Pretty Little Thing (Central Valley U)

“You really did it now.” Emmy brushes her shoulder against mine as she passes me.

“Did what?”

“Told her she was right,” Gabe says, pulling his shirt away from his body in an effort to cool down. “She’s never going to let that go.”

“Hey, guys…” Stella’s voice trembles. “I have like a million missed calls from Samson.”

“Oh, I have three from Sterling,” Emmy says.

“I have two from him—I think we might be in trouble, Sweets.”

Zach rolls his eyes, trying to go for calm, but I can see the worry radiating off of him.

I’m the last one to grab my phone, and when I unlock the screen, there are countless missed calls from Orion. “Oh, God—Maverick!”

I hit redial, but he doesn’t answer.

“Guys, we have to go. I… I don’t know what’s wrong, but I need to get home to Maverick. Now.”

“Gotcha.” Stella nods. “Let’s go.” We all quickly slip on our shoes and jackets, and then race to our cars.

“Let us know what’s going on,” Zach says as we go our separate ways.

“I will.” I climb into the back seat and secure my seat belt. My heart feels like it’s beating ninety-miles-a-minute. I don’t know how I know, but Mav needs me. My son needs me, and I’m not there.

Guilt like never before gnaws at me, eating me up from the inside out as Stella drives us home.

“I didn’t get any texts,” Stella muses, rolling to a stop at a red light. “So, maybe they’re just lonely or something?”

“I don’t know.” Emmy turns slightly in her seat to look at Stella. “Sterling texted me, but he didn’t say what was going on. What about you, Frankie?”

“No texts.” I wring my hands together in my lap. “What if something happened to Maverick?”

“I’m sure everything’s fine,” Stella says, but I can tell she doesn’t truly believe her own words. “Orion would never let anything happen to him. He loves that kid.”

“Accidents happen.” My voice breaks, but I manage to keep my tears at bay.

Stella hits the gas. “We’re almost home, Frankie. It’s okay. Everything’s going to be okay.”

Thankfully, we don’t hit any other red lights and make it home in record time.

The second we park, I’m unbuckled and out of the car, hauling ass toward the front door. Stella and Emmy are hot on my heels.

“Where have y’all been?” Samson whisper-shouts the second I unlock the door. “And why weren’t you answering your phones?” He pinches the bridge of his nose and mutters something unintelligible under his breath.

“What’s going on?” Stella and I ask at the same time.

“Maverick’s sick. He has a fever and he threw up.”

My guilt from the car returns tenfold. Mav’s only ever been throw-up sick once before, and the thought of him going through that without me makes my knees weak.

“Is he okay?” I whisper, hot tears gathering in the corners of my eyes. “Where is he?”

“He’s good. Orion gave him some Tylenol and they’re asleep.”

“He gave him medicine?” How did he know what to give him? He doesn’t know his weight, so how did he know how much? One after another, questions shoot off in my brain like fireworks.

“His mom.” Samson moves to Stella and tugs her into his embrace. “He called her and she talked him through it and I went out and bought everything. Anyway, they’re uh, in your room. Asleep.”

“Thanks,” I whisper, guilt and gratitude threatening to crush me under their dual weights.

“I’m going to go,” Emmy says. “See y’all later.”

I toss a wave over my shoulder as I head down the hall toward my room; I need to see with my own two eyes that my son is fine.

Seeing the two of them curled around one another in my bed does all kinds of funny things to me. A hope I have no business feeling begins to mingle with my guilt, warming me from the inside out.

“Oh, Mav.” I cross the room and press my hand to his forehead. Sure enough, he’s burning up.

“Mama?” he whispers groggily. “You’re here.”

“I am. I’m so sorry, baby.”

“It’s okay.” He rolls onto his side so that his back is tucked against Orion’s chest. “O tooked good care of me.”

Is it possible for your heart to grow and break at the same time? Because if the pressure behind my ribs is an indicator, that’s exactly what’s happening right now.

“Lay down, Mama.” Maverick blinks slowly, his eyelids heavy with sleep. “Snuggle me.”

My eyes flit over to Orion and then back down to my son. It’s not like I can wake him up and kick him out—especially after he spent the night caring for Mav. Plus, it’s not like we’ll be sleeping together-together. Maverick will be in between us the whole time.

“Okay, baby. Let me get changed.”

I grab a pair of leggings and a T-shirt and head into the bathroom to wash my face, brush my teeth, and change.