by Shayna B
I sat back in my seat and shrugged. “I don’t know. I’m stubborn, so that probably has something to do with it.” I hesitated for a moment before continuing. “Honestly, I think it helps that I didn’t know him before he lost his sight. We don’t talk about it much, but I get the feeling that Blake resented that everyone wanted him to be the same person that he was before. When something that drastic happens to someone, it changes them in ways that other people will never understand.” I gave her a rueful smile. “Did any of that make sense?”
She nodded thoughtfully. “It actually did. I never really thought about it in that way. I admit that when he moved in with us, I tried to get him to do the things he liked to do in the past, but he had no interest in doing anything I suggested. He used to love going out all the time and hanging out with friends, but now he’s pretty much a recluse. When you said he was at your place for dinner the other night, I was shocked. That’s the first time he’s gone out anywhere aside from the park and school.”
“How long has he lived with you and your mom?”
“Since about two months after he went blind. Blake refused to keep traveling with his parents while his dad was campaigning, so they left him with us.” She was quiet for a moment before she continued. “Blake and his dad never really got along all that well and it got a lot worse after the accident. His mom decided it would be easier for Blake to not have to try and deal with his dad while he was adjusting to losing his sight. I think she was right.”
“How often do they visit him?”
“Aunt Susan tries to make it here at least once every other month, but Uncle Robert has only been back three times since Blake started living with us.”
I stared at her. “Seriously?”
“Yeah, and none of those visits went very well. Blake does okay when it’s just his mom visiting but he tends to lose it whenever he has contact with his dad.”
“What do you mean by ‘lose it’?”
Sophie grimaced. “You may have noticed that Blake has a bit of a temper sometimes. His dad brings out the worst in him and the last time he was here, Blake put his fist through his bedroom door. I don’t know what happened to cause it, but Blake was even surlier than usual for weeks afterwards.”
“He put his fist through a door?” I asked incredulously.
“Yeah. My mom was pissed because Blake has a punching bag in his gym that he’s supposed to use when he needs to let off some steam. But Blake was just so angry that he didn’t make it that far.” She smiled wryly. “When it comes to his dad, Blake doesn’t always think clearly.”
“Apparently,” I muttered before glancing at my watch. “Well, should we continue shopping? I want to go to the bookstore still.”
We shopped for another hour and then I drove her back home. I had picked something up for Blake, so I went inside with her and walked to his room. I knocked on the door and when he opened it, I was struck speechless for a moment. He was shirtless, wearing only a pair of black athletic shorts. I stared at his well- defined chest and abs for a moment, idly wondering if I was drooling. Nothing I had seen from him in the past had really hinted that he looked like this under his shirt and I had this strange urge to run my hands over him to see if his chest felt as perfect as it looked.
I blinked a few times and tore my gaze away from his body to look at his face. He had an eyebrow raised and a small smirk on his face. “Done checking me out yet?”
“What makes you think I was checking you out?”
“You stopped breathing for a moment and then you didn’t say anything. Call it a hunch,” he said dryly.
I shook my head to clear the dirty thoughts out of my mind. “You caught me off guard, that’s all.” I shoved the bag I was holding at him. “Here, I bought you something.”
He took the bag from me and reached into it. He pulled the CD out and frowned. “What is it?”
“It’s an audiobook of comebacks for dummies.” I grinned. “Told you I was going to get one for you.”
He shook his head and chuckled. “I can’t believe you were able to find this.”
I shrugged. “It’s amazing what you can buy these days,” I told him.
“Do you want to come in and listen to some music?” he asked.
“Sure, I can stay for a bit.”
We hung out for almost two hours, listening to music and talking a little. Sophie joined us for a bit and I could tell she was happy to be having fun with us.
When I left later that night, I was happy with how things were going with Blake. I was a little unsure what to make of my sudden attraction to him, but I decided not to worry about that for now. I was content with my life and I didn’t want to change that.
But sometimes fate has a way of messing with your plans; because everything changed the next weekend.
Chapter eleven
My phone rang the next Saturday morning, rousing me from a deep sleep. I grumbled and felt around on my bedside table for it. I finally located it and answered it. “Hello?” I said in a sleepy voice.
“Hey Hailey, I’m sorry to wake you up so early,” Sophie said.
I glance at the clock and saw that it was barely seven in the morning. “It is Saturday, right?” I asked.
“Yeah, I’m really sorry. But I think Blake might need you right now.”
All sleepiness vanished. “What do you mean?”
She hesitated. “He just got off the phone with his parents, and I don’t think it went too well. He’s in his room and I can hear him throwing things around.”
I swung my legs over the side of my bed. “I’ll be there in fifteen minutes,” I said before hanging up. I got dressed quickly and then headed to the guest house to let Jared know what was going on, since my uncle had gone to another conference for the weekend. I knocked on the door and then opened it, poking my head in. “Jared, you awake?”
A minute later he appeared in the doorway of his bedroom, rubbing his eyes and yawning. “What’s wrong?”
“Sophie just called. Something is going on with Blake so I’m heading over there. Can you look after Tonto for the day?”
A feminine voice came from behind him and he glanced over his shoulder briefly before looking back at me. “Sure, I just need to run Laurel home later. But I can look after him aside from that.”
I raised a brow and smirked a little. “You actually know this one’s name?” I teased him quietly so she wouldn’t hear.
He blushed a little. “Shut up Hales.”
I laughed and made a mental note to make fun of him about this later. “I’ll see you this afternoon or evening.” I closed the door again and hurried out to the garage. I hopped in the car and made the drive to Blake’s quickly. When I got there, Sophie was waiting for me at the front door. I parked the car and went up to her. “He still throwing things?”
“Yeah,” she said as she led me inside. “He doesn’t want me to come in there. He sent Abby out, but that’s the only time he’s opened the door.”
I could hear a muffled thud come from behind his closed door. “He’s not going to want me in there either, but I won’t let him stop me.”
Sophie smiled hopefully. “That’s why I called you. You’re the only one who might be able to get him out of this mood.”
“I’ll try,” I replied as I put my hand on the doorknob. “You might want to go somewhere soundproof. I have a feeling that there will be some yelling.”
She nodded. “I’m going to go out for some coffee. My mom isn’t home, so don’t worry about waking her up.”
I nodded once and then opened the door. It was dark, so I flicked on the light and my eyes widened at the sight in front of me. Objects were scattered over the floor, some broken and some at drunken angles. Blake was standing in the middle of the mess, wearing only a pair of pajama pants and his head whipped in my direction when he heard the door open. “Sophie, I told you not to come in here,” he snarled.
I shut the door behind me. “It’s not Sophie,” I replied calmly.
<
br /> He froze in the middle of throwing what looked like a clock radio. “Hailey? What the hell are you doing here?”
“Sophie called me, said you were having some sort of temper tantrum. Since I like her, I told her I’d risk my life by talking to you, rather than having her do it.”
He scowled. “I don’t want you here,” he snapped.
“Oh, ouch. That hurts me so deeply. Get your head out of your butt and calm down for a minute. Your room looks like a war zone.”
He inhaled deeply. “Hailey, just get the hell out of here. I’m not in the mood to deal with you right now.” He started prowling around his room, somehow managing to not trip over everything.
“Too damn bad. I’m your friend, and obviously something has upset you. Being the amazing friend I am, I decided to come and try to make you feel better.”
“You can’t make me feel better. You have no idea what the hell I’m dealing with.”
“Are we going to go through this again, Blake?” I asked in an icy tone. “Did we not establish weeks ago that you aren’t the only one with problems?”
“You think your problems are so much worse than mine? Is your dad an asshole who thinks that you should be willing to do whatever he says even though you want nothing to do with him?”
“No,” I replied in a deadly calm voice.
He snorted. “Let me guess, your parents think you’re the best thing that ever happened to them,” he said sarcastically.
“My parents are dead, you inconsiderate jackass!” I snapped.
His pacing stopped and he turned towards me again. “What?”
“I said they’re dead. They died in a car accident just over eight months ago. And my brother has been in a coma since then. So don’t you dare try and judge me,” I snarled.
He blew out a long breath. “Hales, I’m sorry,” he said in a calmer voice.
It was my turn to snort. “Why? Because I lost my entire family? You think I want your sympathy?”
“No, I’m sorry for being such an ass,” he replied. He made his way to his bed and sat on the edge. He patted the spot beside him. “Come sit beside me.”
I grumbled a bit, but picked my way through the objects scattered on the ground and sat next to him. “You going to explain why you’re in such a foul mood?”
He sighed. “If I tell you, will you tell me what happened to you?”
I was silent for a moment as I thought about it. “Yeah, I can do that.”
“My dad called me this morning. I know Sophie told you about my relationship with him, so you can already guess that the conversation wasn’t very pleasant. He told me his new campaign manager thinks it would be a good idea for me to travel with him and my mom now. Something about getting the sympathy vote because he has a blind son.” He let out a humourless laugh. “Apparently my disability is now beneficial to him, rather than an embarrassment.
I hesitated for a minute before reaching out and placing my hand on top of his. “Your dad is an ass,” I stated.
He surprised me by turning his hand over and lacing his fingers with mine. “Yeah, he is. When I first went blind, all I wanted was for him to accept me for who I was, but he couldn’t do that. Now he expects me to be grateful that he wants to spend time with me.” He made a scoffing noise. “As if I’d want anything to do with him after how he’s treated me for the past two years.”
I squeezed his hand gently. “It’s his loss, you know. He’s missing out on knowing the person you’ve become.”
“Yeah, because he’d really want to know me now that I’m a sarcastic, cranky asshole who takes his problems out on everyone else.”
I chuckled. “Well, you are all those things, but you’re also strong and kind when you want to be. And you’re smart, although I’m still smarter.”
His lips lifted into a small smile. “Yeah you wish.” He sobered again. “Are you going to tell me your story now?”
I took a deep breath. “Yeah. I’ve never told anyone this before though, so it might take a while.”
He frowned. “What do you mean? You’ve never told anyone about what happened?”
“No. I’ll explain it all, so just be patient.” I closed my eyes before beginning. “My brother Jake came home for the weekend. He was in school to become a doctor, so we didn’t get to see him that often. We decided to go out to dinner as a family, since we hadn’t done that in a long time. We went out to our favourite restaurant and had a lot of fun.” I smiled a little at the memory, but didn’t open my eyes.
“It was the middle of winter, but the roads weren’t that bad. We were driving home, my parents in the front and Jake and I in the back.” I could picture it all vividly in my mind as I spoke. “There was a party that night at one of my friends places. I’d been invited to it, but I declined because I had the family dinner to go to. I wanted to spend time with my brother since I didn’t get to see him very often.
“Everything happened so fast, and yet it was so clear. A car swerved into our lane and my dad tried to avoid it. Unfortunately, that caused us to hit a patch of black ice and our car flew off the road and into a tree. I could hear the glass from the back windshield shattering, but I didn’t feel anything at the time. I was the only one still conscious and I started calling out to my parents and Jake, but no one answered.
“I don’t know how long it was until the emergency crews got there. When they arrived, I realized there was something wrong with me. I couldn’t move my legs and one of the EMT’s nearly puked when he got to us. I blacked out at that point and woke up in the hospital two days later.
“My Uncle Liam and my brother’s best friend Jared were sitting beside my bed when I regained consciousness. I was in a lot of pain, but the first thing I asked was where my parents and Jake were. My uncle broke down and Jared explained that my parents had died and that Jake was in a coma. When I tried to move, I found that I was barely able to make my toes twitch.
“I started to panic and they had to sedate me. When I came back around the next time, I asked Jared what was wrong with me. He told me that when the back windshield had shattered, a bunch of pieces of glass had lodged themselves into my back and done a lot of damage. The doctors told me that I’d probably never walk again.
“I went into a state of depression for almost two months after the accident. I refused to talk to anyone from my school. I didn’t want anyone seeing me like that. If it weren’t for Jared and Liam, I probably would have stayed in that depressed state. But Jared came to my room one day and told me to stop feeling sorry for myself. That I was still alive and I should be thankful for that. I argued with him for nearly an hour, but eventually I calmed down and listened to him.
“Jared had been my brother’s best friend for as long as I could remember, and he’s like a second brother to me. He had graduated from school as a physical therapist, and together we started on the journey for me to walk again. He moved in with me and my uncle, and he’s been there ever since.” I paused for a minute and opened my eyes. I saw that Blake was facing me, concern clear on his face. I took the hand I was still holding and unlaced my fingers from his. I then placed it on my back, under my shirt. “Here, feel that,” I said.
His fingers trailed over my back and when he reached the first scar, he stopped. “What is that?”
“It’s one of my scars. I have ten of them across my back, from the glass and from the surgeries that I had to go through.”
He ran his hand over the rest of my back, making me shiver a little. When he’d explored my whole back, he removed his hand and found mine again. “How did you start walking again?” he asked.
“It took four long months. Jared refused to let up on me the whole time. I hated him at times, but it was worth it in the end. During that time, Tonto also went to Aberfoyle Kennels to get some training as a service dog. It’s not what they normally do, but my uncle has a lot of money and he made a large donation. Liam and Jared both knew that I’d need Tonto during the whole ordeal, and I still need his he
lp on bad days.”
Blake frowned. “What do you mean?”
“I have good days and bad days. On really bad days, I’m confined to a wheelchair still.”
“Jesus,” he said. “I never would have guessed that. I mean, I knew something was wrong with your back, but I never would have thought it was so severe.”
“Good; I don’t want anyone to know about it. I’ve worked really hard to make it unnoticeable. I’m sure you understand me when I say that I don’t want to be treated differently.”
“Well, you screwed that up by becoming friends with me,” he said dryly.
I chuckled. “Yeah well, at least I’m only considered different because I can put up with your attitude.”
“Everything makes a bit more sense to me now. I used to think you only wanted to be friends with me because you felt sorry for me, but now I realize that it’s because you actually understand me a little. You’ve been through hell and yet you survived and are still optimistic about life.”
“I still have days when I curse everything and everyone around me. Those days are usually when I’m confined to my wheelchair. But I’ve found things that help me get through those times.”
“Like what?”
“Music. I play the piano and it helps me get through the tough times. I almost always play after I see my brother in the hospital. Those visits are hard on me, because I never know if I’m doing the right thing by keeping him alive.”
Blake was silent for a moment. “I play the guitar,” he said quietly.
My head snapped up. “Really?”
“Yeah. I find it helps me when I get really frustrated as well. It’s a good release.”
“It really is,” I replied.
We sat there in silence for a little while. But then he asked the question that I’d been dreading. “What happened to the driver of the other car?”
My whole body went rigid. I pulled my hand away from him and stood up, walking a few steps away. “The driver walked away with barely a scratch,” I said acidly.
