I roll my eyes and pull him along, loving how selfless and caring he is. Slade certainly isn’t the guy I thought he was on day one. “You’re not waiting out here,” I tell him. “This doesn’t affect you but I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
“Are you sure?”
I nod as I look back at him. “Always.”
We make our way into Blake’s hospital room and his eyes instantly narrow at mine. “Where the hell have you been?” Blake demands. “I’ve been messaging you all day. Do you have any idea how blubbery Shay has been? She won’t stop fussing.”
“Yeah,” I grumble, walking right up to the side of his bed and giving him a tight hug. “I know, I’ve just had to deal with it for three weeks. It’s your time bitch.”
“You’re a cow.”
“You’re a turd.”
“Alright, both of you idiots stop,” Shay says, standing. “I’ll have you both know that I’m an absolute treat to have looking after you. You’re both lucky that you got stuck with me as a nurse and don’t you forget it.”
My eyes slice to Blake’s. “She has a point.”
“I know,” he groans, teasing her with his reluctance.
I laugh and check over his leg. “How are you feeling today? What did the doctor say?”
He shakes his head, looking down at his hands. “It hurts like a motherfucker and the doctor is a moron. He doesn’t think I’ll be able to play but I’ll fucking show him. I’m still playing in the NBA.”
“Bro,” Slade says with a cringe. “Don’t fucking push it or the only play you’ll be making in the NBA is the fucking joke during half-time.”
Blake’s glare shoots up to Slade. “Who invited you?”
“Just saying what you’re too fucking stubborn to admit. If anybody can come back from this, it’s you, but it ain’t ever going to happen if you plan on fucking around and being stupid. You’re going to screw up your chances before they even come.”
I meet Slade’s eye. He’s right, I know it, Shay knows it, and despite the scowl on Blake’s face, he knows it too. He’s just too fucking hurt to admit it right now.
Trying to ease the tension in the room, Shay drops back into her chair with a heavy sigh, glancing at me. “Where have you been all day? I was expecting you to be here first thing this morning.”
“I, uhh…shit,” I sigh, dropping down into the chair beside Slade. His hand finds my thigh and I focus on Blake and Shay. “You guys aren’t going to like this but there’s something I need to tell you.”
Blake’s eyes instantly harden as Shay’s brows furrow, trying to mentally prepare herself because usually when there’s something I have to tell her, it’s not good.
“Spit it out,” Blake says.
I scrunch my face with a cringe, contemplating just how bad this could go, but one thing for sure is the longer I wait, the harder it’s going to get. “I sort of spent the day at Castle Rock Maximum Security Penitentiary for Men.”
Blake’s mouth drops, knowing exactly what that means while Shay’s face twists into confusion though Blake is quick to clear it up as he glares at Slade. “You took her to see Anton Fucking Mathers?” he demands, clearly pissed off.
“Wait…what? No,” Shay says, shaking her head as she looks at me in horror. “Please tell me he’s wrong? You didn’t go and see that man.”
I nod. “I did.”
“Skylah,” she gasps. “How could you do that? Do you have absolutely no regard for your own sanity?”
“It’s because I do that I had to go. I had to see this through.”
“What good could seeing him have possibly done?” she questions.
“It means that I finally got the chance to put that fucker in his place and let him know exactly what I think of him and I got answers.”
Blake grunts. “Answers? What the fuck do you mean? What answers?”
“Answers to why.”
“Why?” he repeats, confused. “Why he did it?”
I nod as I watch Shay sit up a little taller, wanting the answers just as much as I did. “Did…did he tell you?”
“Yeah,” I tell her. “But you’re not going to like the answer.”
“Just tell us,” Blake demands.
I look up at Slade and as he squeezes my thigh, I find the strength to keep going. “Mom and dad still had three weeks left to pay their debt and Anton had no intention of paying them a visit until their time was up…”
“What changed?” Slade murmurs beside me.
“Maria Valentine did.”
Blake pushes himself up into a sitting position, cringing at the pain. “What are you talking about?”
I meet his eyes across the room and regret that I have to blow his mind like this. “We were the targets, Blake. You and I. We weren’t sold to the highest bidder, we were requested. Maria Valentine was the one who made that request to Anton. She told him that she wanted us and he came and got us, deciding to cut mom and dad’s timeline short in the process.”