Love is Blind (9 page)

“How long has he lived with you and your
mom?”

“Since about two months after he went blind.
Blake refused to keep traveling with his parents while his dad was
campaigning, so they left him with us.” She was quiet for a moment
before she continued. “Blake and his dad never really got along all
that well and it got a lot worse after the accident. His mom
decided it would be easier for Blake to not have to try and deal
with his dad while he was adjusting to losing his sight. I think
she was right.”

“How often do they visit him?”

“Aunt Susan tries to make it here at least once
every other month, but Uncle Robert has only been back three times
since Blake started living with us.”

I stared at her. “Seriously?”

“Yeah, and none of those visits went very well.
Blake does okay when it’s just his mom visiting but he tends to
lose it whenever he has contact with his dad.”

“What do you mean by ‘lose it’?”

Sophie grimaced. “You may have noticed that
Blake has a bit of a temper sometimes. His dad brings out the worst
in him and the last time he was here, Blake put his fist through
his bedroom door. I don’t know what happened to cause it, but Blake
was even surlier than usual for weeks afterwards.”

“He put his fist through a door?” I asked
incredulously.

“Yeah. My mom was pissed because Blake has a
punching bag in his gym that he’s supposed to use when he needs to
let off some steam. But Blake was just so angry that he didn’t make
it that far.” She smiled wryly. “When it comes to his dad, Blake
doesn’t always think clearly.”

“Apparently,” I muttered before glancing at my
watch. “Well, should we continue shopping? I want to go to the
bookstore still.”

We shopped for another hour and then I drove her
back home. I had picked something up for Blake, so I went inside
with her and walked to his room. I knocked on the door and when he
opened it, I was struck speechless for a moment. He was shirtless,
wearing only a pair of black athletic shorts. I stared at his well-
defined chest and abs for a moment, idly wondering if I was
drooling. Nothing I had seen from him in the past had really hinted
that he looked like this under his shirt and I had this strange
urge to run my hands over him to see if his chest felt as perfect
as it looked.

I blinked a few times and tore my gaze away from
his body to look at his face. He had an eyebrow raised and a small
smirk on his face. “Done checking me out yet?”

“What makes you think I was checking you
out?”

“You stopped breathing for a moment and then you
didn’t say anything. Call it a hunch,” he said dryly.

I shook my head to clear the dirty thoughts out
of my mind. “You caught me off guard, that’s all.” I shoved the bag
I was holding at him. “Here, I bought you something.”

He took the bag from me and reached into it. He
pulled the CD out and frowned. “What is it?”

“It’s an audiobook of comebacks for dummies.” I
grinned. “Told you I was going to get one for you.”

He shook his head and chuckled. “I can’t believe
you were able to find this.”

I shrugged. “It’s amazing what you can buy these
days,” I told him.

“Do you want to come in and listen to some
music?” he asked.

“Sure, I can stay for a bit.”

We hung out for almost two hours, listening to
music and talking a little. Sophie joined us for a bit and I could
tell she was happy to be having fun with us.

When I left later that night, I was happy with
how things were going with Blake. I was a little unsure what to
make of my sudden attraction to him, but I decided not to worry
about that for now. I was content with my life and I didn’t want to
change that.

But sometimes fate has a way of messing with
your plans; because everything changed the next weekend.

Chapter eleven

My phone rang the next Saturday morning, rousing
me from a deep sleep. I grumbled and felt around on my bedside
table for it. I finally located it and answered it. “Hello?” I said
in a sleepy voice.

“Hey Hailey, I’m sorry to wake you up so early,”
Sophie said.

I glance at the clock and saw that it was barely
seven in the morning. “It is Saturday, right?” I asked.

“Yeah, I’m really sorry. But I think Blake might
need you right now.”

All sleepiness vanished. “What do you mean?”

She hesitated. “He just got off the phone with
his parents, and I don’t think it went too well. He’s in his room
and I can hear him throwing things around.”

I swung my legs over the side of my bed.
“I’ll be there in fifteen minutes,” I said before hanging up. I got
dressed quickly and then headed to the guest house to let Jared
know what was going on, since my uncle had gone to another
conference for the weekend. I knocked on the door and then opened
it, poking my head in. “Jared, you awake?”

A minute later he appeared in the doorway of his
bedroom, rubbing his eyes and yawning. “What’s wrong?”

“Sophie just called. Something is going on with
Blake so I’m heading over there. Can you look after Tonto for the
day?”

A feminine voice came from behind him and he
glanced over his shoulder briefly before looking back at me. “Sure,
I just need to run Laurel home later. But I can look after him
aside from that.”

I raised a brow and smirked a little. “You
actually know this one’s name?” I teased him quietly so she
wouldn’t hear.

He blushed a little. “Shut up Hales.”

I laughed and made a mental note to make fun of
him about this later. “I’ll see you this afternoon or evening.” I
closed the door again and hurried out to the garage. I hopped in
the car and made the drive to Blake’s quickly. When I got there,
Sophie was waiting for me at the front door. I parked the car and
went up to her. “He still throwing things?”

“Yeah,” she said as she led me inside. “He
doesn’t want me to come in there. He sent Abby out, but that’s the
only time he’s opened the door.”

I could hear a muffled thud come from behind his
closed door. “He’s not going to want me in there either, but I
won’t let him stop me.”

Sophie smiled hopefully. “That’s why I called
you. You’re the only one who might be able to get him out of this
mood.”

“I’ll try,” I replied as I put my hand on the
doorknob. “You might want to go somewhere soundproof. I have a
feeling that there will be some yelling.”

She nodded. “I’m going to go out for some
coffee. My mom isn’t home, so don’t worry about waking her up.”

I nodded once and then opened the door. It was
dark, so I flicked on the light and my eyes widened at the sight in
front of me. Objects were scattered over the floor, some broken and
some at drunken angles. Blake was standing in the middle of the
mess, wearing only a pair of pajama pants and his head whipped in
my direction when he heard the door open. “Sophie, I told you not
to come in here,” he snarled.

I shut the door behind me. “It’s not Sophie,” I
replied calmly.

He froze in the middle of throwing what looked
like a clock radio. “Hailey? What the hell are you doing here?”

“Sophie called me, said you were having some
sort of temper tantrum. Since I like her, I told her I’d risk my
life by talking to you, rather than having her do it.”

He scowled. “I don’t want you here,” he
snapped.

“Oh, ouch. That hurts me so deeply. Get your
head out of your butt and calm down for a minute. Your room looks
like a war zone.”

He inhaled deeply. “Hailey, just get the hell
out of here. I’m not in the mood to deal with you right now.” He
started prowling around his room, somehow managing to not trip over
everything.

“Too damn bad. I’m your friend, and obviously
something has upset you. Being the amazing friend I am, I decided
to come and try to make you feel better.”

“You can’t make me feel better. You have no idea
what the hell I’m dealing with.”

“Are we going to go through this again, Blake?”
I asked in an icy tone. “Did we not establish weeks ago that you
aren’t the only one with problems?”

“You think your problems are so much worse
than mine? Is your dad an asshole who thinks that you should be
willing to do whatever he says even though you want nothing to do
with him?”

“No,” I replied in a deadly calm voice.

He snorted. “Let me guess, your parents think
you’re the best thing that ever happened to them,” he said
sarcastically.

“My parents are dead, you inconsiderate
jackass!” I snapped.

His pacing stopped and he turned towards me
again. “What?”

“I said they’re dead. They died in a car
accident just over eight months ago. And my brother has been in a
coma since then. So don’t you dare try and judge me,” I
snarled.

He blew out a long breath. “Hales, I’m sorry,”
he said in a calmer voice.

It was my turn to snort. “Why? Because I lost my
entire family? You think I want your sympathy?”

“No, I’m sorry for being such an ass,” he
replied. He made his way to his bed and sat on the edge. He patted
the spot beside him. “Come sit beside me.”

I grumbled a bit, but picked my way through the
objects scattered on the ground and sat next to him. “You going to
explain why you’re in such a foul mood?”

He sighed. “If I tell you, will you tell me what
happened to you?”

I was silent for a moment as I thought about it.
“Yeah, I can do that.”

“My dad called me this morning. I know Sophie
told you about my relationship with him, so you can already guess
that the conversation wasn’t very pleasant. He told me his new
campaign manager thinks it would be a good idea for me to travel
with him and my mom now. Something about getting the sympathy vote
because he has a blind son.” He let out a humourless laugh.
“Apparently my disability is now beneficial to him, rather than an
embarrassment.

I hesitated for a minute before reaching out and
placing my hand on top of his. “Your dad is an ass,” I stated.

He surprised me by turning his hand over and
lacing his fingers with mine. “Yeah, he is. When I first went
blind, all I wanted was for him to accept me for who I was, but he
couldn’t do that. Now he expects me to be grateful that he wants to
spend time with me.” He made a scoffing noise. “As if I’d want
anything to do with him after how he’s treated me for the past two
years.”

I squeezed his hand gently. “It’s his loss, you
know. He’s missing out on knowing the person you’ve become.”

“Yeah, because he’d really want to know me now
that I’m a sarcastic, cranky asshole who takes his problems out on
everyone else.”

I chuckled. “Well, you are all those things, but
you’re also strong and kind when you want to be. And you’re smart,
although I’m still smarter.”

His lips lifted into a small smile. “Yeah you
wish.” He sobered again. “Are you going to tell me your story
now?”

I took a deep breath. “Yeah. I’ve never told
anyone this before though, so it might take a while.”

He frowned. “What do you mean? You’ve never told
anyone about what happened?”

“No. I’ll explain it all, so just be
patient.” I closed my eyes before beginning. “My brother Jake came
home for the weekend. He was in school to become a doctor, so we
didn’t get to see him that often. We decided to go out to dinner as
a family, since we hadn’t done that in a long time. We went out to
our favourite restaurant and had a lot of fun.” I smiled a little
at the memory, but didn’t open my eyes.

“It was the middle of winter, but the roads
weren’t that bad. We were driving home, my parents in the front and
Jake and I in the back.” I could picture it all vividly in my mind
as I spoke. “There was a party that night at one of my friends
places. I’d been invited to it, but I declined because I had the
family dinner to go to. I wanted to spend time with my brother
since I didn’t get to see him very often.

“Everything happened so fast, and yet it was
so clear. A car swerved into our lane and my dad tried to avoid it.
Unfortunately, that caused us to hit a patch of black ice and our
car flew off the road and into a tree. I could hear the glass from
the back windshield shattering, but I didn’t feel anything at the
time. I was the only one still conscious and I started calling out
to my parents and Jake, but no one answered.

“I don’t know how long it was until the
emergency crews got there. When they arrived, I realized there was
something wrong with me. I couldn’t move my legs and one of the
EMT’s nearly puked when he got to us. I blacked out at that point
and woke up in the hospital two days later.

“My Uncle Liam and my brother’s best friend
Jared were sitting beside my bed when I regained consciousness. I
was in a lot of pain, but the first thing I asked was where my
parents and Jake were. My uncle broke down and Jared explained that
my parents had died and that Jake was in a coma. When I tried to
move, I found that I was barely able to make my toes twitch.

“I started to panic and they had to sedate me.
When I came back around the next time, I asked Jared what was wrong
with me. He told me that when the back windshield had shattered, a
bunch of pieces of glass had lodged themselves into my back and
done a lot of damage. The doctors told me that I’d probably never
walk again.

“I went into a state of depression for almost
two months after the accident. I refused to talk to anyone from my
school. I didn’t want anyone seeing me like that. If it weren’t for
Jared and Liam, I probably would have stayed in that depressed
state. But Jared came to my room one day and told me to stop
feeling sorry for myself. That I was still alive and I should be
thankful for that. I argued with him for nearly an hour, but
eventually I calmed down and listened to him.

“Jared had been my brother’s best friend for as
long as I could remember, and he’s like a second brother to me. He
had graduated from school as a physical therapist, and together we
started on the journey for me to walk again. He moved in with me
and my uncle, and he’s been there ever since.” I paused for a
minute and opened my eyes. I saw that Blake was facing me, concern
clear on his face. I took the hand I was still holding and unlaced
my fingers from his. I then placed it on my back, under my shirt.
“Here, feel that,” I said.