Silently Falling

Chapter Thirty Seven (Edited 9/10/2021)

9/10/2021 - Thank you all for loving this story so much! Your encouragement and constant feedback on these edits mean everything to me. I constantly go back through the edited chapters to read your comments about how much my writing has matured and evolved and it truly makes my day every time. This book (tentatively) will have 41/42 chapters!

Silently Falling: Chapter Thirty Seven

A little while later, when the hug ended and the fire completely died out, Gray went on his way. But not before giving me another hug and setting a friendly kiss on my cheek with some more words of sympathy and encouragement to not let Tyler's actions bring me down. He quietly reminded me to look around and see that I still have people who care deeply about me all around and Tyler isn't even worth the sadness.

As much as I want to hang onto Gray's words and find their truth, the fact of the matter is that Tyler is worth the sadness. Our friendship meant a lot to me and to lose that is worthy of my tears. He's my best friend. He was the first guy I was able to fully trust after what happened with Warren and his innocent, laughable personality helped bring me out of my shell.

That's not something I can just forget. Tyler is a good guy. So why did a good guy have to go and do something so horrible?

A shutter racks through my body and I pull West's jacket tighter around me, my eyes downcast to the stone ground. Tyler was someone I believed I could trust. I never had any doubt. Did I miss the signs? Did he only make a mistake? Or is he really not the guy I thought he was?

I close my eyes as question after question attacks my mind. Now all I can do is question my judgement when I finally felt like I could trust myself.

A gentle hand reaching for my shoulder takes me away from my thoughts and I lift my gaze to meet West's worried one.

"Are you okay?"

The concern in his voice and tender worry in his eyes washes away the bits of doubt that Tyler's actions planted in my mind and I find myself nodding.

"I will be," I say honestly, sending him a reassuring smile.

Then my eyes divert to his knuckles, wet with blood from his previously split knuckles from when he punched the Jeep. He must have reopened them when he hit Tyler. I frown and reach for his hand, gently sliding my hand underneath to lift up from his palm and take a closer look at the raw skin. West watches me silently, carefully gauging my reaction and trying to decipher my emotions after all that went on.

"You, on the other hand, are not okay and you need to get this cleaned up," I say, looking at him through my lashes.

He moves his fingers around, causing the bones in his knuckles to move and he winces slightly. However, he gives me a small shake of his head and then nods towards my brother.

"I think you should check on Toby first."

Toby is staring into the fading embers at the bottom of the firepit, watching as they dance around faintly and glow in his eyes.

"Toby?"

He doesn't acknowledge me right away. His head moves just a tad so I know he heard me, but he stays quiet for a few moments longer. Unmoving, unblinking, lost in his thoughts.

"I-" Toby finally starts, having to clear his throat and blink away the glaze on his eyes. "I'm so sorry, Raine."

Hearing his defeated tone has me rushing around the bonfire to stand by his side, trying desperately to catch his gaze.

"Please don't apologize, Toby. You've done absolutely nothing wrong."

But he shakes his head and his hands clench into fists at his sides, so tightly that they actually shake.