Song of the Fireflies(72)
Author: J.A. Redmerski

“I’m not going anywhere,” I lash out as quietly as I can.

Mrs. Bates sobs into Bray’s hand. Rian stands off to my left, quiet and attentive.

Lines deepen around Mr. Bates’s nose and he rounds his square-shaped jaw, trying to retain his composure. His hands are clasped together down in front of him.

“We’re her family,” he says through his teeth.

“No, I am her family,” I say sharply, cutting off whatever else he had been prepared to say. “And I’m not leaving this room.”

“Please, Dad, just stop,” Rian says, stepping up. “Don’t do this. If anyone belongs here with Brayelle, it’s Elias. And I know you know that deep down.”

“I don’t—”

“Robert!” Mrs. Bates snaps at her husband. Then she lowers her voice and points her bony finger at him. “That’s enough. Elias saved her life.” She glances at me and adds, “From what I understand, more than once. So just back off!”

Mr. Bates looks between the both of us, and thankfully he decides to leave it alone for now. He doesn’t approve; he just doesn’t want to make a scene.

The three of them stay for nearly an hour, and Bray remains asleep. I don’t know if it’s from the drugs that were in her system, or from something the hospital gave her, or just pure exhaustion, but whatever it is, I’m starting to wonder if she’ll ever wake up.

They go to leave after talking privately with a nurse outside in the hall. But Mrs. Bates comes back inside the room and kisses Bray’s cheek before turning to me.

“Thank you for being there for her,” she says with a trembling bottom lip.

“I wouldn’t be anywhere else,” I say in response, and she smiles slimly and walks past, barely touching my shoulder with her delicate fingers.

It pisses me off that they’re leaving before Bray even wakes up. A part of me wants to run out into the hall and tell them everything I’ve always wanted to tell them, that they’re poisonous people who should have done more to help Bray throughout her life. Why are they leaving? I feel like hitting something.

But then Rian comes back into the room and she’s smiling at me softly. “I talked my parents into letting you be alone with her,” she says.

I stand up from beside Bray’s bed and turn to look at her very changed sister. Her dark hair is pulled into a sloppy bun with black hair clamps pinned to the top of her head. She’s wearing the same clothes as before, when she found me outside my apartment. Her gym shorts are stained with hot pink paint. Her white T-shirt is stretched out and dirty.

“Why?” I ask.

She sighs and glances briefly at the floor.

“Because you were right all along,” she says. “I just didn’t want to believe it. And I meant what I said before, Elias, about you belonging here. More than my parents. More than me. You really are Brayelle’s family, and I know you always have been.” She wipes her finger underneath her left eye before the tear escapes. “Thank you for taking care of my sister. For being there for her when she didn’t have anyone else.”

Rian starts to step back out into the brightly lit hall, but I stop her.

“Rian.” She looks back at me, wiping more tears from her eyes. “Bray forgives you. You know that, right?”

She smiles a little underneath her pain and then nods. “I hope so,” she says. “But I still want that chance to prove to her that I love her.”

Then she turns and walks away, letting the tall wooden door close softly behind her, shutting off the light the room had been borrowing from the hall.

I take my seat next to Bray again, and I reach up and run my fingers through her tangled hair. I brush her long bangs back to keep them away from her face. I kiss her lips and I watch her sleep until my eyes get heavy again. The early morning sunrise begins to peek over the horizon, sending thin, dust-filled beams of light through the sliver in the thick curtains on the window.

And when I fall asleep, I sleep soundly with the knowledge that Bray, the love of my life, is going to be OK. She’s going to live and she’s going to grow and she’s going to get better.

Because I’m going to make sure of that.

Chapter Thirty-Two

Three months later…

Elias

“They’re here,” I call out to Bray from the living room of our new rental house just outside of Savannah. I let the curtain fall back over the window.

Bray hurries in from our bedroom wearing a sexy brown knit dress that stops just above her knees and a pair of black calf-high leather boots. Her hair is pulled into a ponytail with a few loose strands left to hang freely about her face.

I walk over and fit my hands on her hourglass waist and lean in to kiss her lips. She smells like freshly washed hair and coconut body wash.

“Damn, baby. I should bend you over the chair.” I kiss her again and grab two handfuls of her butt.

Bray’s face flushes, and she retaliates by hitting me playfully on the chest. “Stop it,” she teases. “We’ve got company.” Then she reaches up and squeezes my cheeks in her hand. Her tongue sneaks out and licks my pooched-out lips.

There’s a knock at the door.

“I’m so nervous,” she says.

I laugh lightly. “Why?”

She shrugs, and I take her hand as we approach the front door. “I don’t know,” she says. “It’s just been so long since we’ve seen them.”

“Yeah, but they’re not snooty distance relatives or anything like that.” I twist the doorknob.

“Heeey! Long time, man!” Tate says when I open the door.

He shakes my hand and pulls me into a man-hug. He looks cleaner, a more approachable member of society than how he looked last year in Florida. His light-colored hair is actually styled, spiked up a little in the front. He’s wearing a pair of dark blue jeans and a solid black, short-sleeved shirt and a pair of biker boots. And he decided to shave the stubble, just like I did.

“Yeah, it has been a long damn time,” I say and usher him and Jen inside. “Come on in.”

“Oh my God, you’re so gorgeous!” Jen says to Bray, and they do a sort of half hug, holding each other’s elbows but not pressing their bodies together, probably not wanting to wrinkle their outfits.

“You too, girl,” Bray says with a huge smile. “Look at you. Gah! I envy that long, blonde hair!”

Jen’s hair does seem to have gotten longer; now it tumbles down past her waist.