Off Limits (Secrets Kept 1)

“Sounds good.” While I loved doing this and it was important to me, a heavy weight always sat in my gut and my chest. It wasn’t fair. Kids shouldn’t ever have to worry about being sick. They should be healthy and happy at home with their families.

Gabby led me inside. “Hey, everyone. I brought someone to hang out with you all today. I’d like you to meet Mr. Lynwood.”

There was a chorus of hello, and hi, Mr. Lynwood.

“Please, call me Ryder. The whole mister thing makes me feel like my dad,” I said, earning a few chuckles.

“Ryder, do you wanna color with me?” one of the boys asked.

“Or play monster trucks with me?” a little girl added.

They looked varying degrees of sick or tired. One boy was in a wheelchair.

“I can help you with the younger ones,” the oldest boy told me. “They get excited by new faces.” I wasn’t sure if he’d shaved his head or lost his hair. He had dark circles under his eyes. The heaviness inside me intensified. He appeared to be about sixteen.

“Sure, I’d love your help. What’s your name?”

“Luke.”

“Nice to meet you, Luke.” I looked around at the other kids. “And yes to everything, though we’ll have to take turns. I’ve tried to do more than one thing at a time, and I’ve learned I’m not the best multitasker—not with something as serious as coloring or playing monster trucks, at least.”

There were more laughs around the room. Gabby stepped back while Luke and I got busy with the kids. I colored and he played trucks first, and then we swapped. He and I made a good team. We got the group together for activities we could all play next, like Simon Says. I paid attention to what they might need so I knew what kinds of toys or games to donate.

I could tell they were all getting tired, especially Luke, who clearly tried to hide it. He was good with kids, and I couldn’t help wondering if he wanted to work with them or had experience with siblings.

“What if we try and work on one of the puzzles together?” I suggested.

“Only if we can do the New York City one,” Luke replied. “I want to go there one day.”

“We sure can.”

A few of the children had to go spend time with family or for a treatment, so it was just me, Luke, and two others who sat at a rectangular table together, organizing pieces on a large board that could be set aside afterward so we didn’t lose our work.

We were at it for about twenty minutes when I heard the door open and close. I didn’t look up right away, showing Luke a piece he’d been looking for, but then I felt it, the heat of a stare singeing my skin and making my gut tighten.

I looked up, and my gaze snagged on intense chocolate eyes with thick, dark lashes and sooty brows—the right one with a small scar that wasn’t as noticeable now as it had been when he was a kid. He’d been riding his skateboard when it happened. Mads and I had been watching him ride when he’d wrecked, hitting his head on a railing, blood gushing everywhere. She’d freaked out, and I could tell he was in pain, but he’d played it off like it was nothing, tugging his shirt over his head and holding it to the injury. When we’d gotten back to the house, his dad had scolded him about being careful, as if he’d done it on purpose. Those eyes, the same ones that looked at me with trepidation and maybe a little anger right now, had been full of sorrow and remorse that day.

“Hey! Dr. Hutch is here!” Luke cheered. “What’s up, Hutch? Hey, Layla!”

It wasn’t until Luke said the second name that I realized a little girl held his hand—Layla, who had cancer. Layla, who was apparently his buddy.

Because of Mads. Just like I was here because of her too.

Layla had blue eyes, a cap was covering her short hair, and she was wearing a pale-pink dress the same shade as the polo shirt Hutch wore, which stretched across a firm chest and flat abs. I couldn’t help wondering if they’d planned it. I had a feeling they had.

The kids abandoned our puzzle and ran over to him. It was clear he was well known and well liked. I couldn’t make myself move or talk as the two of us stared at each other. We grew up together. We slept in the same room on group family trips, and he’d seen me throw up when I got food poisoning once. When I’d started dating Mads, he told me if I hurt her, he’d kick my ass, but then, when I had, he’d stuck up for me.