Page 75 of Huge Games

"Okay, great. Thank you."

"You sound okay about this. If it was me, I'd be freaking out."

"I have been freaking out, but some stuff has happened to put it into perspective. I'll call you first thing, okay?"

Marie agrees, and we say our goodbyes just as Elias appears at the door of the ICU. His face is like a frozen mask; he's white as a sheet, but his jaw is clenched as though he's furious. Before he can speak, I walk over and wrap my arms around him. It takes a few seconds, but he eventually buries his face into my neck. Dornan shoves his phone into his pocket and moves closer, too. "How is she? What did they say?" he asks.

"She's really bad." Elias's voice sounds weirdly strangled. "She fell from the top of the stairs to the bottom. Her face is messed up. She broke fingers and her arm and collar bone. She has a busted-up ankle. They say her brain is swollen from the impact of the fall, so they've put her into an induced coma."

"Jesus." Dornan shakes his head.

Elias straightens and pulls away, running both his hands through his hair and turning to face the wall. His broad back heaves, muscles bunching beneath his shirt. "He's gone too far this time."

Dornan steps between us as though he's worried Elias is going to lose his shit. I'm not worried, though. Eliaswould never hurt me. I know that. Dornan should know it, too.

"Who? Who did this?"

"My fucking asshole dad."

Dornan's wide eyes meet mine. We speculated, but hearing it's true is shocking. "Was there a witness?"

Elias spins to face us. "There doesn't need to be a witness. He's been violent since I was a toddler."

"Are you serious?" I regret the words as soon as they're out of my mouth because who the fuck would joke about something like this. "I'm so sorry, Elias," I add before he can respond.

"He's going to be the sorry one."

Elias starts to stride down the hallway towards the exit, and Dornan is quick to keep up. I have to run to match their long strides. I catch up to Elias and grab his arm. "You can't do anything to him, Elias. I'm not going to lose you, too."

He whirls, fury narrowing his eyes to slits, but when he sees the unshed tears in mine, he seems to soften. "Please." I'll beg and plead…whatever it'll take to make him see. "We can go to the police together. I'll tell them about Eddie. You tell them about your dad. You can hold my hand, and I'll hold yours. Dornan will come to back us up. You don't have to deal with this alone."

He blinks and turns away again as though my words are making him want to escape. I touch his arm, seeing how hard he finds it to accept kindness and affection.

Sex, he can handle.

Stupid jokes and holding people at arm's length are fine.

But accepting care from another person seems like a foreign thing to him.

It breaks my heart.

So much falls into place. His tough exterior and his preference for being on the edge of friendship groups. It has all come about because of what he experienced when he was too young.

A flash of the innocent boy he once was breaks my heart.

"Come on." I take his hand. "Let's go."

When he lets me lead him, I can hardly breathe from relief.

24

DORNAN

Everything is falling apart.

Elias's mom is in a coma. Celine is reeling from the circulation of a video she didn't even know existed, and Travis has been dragged out of the country by a toxic ex. I'm the only one currently not dealing with a crisis, but I feel frustratingly helpless as a result.

I battle through a boring class, knowing that Celine and Elias are at the police station, reporting their separate issues together. Celine decided that she should leave Marie out of it for now.