“How could you?” Riley was screaming from the door. I looked at her. Her face was flushed from anger. “My brother is half-dead in there, and you’re making out with Zara in the parking lot?”
“We were doing a lot more than making out, darling.” Zara was smirking at her. I looked between them and was revolted by a thoroughly used Zara and distraught Riley.
“Well, you’re free to have sex with him. I never loved him anyway.” Riley threw her words like knives.
“Riley, baby, it’s not what it looks like.”
“She has sex hair and her lipstick is smeared everywhere. What kind of idiot do you take me for?”
“Let’s leave this little infant alone, darling.” Zara put a hand on my arm.
“Is that what you want? You want me to leave you here with your brother?”
Riley nodded even though I could see that she was crying.
I considered my options. When I’d gotten rid of Zara the first time, it obviously hadn’t stuck. Riley was freaked out enough tonight without me trying to convince her that Zara had slept with someone else. I needed to wait for her to cool down.
“Okay.”
With just one word from me, Riley went back into the hospital. I knew that I’d broken her heart. Maybe she’d broken mine. My chest felt like there was a black, gaping hole in it.
“Now that you’re done with that little side bitch, we can get down to business.” Zara’s hand tightened on my arm.
“Fuck off, Zara.”
She gasped. “How rude!”
“Zara, you know that there’s nothing between us. You just took advantage of an opportunity to undermine Riley’s self-esteem. Go home. You smell like sex.”
Zara stomped off. She was already a non-entity as I thought about how to make everything up to Riley.
Paul’s Motorcycle
Desmond
ONE WEEK LATER
I was sitting in my car. The billing department of the hospital had called me to let me know that Paul had been discharged just now. I was covering his bill, which was really the least that I could do.
I’d gotten my hands on Paul’s mangled motorcycle and had it fixed up. I paid through the nose for a rush job so that it’d be ready when he got out of the hospital. I was sitting in my car across the street from their apartment building. I knew how much it meant to him, since Paul had gotten it from his dad when he turned 15 and a half and gotten his learner’s permit for his motorcycle. It was one of the things that they hadn’t yet sold off to cover their parents’ debts.
I watched as a taxi came up to their door. Riley paid the driver. Paul was on crutches and Riley helped him get on his feet, in just the right direction to see my present.
The guys at the garage had put a huge red bow on it. I’d attached a note saying one word: sorry. Paul went over to it and looked at my note. He tore my note off of the handlebar and let the paper drift down into the grass.
Apology not accepted.
Riley was saying something to him as she gestured towards the door. I watched as Paul made slow progress towards the front door.
I guessed that my peace offering wasn’t good enough for fucking his sister while he hovered between life and death.
Riley was looking at the motorcycle. I
knew that she knew that I’d done it. She knelt to pick up the note. She wiped her eyes, like she was crying. I knew that I’d left things a mess after Zara lied to Riley. But Riley had ended it, and I had to respect her decision, for at least a little while.
She went inside and I knew that I had to get out of there before some nosy neighbor called the cops on me. I started my car, the engine coming to life as I pulled out and drove home.
When I got in the door, I swallowed hard. I could smell Riley everywhere in here, which was probably in my head. She’d only been here once. We’d had a single night together. But I couldn’t get her out of my head.