Page 58 of Prickly Pair
An ambulance pulled up at Mateo shouted for one of the EMS guys, directing people away. Eyes were on me, blaming. It didn’t matter that I’d told him not to climb up, this was my fucking fault.
June pulled Evie back, but she shrugged her away, marching over to me. “Did you push him?”
“What?” I breathed out.
“Evie,” Levi growled. “He would never do that.”
How could she ever believe I’d do something like that? Her eyes met mine once more, but she turned away, letting June pull her away towards the ambulance. I watched as they put Nick in a neck brace and onto a stretcher.
I was going to throw up. Levi’s hand tightened on me. “Come on.”
“I should go with them?—”
“You’ve done enough,” Evie called. “Stay away, Austin.”
She really thought I’d hurt him.
Dideveryonethink so little of me? I pushed away from Levi, ignoring his words as I darted toward my truck. I reached for my keys, but then Mateo was there, blocking me.
“You’re not driving yourself right now,” he said seriously. “Austin, give me the keys. You’re panicking.”
I shoved him back, but he grabbed my wrist and twisted me around, putting me into a headlock. He wrenched my keys away. “I’m about two seconds from knocking you the fuck out, man,” he muttered. He released me and pushed me around toward the passenger side. “Get the fuck in the truck.”
My ears were ringing as I got into the seat. Mateo climbed into the driver’s side and started it up, backing up and whipping the truck around with ease.
“You think I did it?” I whispered.
“What? Fuck no. Of course not. Jesus.” Mateo let out a string of curses, looking over at me. “What in the hell is going on? Have you eaten or had water? You look sick.”
“I don’t know,” I whispered.
All I could think about was Nick. His body on the ground.
Evie looking at me.
She really thought I would do that.
“Just take me home,” I said. “I’m fine.”
“You’re not fine. You’re not fine at all. You’ve been hyperventilating for like the past five minutes.”
Had I? I felt numb. I felt like I’d completely lost control of my life and I had so much to do, I couldn’t even think anymore. I felt like I was sitting alone in the dark, and no matter how manytimes my friends tried to point me to a lighthouse, I just couldn’t find my way.
Mateo slowed as he pulled into my driveway. He turned the truck off and looked over at me, but I couldn’t look back at him.
“I’m gonna say this once,” he whispered. “I told you the other day your scaffolding was loose, and you knew about it. You knew getting up there was a risk to your life. And I thought you fixed it. But you didn’t.”
“I didn’t think anyone else would get up there.”
“And you? What about you getting up there? What if you fell off the roof and broke your neck, Austin?”
“I don’t know.”
“Fuck,” he muttered. “Dammit. I just, I . . . Why would you risk your life that way?”
“I don’t know.”
Mateo fell silent, and I felt the weight of his disappointment in me, drawing me down further and further.
