“I love you,” I said.
Her eyes popped, then instantly filled. A chorus of surprised gasps emitted around us as I lowered my face to hers and kissed her with an emotion I’d never felt for anyone else in my life. Her fingers gripped my hands, her lips opened for me and then we were consuming each other like there was no one else in the room. Every word, every snigger and swoon, faded to nothing. There was nothing beyond the girl in my arms. I’d never felt happiness like it.
Riley’s lips left mine, her nose pressed into my chest as she hid her face. I gave her a second, my hands slipping round to cup her nape, before nudging her head back gently. Her green eyes shimmered, light trails of residual moisture traced her bright cheeks, and her smile grew wider than I’d ever seen it.
Narrowing her gaze playfully, she scolded, “I can’t believe you did that!” before shifting her head to peer out over my hands and gauge the scene playing out around us.
I gave her my best smirk. “Yeah? Well, think about that the next time you paste on a pair of pants.”
Her mouth dropped open with a laugh, eyebrow quirking. “That’s what this is about? My ass?”
I laughed softly, stroking my thumbs over her cheeks while my eyes traced every inch of her face. I’d always seen her, but I’d never seen her the way I did now. The girl had always been beautiful, but now I looked at her and she took my damn breath away. I couldn’t take in enough of her. I knew what I sounded like. Couldn’t fucking bring myself to care.
“’Course it is.” I resisted reaching round and grabbing her ass. I didn’t need to do that for these assholes to know she was mine, and I’d never treat her like every other girl. Didn’t want to draw their attention back there, either.
She smiled softly, shaking her head slowly before dipping her tongue out and running it over her bottom lip, eyes flicking between both of mine. “I don’t believe you.”
My smile mirrored hers; a shared knowledge, a secret smile just for us. “I don’t either.”
Her eyes hooded, chest rising faster as we continued to stare at each other. Grabbing her hand, I turned and led us out through the doors; food was the last thing on my mind. Cat calls and whistles went off like a fucking orchestra playing us off stage, but I didn’t give them a second thought. We were down the hall, into a classroom and against a door before the sounds stopped ringing in my ears, replaced by a chorus of heavy breaths and panting.
My hands finally got to do what they’d been desperate to do all morning, and I grabbed chunks of Riley’s ass with a groan of pure relief, squeezing and lifting as she settled around me, legs locking behind my back. With my arousal straining against my jeans, I seriously contemplated whether I cared enough about the consequences of just sinking into her right against the door. But Riley pulled back, resting her head against the solid wood surface. Her dazed eyes snagged mine as a small v formed between her brows.
“You didn’t kiss Raya that day. I didn’t see it. You weren’t lying.”
It wasn’t a question, but I held her gaze and shook my head.
She glanced away for a second, biting her lip. “I've just realized something. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you kiss her before?” Her voice was tentative and uncertain, as if this had just occurred to her, but she couldn’t quite believe it.
I smirked because I knew I was about to shock her. I’d placed an invisible line in the sand years ago, and never once crossed it. I never knew what the fuck I’d been waiting for, why I avoided putting my lips on any of the girls I hooked up with. Now I did.
“I’ve never kissed Raya Mitchell.”
“What?”
“I’ve kissed no one else, Ri... no one but you.”
It had always been her, even when I was too fucking blind to see it.
Her breath burst from her chest in a shocked gasp. Her eyes glazed over just before she burrowed her head into the space between my neck and shoulder. I lowered her feet to the floor, still molding her ass cheeks with my palms, and waited her out.
Slowly, she raised her head, looking up at me with something like adoration. I recognized it before she opened her mouth and said the words.
“I love you, Maddox Renner.”
Easing her back against the door, I dropped my forehead down to hers and we stood there, just like that, sharing breaths, uninterrupted.
Until my phone sounded obnoxiously from my pocket. We ignored it.
A few seconds later, it sounded again. Breaking into the moment.
I frowned but ignored it. It would be the guys calling to bust my balls for dropping the L bomb in front of the lunch crowd. I could take it. I’d said one girl might be worth it.
She was. And then some.
My phone rang again right as my name sang out from the crackly speaker system above our heads.
We both frowned this time, heads turning in sync to the noise.
MADDOX RENNER PLEASE GO TO THE PRINCIPAL’S OFFICE IMMEDIATELY.
Gazes reconnecting, I huffed out a sigh and grasped Riley’s hand. She grinned.
“What did you do?”
I laughed low as I pulled us away from the door and strode through it, loving the feel of her small hand in mine as we paced leisurely down the hall.
Slanting a glance down at her, I answered, “Caused a public scene in the lunch hall.”
Her head dipped back as she giggled, eyes bright and warm. I responded with a grin of my own. There was a weird euphoria about the moment. A sense that this was more right than anything ever had been.
We approached the door to the principal’s office like that. Not one care in the fucking world.
And then life came crashing down on top of us.
Sixteen
Riley
“He’ll be fine,” I said, my voice small and reeking of an uncertainty I failed to disguise.
I had no idea if he would be fine. It was just one of those things that people said to each other when stuff like this happened. I hoped he’d be fine. That was what should have come out of my mouth, or maybe nothing at all. I couldn’t give any reassurances, and we both knew it.
Reno didn’t acknowledge my platitudes. He hadn’t spoken since we’d stepped inside the principal’s office. Funny, floating down the corridor, neither one of us had given any real consideration to the reason for the summons. We’d been so preoccupied with each other, completely lost inside our little bubble of happiness. The one time we’d forgotten that life was a never-ending conveyor belt of crap, doling it out when you least expected it…
“Take a seat, son.”
“What’s going on?”
The bite to Reno's tone was sharp enough to pierce the shield shrouding us only moments earlier. The sympathetic tone and somber expression on Principal Hewman's face took care of any lingering contentment we might have been feeling. Something was wrong.
Principal Hewman’s eyes darted away and back quickly as he clasped his hands together atop his walnut desk. His eyes settled on me. “Miss Mason, could I ask you to step out—”
“No.” Reno’s voice cut across the room, preventing Principal Hewman from finishing his request.
The older man shifted in his seat a little, nodding his acquiescence, before turning to face Reno, his fingers spreading apart.
“It’s your father.”
While Reno looked at Principal Hewman, I looked at Reno. His face didn’t shift, not one shred of emotion appeared, but his fingers clenched around my hand so hard I had to bite my tongue to keep from yelping. He wore it so well—indifference—but he felt everything. I squeezed back, feeling my heart bumping inside my chest. Anxiety coated my lungs as I realized that what hurt Reno would undoubtedly hurt me. But more than that, what hurt Reno, hurt Reno. And I’d do just about anything to prevent that.
“He had a heart attack this afternoon. They couldn’t give me a great deal of information regarding his condition, but he was taken to Claremont General. Your brother is listed as his emergency contact. They haven’t been able to re
ach him yet.”
Reno’s face blurred as my eyes misted. I could make out the tight set of his jaw, the tendons straining in his neck and the way his shoulders bunched as if he’d just had the world dropped on top of him. But he still didn’t speak. I wasn’t positive he could.
“Reno?” I murmured, my voice thin.
His head swerved toward me slightly, but he didn’t face me. His eyes remained fixed to the shelving units behind Principal Hewman’s desk.
“He’s in the best hands, son.” He hesitated, looking between Reno and me. “I don’t know if you’d like to go there now or if you’d rather stay in classes for the remainder of the day...?”
When he didn’t move or respond, I squeezed his hand. “Ren?”
“Maddox?” Reno’s head jerked to Principal Hewman. “Did you want to go to the hospital?”
Reno just stared for a long moment, then cleared his throat, the noise gruff, rusty. “Yeah.”
“Can I...” I began, and Reno finally looked down to me. The sight almost broke my heart. His big, brown eyes were glassy, wet and dazed, like he didn’t know what had hit him. I turned into him, thrusting my face into his side and gripping his body tight with my arms.
“Yes, of course, Riley,” Principal Hewman said. “If you two head out now, I’ll keep trying Owen.”
So, here we were in the surgery waiting room. Sitting on too-hard plastic seats, under too-harsh fluorescent lights, with way too much time and space to imagine all the worst-case scenarios. Anyone who knew the Renners knew their story. Brett loved Maddox and Owen like they were his own. I would never have suspected otherwise if Liss hadn’t told me the story. It was like one of those heart-warming articles you read in the news, acts of unconditional love and selflessness. It was amazing how Brett stepped up and I knew how much both boys appreciated it. But I also knew that Brett told anyone who commented that it wasn’t a decision he’d had to make. The day they’d entered his life, they’d become his family and you took care of family.
Reno was tough. I’d spent years convinced he was impenetrable. But if Brett didn’t come through the heart attack, it would destroy him. Chewing on my lip, I let my eyes stray to him. He alternated between pacing the narrow space to sitting on the edge of a chair, leg bouncing impatiently, eyes flickering over every surface and back again. Sliding my lids closed, I breathed in and tipped my head back.
I know I probably don’t deserve your time, and I know I shouldn’t bother you for favors when you’re probably busy answering prayers from all the people who did put in the legwork, but it’s important, so I’m asking you, anyway... please get Mr. Renner through this. Please. They love each other, and they need each other. So yeah... please. Amen.
“I gotta try O again.”
He said it without looking at me. I nodded. He didn’t see.
“Hey, do you want to stay?” I asked, jumping up to intercept him. “You stay, I’ll try Owen.”
He halted but said nothing, his eyes hovering somewhere over my shoulder. Then he offered a curt nod and sat back down. Leg bouncing, fingers tapping. My chest ached and my heart pinched. He thought caring made him weak. He didn’t want me to see him like that. He didn’t know it made me love him even more. I’d tell him when we got through this.
“Can I get you anything? Soda? Coffee? Anything to eat? You didn’t eat at lunch.”
His gaze swung to and then straight past me without stopping. “No. Thanks.”
I sighed, gazing at him a while longer. The way his muscles tensed across the shoulders and his jaw quirked, I could tell he knew I was watching him and that it made him uncomfortable, so I turned and left.
“Where are you, Owen?” I muttered as his voicemail answered yet again.
Shutting the screen off, I pocketed my phone, my eyes drifting up at the blaring sound of a nearing siren. I’d walked around the parking lot a little to get a better signal and must have wandered to the ER entrance. Shivering in my light sweater, I wrapped my arms around myself. It was mid-January, too cold for just a sweater, but I hadn’t bothered to grab my jacket on the way out of school.
My eyes surveyed the now inky sky. It had been hours and nothing. I didn’t know if that was a good sign or a bad one. I didn’t know what they were doing, or how long it should take. Rubbing my hands up and down over the thin cotton covering my biceps, I turned back to the automatic doors. The noise from the approaching ambulance suddenly became deafening, and I paused, turning as it screeched into view and stopped in a bay beside me.
As soon as the wheels stopped spinning, there was a flurry of activity. Paramedics jumped out of the vehicle, the rear doors swung open and a gurney appeared, shadowed by another EMT holding what looked like a clear bag. I couldn’t really see the person on it. Bloody gauze covered their chest and an oxygen mask obscured most of their face. I followed behind unthinking, my feet propelling me forward. A man in scrubs, stethoscope hanging around his neck, met them just inside the door. The EMT began reeling off information in response to his questions.
“Twenty-year-old male. Multiple stab wounds to the abdomen, neck and chest.”
My brows drew down as they continued detailing the extent of the injuries using terms I barely understood. I heard them mention internal bleeding and shuddered. It was so formal, so routine. Clipped and efficient. God, this was their job. They fought to save lives—fixed stab wounds, treated heart attack patients—every day. They stared death in the eye. Sometimes they fought it off, sometimes not.
I needed them to win today.
“Name?”
“Owen Renner, he...”
My head filled with white noise, their voices distorting as dread gripped every inch of my body. A loud pounding suddenly throbbed against the confines of my skull. The gurney whizzed through the doors away from me. The gurney carrying Owen. Reno’s brother, Owen! Jolting back to reality, I raced to catch up, my chest heaving and my stomach bottoming out.
Owen Renner. No. It couldn’t.
I almost slammed into the paramedic, unable to stop my forward momentum. My hands braced against the bed and I watched as a head drooped lifelessly to the side. The mask slipped. A face came into view.
“Hey, miss—”
Whatever they were saying, I couldn’t hear it.
Owen.
My heart pitched into my throat, choking me. “Oh my God, Owen!” I gasped, practically falling onto the moving bed. “Owen! Oh my God, oh my God.”
“Miss.” Hands gripped my arms, and I fought against them, protesting this reality.
“No! He’s... oh my God, he’s my... I don’t... Owen!” I could taste saltiness on my tongue. My face felt wet and my eyes burned, unfocused, as my gaze spun around helplessly.
“Miss, are you family?”
“I... no, I’m... he’s. Oh, my god!”
A sob tore through me when Owen’s body jerked violently. An urgent voice rang out over my head. Someone firmly maneuvered me aside.
“We’re losing him!”
Arms eased me away from the scene until the gurney quickly disappeared through another set of doors. I stared blankly as they swayed closed, coming together briefly before swinging open again. They swished back and forth several times, before coming to a complete stop. Commotion and noise surrounded me, but it couldn’t compete with the chaos inside my head. I felt disconnected, like I could hear everything through a thick wall of glass, muffled. The same thoughts raced through my head, over and over, shifting and changing. Whichever way I formed them, the truth remained unchanged.
Owen was here. With stab wounds. Someone had stabbed Owen. Multiple times.
And they were losing him.
My eyes shot wide, eventually coming to rest on the concerned face of a man who looked to be mid-twenties hovering over me. “Do you know him, Miss?”
“I, we... we live in the same trailer park,” I mumbled, barely finding my voice as I glanced away. Sucking in a breath, I looked up again and said, “But I’m his brother’s girlfriend
. And they brought his dad in today with a heart attack.” My voice broke, rivers of water cascading down my face. “His brother is here. Waiting to see if their dad will make it.”
There was a quick flicker of surprise on his face, but not to the extent that he couldn’t believe what I’d told him. He was one of the EMTs who’d brought Owen in, his uniform still marked with smears of blood. He’d seen it all. He knew how cruel life could be.
My breath caught in my throat, and I held his solemn gaze through a thick veil of tears. My voice came out a whisper, small and childlike.
“Is he going to die?”
Seventeen
Riley
I moved on autopilot as I made my way back to Reno, simultaneously reluctant and desperate to get to him. I wanted to comfort him. I wanted to support him and show him I loved him, but I came bearing news I wouldn’t want to bestow on my worst enemy. Gasping on a cry, I raised the back of my hand to my open mouth, silently heaving.
I couldn’t do this. I couldn’t tell him his brother was here fighting for his life along with his dad. How could I tell him that? My knees buckled as I sank to the floor, my back sliding down the surface of the wall behind me. Burying my face in my hands, I sucked in a steadying breath and clenched my fingers into fists. After a few minutes spent fighting to pull myself together, I dragged myself to my feet and walked toward the doors leading into the waiting room where Reno would be. Sitting or pacing, all alone.
Except, when I got there, he wasn’t alone. He was sitting, head hung low between his thighs and both hands gripping the hair at the nape of his neck. A doctor crouched in front of him, his large dark-skinned hand resting on Reno’s bent knee. They both looked up when I pushed through the doors.
Untouchable: (Unstoppable - Book 1) (The Unstoppable Series) Page 8
