Chapter 19: What I Needed

Hallie's POV

He came up the gravel at nine that night on foot.

He had no bike, and no truck either, because Tawny had needed my father's Ford to drive Mags home.

I watched him from the kitchen window as he crossed the yard with his hands in his pockets.

He still wore the blank cut he had worn all day.

He stopped at the bottom of the porch steps.

"You said the kitchen," Boone said.

"Come in."

He sat at the table.

I put a bag of frozen peas on the counter, and a roll of white tape, and my grandmother's old kitchen scissors.

"Shirt off," I said.

He stared at me.

"Your rib. It's been taped wrong since Saturday. You fought four Ravens and a sergeant at arms with it. Take the shirt off."

He peeled it over his head, wincing.

A plum-colored bruise spread across his left side, over the tattoos.

His skin was warm under my hand when I laid the peas against it.

He drew a sharp breath through his teeth.

"I know it hurts."

"It's not that."

I wound the tape around his ribs, and his chest rose and fell under my palms, and I felt it quicken.

I didn't look down.

He didn't look away from my face.

"You sold your bike," I said.

"Yeah."

"You loved that bike."

"I loved a lot of things." His voice was rough. "I didn't treat most of them right."

I smoothed the end of the tape flat against his skin and left my hand there.

"I've been thinking about what you said in the unit," I said. "That I shut the door. That I never told you what I needed."

"Hal, I shouldn't have said it like that."

"You should have. It's true."

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