“Yes, I would appreciate it if you calmed down.” That was my dad.
“I’ve never acted like this because I’ve never cared about someone like I do Piper!” Ollie’s voice roared over my father’s and Christian’s. There was a pause, but then Ollie started up again. “You and your wife are standing out here, for what reason? Because you can’t hide your disappointment that your son has an addiction? Piper is back there alone while you two do what? Sit out here and argue about whose fault it is that he’s in the hospital and that Piper is somehow involved in all of this? Of course she’s involved!”
“Calm down.”
I wanted to peek my head around the corner and see what was unfolding, but I didn’t want my cover blown, so I stayed tucked away, pressing my hands to the wall behind me.
“No! I will not calm down.” There was a pause. “You two don’t even know your own daughter! She cares about people so deeply that she’d do anything to help them. She has been fighting for Jason from day one, and it’s because you backed out. If she didn’t fight for him, who would?”
My heart squeezed. Ollie. I could hear the protection in his voice.
“I agree with him.” My brows dipped at Hayley’s voice. “I know all about loving someone with an addiction. And the second you stop loving the person they used to be, they’re gone forever. Piper has been fighting for the old Jason, her brother, the one before drugs took over. Don’t fault her for trying to help him, for holding out hope. Because that’s when resentment comes through, and I can tell you right now, speaking from experience, once that happens, you won’t just lose Jason, you’ll lose her, too.”
“Yes.” Ollie again. “Thank you! That’s what I’m saying. For fuck’s sake, go comfort your daughter. She just found her older brother lying in his own vomit! And if you knew her at all, you’d know that she is hurting.”
Tears brimmed my eyes as I listened to Ollie reprimand my parents. In any other situation, having your boyfriend yell at your parents was less than ideal, but in my situation, it was as if he was confessing his love for me. Ollie was fighting for me, and there was something about that that had a tear falling down my cheek.
“Where are you going?” My mother’s voice wasn’t laced with anger. There was something else in her tone that I didn’t recognize.
Ollie’s voice was closer now. “I’m going to comfort my girlfriend because I fucking love her and know when she is hurting.”
Another tear slid down my cheek as I turned the corner and ran straight into his hard chest.
“Umph.” His strong hands were on my upper arms, his brows folding until he realized it was me. The deepened lines on his forehead disappeared as he wrapped his arms around me and pushed me back into the hallway. My back was resting along the wall as he took his finger and tipped my chin back. “Are you okay?”
I gulped. “No. But I’m a little bit better now.”
His eyes searched my face frantically as his other hand wrapped around my waist. “How is he?”
I sighed. “He’ll be okay, for now. But Ollie?”
“Yeah?”
“I love you.”
Time froze. We were stuck in a busy hospital with all sorts of sounds coming from various rooms, nurses shuffling back and forth with their carts of supplies, but I was lost in this moment with him.
“I heard what you said. All of it.”
Ollie’s head dipped just slightly. His blue eyes almost appeared shy.
“And I just want you to know that I love you. I have no clue what the future holds. I know nothing. But I do know that I love you, okay?” I licked my dry lips. “I just need you to know that.”
Ollie didn’t need to say it back, because I already knew what he was feeling. Our eyes connected, and I felt it in my soul. I felt it last year, and I’d felt it every single day since then. Ollie and I were one.
His lips hovered over mine for a brief moment before his hands wrapped around my face and his mouth was on mine. The kiss was soft but deep. From the outside, it may have looked harmless and innocent, but we both knew it wasn’t.
Our kisses were full of hidden words and secrets that only we shared.
And I hoped it would stay like that. Always.
Epilogue
Ollie
My finger trailed the inside of Piper’s arm as she leaned back onto my chest with her legs propped out onto the coffee table. People were starting to show up at Eric’s cabin for the party, but part of me wanted to go back to my house so I could have Piper all to myself.
We weren’t getting as much alone time as before because her parents were taking the time to make it home more often than not. It seemed my talk (read as: yelling match) got to them. Plus, they were still dealing with Jason’s shit.