“I love you so much, Leah.”
“I love you too. More than words can say.”
We lay together for a long time, so long that we both fell asleep again for a while. We were woken by a nurse who needed to check on Radleigh’s wound, and he told me to go home and get some rest. I would have argued, but since I was still wearing my hen party outfit and was covered in dirt, I really couldn’t. I kissed him before reluctantly leaving him behind, and as I closed the door to his room, I sighed. It was eleven-fifteen and I’d barely slept, and hadn’t eaten a thing in sixteen hours. I felt disgusting, and probably looked even worse.
As I walked back into the waiting room, I saw Bryce sitting in one of the chairs, his head down and his eyes barely open.
“Hey,” I said, softly. “What are you still doing here?”
Blinking, he looked up at me. “Hey. I was waiting for my turn to see Radleigh.”
Knowing what he did to save Radleigh, and that he’d been there all night with probably even less sleep than me, I walked over to him, knelt in front of him, and wrapped my arms around him.
“Bryce… what the hell would we do without you? Thank you. Thank you for everything.”
Hugging me back, he said, “I didn’t do anything.”
“When you see him, he’ll tell you what he told me. You saved his life.”
“I-”
Pulling back from him, I placed my hands on his face to make him look at me. His eyes met mine and I smiled. “Bryce. You saved his life.”
I kissed him on the cheek, and as I pulled away, Bryce said, “I love you both, Leah. And you deserve to be happy. The only thing I did was keep talking to him.”
“And that, right there, is why you’re so bloody amazing.” I took his hand in mine. “You’ve been with us through everything. Anyone else would have picked a side when Radleigh and I fell out, and since you’re his friend, I’d have expected you to choose him. But you didn’t. You never have. The only thing you’ve ever done is help us to smooth things over. Even now, when you’re exhausted and everyone else has gone, you’re still here. I just want you to know, in case we don’t say it enough…we love you too.”
Bryce squeezed my hands then brought them up to place a kiss on my knuckles. “I know.”
Chapter Ten – One More Hurdle
In a sleep-deprived zombie-like state, I arrived home to find Cody had already gone. He left me a note on the table by the door, thanking me for letting him stay, and telling me he’d call later to find out how Radleigh was.
I was alone again.
I turned on my mobile for the first time since last night, and a barrage of bleeps to tell me I had texts and voicemails hit me like a hammer to the skull – which, incidentally, was still killing me. Before I tackled any of the messages, there were three things I had to do. Call Deanna to check on Jessica, eat something so I could take some painkillers, and get my ass in the shower to clean off more than twelve hours of crap. I couldn’t wait to throw on some clean clothes.
I called Deanna on the way to the kitchen and put her on speakerphone while I made myself a sandwich. I’d eat properly once I’d showered, I just needed something to fill the gaping hole in my stomach. Since I hadn’t checked my messages properly yet, Deanna informed me I had had a call from the police. Jen had been picked up and was being questioned. Knowing she was no longer roaming the streets was a weight off my mind, and I hoped the psychotic bitch got locked up for a long time.
After a long soak in the shower, taking my time to wash all of the stress of the night before off me, I threw on some jeans and an unusually plain white t-shirt and headed back downstairs to make a bucket of coffee and something more substantial to eat before picking up Jessica and taking her to see Radleigh.
While waiting for the coffee to brew, I grabbed my phone to start answering some of the messages I’d received, but as soon as I had it in my hands, the home phone started to ring. I rolled my eyes and tapped out a text to Stacey as I walked down the hallway to the phone, and sent it off quickly before picking up the receiver.
“Hello?”
“Hello. Is this Leah?”
The male voice sounded nervous, and it wasn’t a voice I recognised. I hadn’t seen the newspapers yet, but it was probably safe to assume Radleigh being stabbed had made headlines. I was suspicious of who the caller might be, but had it been a journalist, they would have been barking questions at me already.
“Yes,” I answered cautiously. “Who is this?”
“I… It’s James Winters. I hope you don’t mind me calling you, but I spoke to Radleigh’s parents and they told me it was best to talk to you. There are some things I need to organise, and Deanna said you would be able to help.”
So this was James. The James Jen had married. The one she’d cheated on and was maybe thinking of going back to before she’d knifed Radleigh.
But none of that was his fault.
“Okay,” I said slowly. “How can I help?”