The Other Side

Chapter Sixteen

Whoever said time heels all wounds is full of shit.

In the two weeks since Nolan learned the truth about why he’d been sent to Mindy, things had gotten worse instead of better. Setting aside how much heavier his heart had grown, he was still in the hospital where they were putting him through rigorous and agonizing physical therapy. Nolan wanted to tell them not to bother because he’d be dead soon enough, but he wasn’t so sure he would be. He wasn’t even sure if he was actually alive or if he was dead and trapped in his own personal Hell, a never ending stint in the hospital.

Most of what was happening in this parallel universe was the same things that happened to him seventeen years ago, but there were subtle differences. This time he had memories of Mindy. Sometimes his memories of the future spilled over into his new past, but he couldn’t be sure what impact they’d have. Would they alter his future reality, or was it untouchable because both already happened? The paradox ate away at his brain when he was alone in his hospital room, and alone was what he was most of the time.

Already his father was setting up his eventual disappearing act. Now that it was clear Nolan would pull through his accident minus half a leg and a whole future in the NFL, his father didn’t have any further use for or interest in him. Though his mother was still visiting him, she’d mentally checked out because she wasn’t ready to face the daunting road ahead of her. Having a permanently disabled son wasn’t the plan. The plan was for her son to pull them from poverty not send them spiraling even further into its depths.

Violet came to see him, but she was afraid of him. Nolan was no longer the brother she’d looked up to for the last thirteen years. Except for the missing leg, he looked the part, but he didn’t act the part. Like the last time he’d been through this shit, he was angry and depressed, but this time it was magnified. This time, he was facing not just the loss of his leg and his future and the weight of his parents’ reaction, but he also had to contend with memories of Mindy and the stinging slap of realizing he’d been used to ready her for Levi.

Time heals all wounds? Nolan thought. Bull shit!

“Maybe it does. It’s only been a couple of weeks.”

Nolan’s heart soared at the familiar voice and sight of Riley. “What are you doing here?”

“Since I won our bet a long ass time ago I should be on vacation, but you had to fuck that up and put me back to work,” Riley answered.

“Sorry about that. I hope your new assignment’s cool.”

“He is, but I wish he wasn’t.”

Nolan rolled his eyes. “Please don’t tell me you’re falling for him.”

“I’m not.” Riley gave him a lopsided grin. “I fell for him seventeen years ago.”

Nolan frowned at him. “How’d that happen?”

Riley took a deep breath. “Seventeen years ago, he had a major car accident that almost took his life but did take his leg,” he began, and Nolan’s heart stopped beating for a moment. “His parents couldn’t hang and his friends bailed and he was really depressed, but he was also strong and smart and the kind of guy who didn’t take shit from people. Because of that, he impressed Lucifer enough to want him in the army so I was sent to recruit him.”

“Recruit him?”

“I’m not a dark angel, Nolan. I’m a recruiter. My job is to seek out the souls of those Lucifer wants to be a part of his army. If they’re worthy, I bring them in. That’s what I was doing seventeen years ago when we met in your hospital room.”