Page 22 of The Sound of Him

“He sort of lost it at group therapy. Then again, most of them did. He’s finding his footing, though. He’s taking charge. He’s definitely throwing himself headfirst into taking care of the others. I think he’s having a pretty hard time with how many of the survivors hurried to leave. He definitely begged a fewof them to stick around. I’m surprised he hasn’t asked any of us to break the rules and let him stay in contact with them or something.”

“Probably doesn’t trust any of you enough to ask,” Keaton mumbles.

“That’s likely, yeah.”

“Just like Ellis didn’t trust us enough…”

I wince. I probably should have seen that this is where he was going. Sure, he wanted to tell me the survivor in Oregon died before it made its way through the system to me via the report, but that’s notreallywhy he called. He wants me to tell him that Bryce won’t be next.

He wants me to promise him.

“You’ll have to call Deacon,” I tell him before he can even ask. “I told you, I’m not reading medical files anymore. It’s not my place.”

“Deacon hasn’t submitted anything to the system for him.”

“Then he probably hasn’t seen Deacon yet,” I explain.

I shouldn’t have to explain that, though. He knows Deacon doesn’t delay in submitting things. He’s the best at what he does, just like Adam is.

“It’s okay if Bryce hasn’t seen him yet. It takes some of them time to be able to trust the docs. You know that.”

“And then they go and fucking die in the meantime,” he growls. “Yeah, I know.”

I force myself to take a deep breath so I don’t say something that I’ll regret.

I’m careful with my words, treading lightly. “I genuinely think that if Bryce was hiding something from us, it would have come out by now. Ellis never really left his room, remember? His friends would bring him food and whatever else he needed. Bryce is the opposite.He’sthe one bringing food and checking on everyone. He’s not hiding.”

I mentally stutter for a moment, something twisting inside of me as my brain helpfully points out that it’sMattwho hides here. It’sMattwho Bryce brings food to and checks on.

Is Matt okay? He’s seen Deacon, right? Should I maybe check? Not read his report, not invade his privacy, just… make sure he’s been checked?

I shake my head, trying to reset myself. I can’t fall down the same rabbit hole as these other guys have. Keaton with Bryce, Travis with Carter, Jake with Casey. Even Maison, who started out obsessing over Carter, is getting sucked into Nolan’s orbit now too.

I’m the one that has to keep this all together.

“Bryce is walking laps around the house at all hours like he’s on patrol. Trust me, if that man is hiding an injury, it’s not a physical one. You’ve gotta give him - and Adam, if he lets him - more time to deal with the other stuff.”

“I just worry…”

“I know.”

“I actually had an idea I wanted to run by you.”

I groan, already knowing in my gut that this idea isn’t good. “No. Whatever it is, the answer is no. Fuck no.”

“You don’t even know what it is yet! I’m just saying, you know, you’re already there. In the house. Being friendly. Actual friends with the operatives, even.”

“Riiiight,” I say carefully, drawing the word out to show my suspicion. “What does that have to do with anyth-”

“I want to meet them.”

I choke on the rest of my sentence.

I nearly start to laugh once I recover. If it wasn’t the most terrifying thing I’ve heard in months, I would definitely be laughing. If I did it now, though, I’d likely fall into panicked fucking hysterics.

Jesus fucking Christ.

“No.”