My father’s arm brushed mine when he let go of my brother.
“Come here, you,” Knox said, pulling me against him. “I love you, Sloane. You know that, right?”
“I love you too, Knox.”
“I’m sorry I haven’t been a better brother to you.”
I squeezed him. “You’ve always been the best brother a girl could have.”
He pulled back and looked into my eyes. “I want us to spend more time together.”
“I’d like that.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw my mother approach Tackle and, behind me, Alice waiting to embrace Knox.
I took a step back, unsure what I should do next. Should I hang around? Go inside and wait?
After my dad hugged Tackle and slapped his back, both men turned to me. “Go ahead, Sloane,” said Nils, who I hadn’t seen standing beside me. “He’s practically your brother too.”
I took a couple of steps forward and walked into the open arms of a man I’d never once viewed that way.
“Sloane,” he whispered, pulling me close and hugging me harder than Knox had. Every nerve ending, every hair, every cell of my body tingled as I sunk into his embrace. “We need to talk.”
When I pulled back to ask what about, I saw Knox watching us.
“Later,” Tackle added as I nodded, let go, and stepped away.
“I want you to come home for a while,” my mother said, putting her arm through Knox’s as we walked into the terminal.
“I will, soon, I promise.”
“What do you mean?”
My brother put his hands on our mother’s shoulders. “Right now, Onyx needs us.” He motioned with his head to where a gurney was being rolled over to the waiting ambulance.
Instead of arguing with him like I, and probably he, expected her to, my mother nodded and looked over at Tackle’s parents.
“Will you be staying on too?” I heard Alice ask her son.
When Tackle looked first at my brother, then at me, and back at his mother, I felt my cheeks flush. “I’m coming home for a few days,” he murmured.
“You are?” Knox asked.
Tackle nodded. “For a few days,” he repeated.
3
Tackle
If we were alone, I’d tell Halo to fuck off. I might even ask him why spending time with a guy in a coma was more important than being with his family. But we weren’t alone, and if I hurled all the anger I was feeling at the man who’d been my best friend for more than half of my life, especially in front of our families, it would lead to questions I couldn’t answer.
Every single person—my mother, my father, her parents, her brother, hell, even the other people milling about in the terminal—who kept me away from Sloane made me angry. All I could think about was grabbing her hand and getting the fuck out of here.
I couldn’t explain the unrelenting need I felt from the minute I looked out the door of the plane and saw her waiting with my family and hers. All I knew was that I couldn’t deny I craved her in the same way I’d craved a single drink of water a year ago when I was taken hostage by a band of pirates in the Somali desert. Like then, I needed it—her—to go on living.
I’d told Halo there was a woman, who I wasn’t sure felt the same way I did. I hadn’t lied. Would Sloane think I’d lost my mind when we were finally alone and I pushed her up against the nearest wall and kissed her like my life depended on it?
I couldn’t think about that. If I did, I might not go through with what I had planned, and I had to.
“I’d ask if you’re okay, but I know you’re not,” my father said, resting his hand on my shoulder.
“You’re right.”
“Is there anything your mother and I can do?”
“Give me space.” It was the same thing I’d told my parents after I was rescued in Somalia and returned home. The thing I needed then, like now, was space, time alone, room to breathe. No. That wasn’t right. I didn’t need time alone; I needed time with Sloane. Just the two of us.
My eyes met her questioning ones. The last time I had touched her in a non-brotherly way was the night of her senior prom. She’d looked so damn pretty when I showed up after I drove to her house like my car was on fire, so I wouldn’t be late.
That day, Halo had walked into the living room of the apartment he and I shared, looking perplexed.
“What’s up?” I’d asked.
“I just got off the phone with my mom. Sloane’s date for the prom has the flu.”
“That sucks.”
“It’s her senior prom, man. My mom wants me to fly home and take her, but I’ve gotta work. Plus, Sloane would never agree to it. I don’t know what would be worse. Not going or going with your brother.”
“I’ll do it,” I’d said without thinking.
“You will?”
I told Halo I’d planned to visit my parents that weekend anyway. It wouldn’t be a big deal to spend a few hours at a dance.
He hadn’t believed my lie about visiting my parents any more than I thought he would, but his only response was to pat me on the back and thank me.
After we all said goodbye to Knox—my best friend, her older brother—we caught the next flight back to Boston. The six of us were on our way to the parking structure after the quick flight when I pulled out my phone and typed a text. Meet me later?
Sloane’s eyes met mine. Where?
Where? That was a good question. How would she respond if I asked her to meet me at the Old Orchard Inn? Would she think I’d lost my mind? I sure as hell felt like I had.
