of Rhodes’ phone on the nightstand cut through the silence. Rhodes stirred while I froze, hoping I wouldn’t wake him up further. The phone stopped, and I felt him settle against me. Good. He needed the sleep.
Unfortunately, the phone started vibrating again almost immediately. Rhodes lifted his head from my chest with a sleepy groan.
“What the hell…” His voice was thick with sleep as he rolled away from me and reached for his phone. I immediately missed his weight. He squinted at the screen and sat up so fast it scared me. The phone was barely to his ear before he answered, “Hello?”
I pushed up on one elbow. I couldn’t hear whoever was on the other end, but I watched his entire expression transform, whatever lingering sleepiness disappearing in a heartbeat. His jaw ticked, and every muscle in his body went rigid at once.
My heart sank. Whatever he was hearing, it wasn’t good.
“I’m on my way,” he said and hung up. He stumbled out of bed, the tangle of blankets around his body nearly taking him out.
“What happened?” I asked. He didn’t answer as he crossed the room in quick strides and grabbed the first pair of pants he found on the floor. I watched him nearly lose his balance as he stepped into them because he was moving too damn fast. I threw the blankets off and grabbed my pants. “Rhodes?”
His hands were visibly shaking, which scared me more than anything else. Rhodes didn’t unravel easily. No matter what fell apart around him, he always maintained his control. Watching that same control I admired slip… that sent dread weaseling through my chest.
“Please, talk to me,” I practically begged while he grabbed a shirt. It wasn’t even his shirt. It was mine. But in his rush, he dragged it over his head anyway. “Rhodes!”
He finally looked at me. It was barely a moment, but it was more than enough time for me to see how his face had paled. Whatever was happening had scared him badly enough that he wasn’t fully present. His eyes were wide and unfocused, already somewhere miles ahead of us while the rest of him scrambled to catch up.
“You can stay the night if you want,” Rhodes said, making me frown.
“What?”
“I don’t know how long I’ll be,” he continued as if he hadn’t heard me. He swiped his keys off the dresser and headed straight out the bedroom door. There was something almost mechanical about the way he moved—fast, focused, and running on pure panic.
“Rhodes!” I exclaimed, but he was already gone. I rushed after him, my own heart pounding harder with every step.
The back door slammed before I reached him. I made it to the kitchen window in time to see headlights cut across the alley. Rhodes reversed too fast, and a loud plastic crack cut through the night as the back of his SUV clipped a garbage can, sending it tipping sideways. He didn’t stop or even slow down. He just threw the car into drive and tore out of the alley.
I stood there in the dark, staring after the disappearing taillights as my stomach dropped. Rhodes didn’t drive like that. He wasn’t reckless. Whatever that phone call had been, it had blown straight through every bit of the control he clung to.
As I stood there alone in his kitchen, I had the horrible feeling that the worst part of the night wasn’t over yet.
CHAPTER 72
Rhodes
The hospital came into view through my windshield, all harsh lights and too much glass against the dark sky. The sight of it made my pulse skyrocket, as if my heart wasn’t already pounding hard enough.
I still didn’t believe it.
Not fully.
Jude’s phone call kept replaying in broken pieces, my mind struggling—or refusing—to process them. Mom. Hospital. Something happened. Come now. The fragments danced around my head, taunting me. Each one carried enough meaning to terrify me without giving me anything tangible to cling to.
