Falling Star: Book 2 of The Orion Series

Broken Things and Hedge Mazes

"FUCK!"

I lift my head a moment. Jake had sworn like that.

"Jake," I call out, looking back to Orion's ashen face. "What's going on?"

"It's Amy. Her leg--her leg--oh fuck me."

I look down at Orion. He looks so...wrong. And yet peaceful. He looks so wrong and peaceful, and I'm pretty sure this is Hell. I press my fingers against his neck and am relieved when I feel a pulse. But it's weak, and it's kinda fluttering, and I suddenly feel like puking.

"Jake," I call out, still looking down at Orion who I'm starting to think is really dying. "What's wrong with Amy's leg?"

"It's--it's broken. And it's bent at a weird angle. And--"

All I hear after that is him getting noisily ill.

"Does anyone have access to their cell phone?" Ben calls out.

"Si," Gloria says, "voy a llamar una ambulancia."

"How's Orion?"

I look down at him. All I can do is shake my head and hold his hand.

~

Orion and I are sitting next to each other on the plane back to the States. Our hands are clasped on the armrest. Orion has his head against my shoulder. We're doing absolutely nothing except enjoying each other's company. We've been sitting like this, more or less unmoving, for the first two hours of our flight.

I don't mind. Even though my shoulder is starting to hurt a little, I don't mind. I want him here. I want his touch. If he's touching me, he can't disappear again. I won't let him.

Orion shifts and looks up at me. He sucks his bottom lip into his mouth. I resist the urge to pull it out, because I believe him that he's not hurting himself anymore.

"So...New York, huh?"

He broached the topic I'm pretty sure we have both been avoiding. I can't help but sigh.

"Yeah, New York."

"O-oh."

Silence.

"Well, that's--that's only what, an hour flight?"

"Something like that."

More silence.

"S-so...You have a job you said."

"And an apartment. A bigger one."

Orion lifts his head then and rubs his face. "Fuck. So you have a life you can't just leave, huh?"

"Correct."

He shoots me a glare.

"What? I'm just being honest..."

Orion sighs heavily and puts his head back on my shoulder. "I can't convince you to let me sweep you up into my life again and take care of you?"

"Nope." I poke his side playfully. "I still haven't forgiven you for fronting me the money for a down payment on my car when I lived in Vermont..."

He rolls his eyes. "Well it's not like you'd let me buy you one...So I had to do something."

I look at him and tap his ever-so-slightly upturned nose. "No you didn't."

Grinning, he puts his forehead to mine. "Yeah I did. I love you."

All I can do is drink him in. After a moment his brow furrows and he pulls away.