by L. E. Bross
“Yes.” I sat up straighter. “Is there news?”
“No, I’m sorry. It looks like they might be finishing up, though, so it shouldn’t be too much longer. When you finish that”—she nodded to the clipboard in my numb hands—“you can give the papers to me, okay?”
I couldn’t even do that for Sara because I didn’t have the first fucking clue if she had insurance. My guess was no. We’d never had it before, and I’m sure she didn’t now.
Allergies?
Medications she’s taking?
I scrubbed my hand over my face. Christ, did I put down that she was addicted to heroin there or on another line? I closed my eyes and let the clipboard fall at my feet.
What the fuck happened tonight?
I needed answers, but there wasn’t a single person around who could help me.
And I couldn’t do a single thing to help my sister.
“Seth? Any word?” a breathless voice asked.
I opened my eyes and saw Ryan striding across the waiting room. His shirt was untucked and only half buttoned. He sank down into the chair next to me and leaned his elbows onto his knees.
“Nothing. The nurse couldn’t tell me anything. Said to wait for the doctor. What the fuck happened, Ry?”
He sighed and dropped his head into his hands. “All I know is what old man Peters told me when I got there. And, Seth, man, you have to promise me you’ll focus on Sara, okay? All that matters is her getting better after this. She needs you.”
“What the fuck happened?” My jaw hurt from clenching my teeth so hard.
“Davis.”
The waiting room turned red, and I jumped to my feet. Goddamn him. I was going to kill him. Should have the first time.
“Sit the fuck down,” Ryan gritted out, grabbing my arm and yanking me back toward the chairs. “Sara needs you, so don’t go blowing off all half-cocked. You need to hear what the doctor has to say. You have to be here because she doesn’t have anyone else. You got that? You have to be here.”
The pressure inside my chest grew until I wanted to reach in and rip my heart out. This was my fault. If I had focused harder on helping her when I got out, I could have had her away from that asshole by now.
Or swallowed my fucking pride and borrowed money from Ryan.
I backed up to the wall and then slid down it until I could pull my knees close to my chest. Pain lanced through my scalp when I drove my fingers into my hair and pulled, but it felt deserving.
I deserved the pain.
Sara didn’t.
Ryan slid down to sit beside me. He didn’t say anything. Really, what was there to say? He’d been there every step of it with me. Hell, he’d been there when I couldn’t be.
“I can’t lose her.” My voice cracked, and I tried to swallow, but the lump made it almost too hard to breathe. My eyes burned, and I shoved the heels of my hands against them, pressing so hard that white dots spun behind my lids.
“You won’t,” Ryan promised.
We sat there for what felt like hours but in reality was only a few minutes.
When a doctor stepped into the room and went to the nurses’ desk, I pushed to my feet. My palms were sweating so badly I wiped them on my jeans. The nurse pointed to me, and the doctor straightened and moved toward us.
All the sound sucked out of the room.
It felt like I was standing in a vacuum.
When he stopped right in front of me, the noise came rushing back, slamming into my head.
“You’re Sara Hunter’s brother?” he asked.
I nodded. Couldn’t get a sound past the dread stuck in my throat.
“Would you like to sit?”
“Do I need to sit?” I managed to say. “How is she? Did she make it . . . ?” I couldn’t finish the sentence. What if she didn’t?
“She’s doing good. Resting now.” He lifted the clipboard and shuffled through the papers. “There were several fractures to three ribs, which isn’t usually too bad, but one nicked her lung and so we had to make sure there wasn’t a puncture. Lacerations to her face and arms, and her right wrist was broken. We set it and it should heal clean.”
“When can I see her?” I demanded.
The doctor met my gaze, then looked back at the papers. “She’s seventeen, is that correct?”
“Yes.”
“The biggest challenge right now is the withdrawal she’ll be going through. The track marks on her arms suggest that the drug use has been going on for some time, and tonight, there are very high levels of heroin in her system.”
The doctor looked up, but I saw him glance at my arms. I crossed them and glared. “I don’t do drugs. My mother died of an overdose. This, all of this, is because of my asshole stepfather. He got them hooked years ago. He beat the crap out of Sara tonight.”
The doctor’s eyes widened. “If that’s the case, then I have to report this. She’s a minor.”
“She’s going to be okay, though?”
“Yes, I believe she’ll recover from her injuries just fine. The other stuff will be harder, though, mentally and physically. There are treatment options, but let’s just take it one step at a time. You can see her now, but she’s still sedated so she won’t know you’re there. And you can only stay a few minutes.”
“Okay.”
“We’ll talk more later, when I can update you.” He held out his hand. His grip was firm and sure, and for a few seconds, it made me believe everything was going to be okay.
After a quick stop at the desk, the doctor left the room.
“Room two twenty-three. Take a right and it’s just down the hall,” the nurse said. “Did you finish the paperwork?”
Ryan clasped my shoulder. “I got that part. You go. See your sister.”
I swallowed the lump and nodded. “Thank you, Ry. I owe you . . . so much.”
Outside Sara’s door, I hesitated. It had been over a year since I’d seen her in that courtroom, and I braced myself for what lay inside. A year was almost a lifetime in an addict’s world.
My hand shook as I pushed the door open. The room was dark and filled with the steady beep of a machine. I could see the end of the bed from where I stopped.
My breath hitched, and I pressed my knuckles against my mouth.
I had to be strong.
For her.
With that single thought in mind, I walked into the room and didn’t stop until I stood right next to her. When I finally mustered the courage to look at the figure in the bed, the dam broke.
If I’d passed her on the street, I don’t think I would have recognized her. Her dark hair had been cut very short and was dyed blond. Even with the bandages on her face, I could see the sharpness in her cheekbones. The darkness under her eyes.
And her body under the blankets? There was barely anyone there.
I fell into the chair next to the bed and blindly reached for her hand. It felt too fragile and small in mine. Tubes twisted from her IV to a bag behind her head, and she had a breathing tube in her nose.
I laid my forehead against our hands, and tears splashed down over them.
“I’m so sorry, Baby Bee. So fucking sorry.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Avery
I hated the smell of hospitals.
Something about the odors of the disinfectant and the sickness mixed together made my stomach turn. But it wasn’t anything compared to the fear I had that Seth might go after his stepfather and jeopardize his entire future.
My heels clicked on the linoleum as I hurried down the long hallway. Grant was in step beside me, his hand at my elbow to keep me steady.
“Thank you,” I said. “You didn’t have to come inside.”
“This is what friends do, right? Help each other out?”
“There it is.” I breathed a sigh of relief when the waiting room came into view. The air froze in my chest when I stepped into the room. “Did he leave?” I asked Ryan.
“He’s in with Sara. She just got out of surgery
, but she’s not awake yet.” Ryan looked next to me where Grant still had his hand on my arm. I’m sure we made a sight, me in my little black dress and Grant in a suit.
“Is she going to be okay?” I asked, stepping away from Grant just enough so that his hand fell.
“Doc says so. She’s got a broken wrist and lots of bruises, but he didn’t hit anything vital. He’s reporting it to the police. Child abuse, I guess.”
“Will that work?”
“They tried it before right after Seth went in. Sara refused to cooperate and said she fell. After one CPS visit, no one ever came back.”
God, the system was so screwed up. How could people who had the chance to make a difference, to save these kids, just drop the ball? They needed a voice. A loud one.
“How’s Seth doing?”
Ryan closed his eyes and exhaled. When he opened them, I could see the worry in them. “Not good. He’s blaming himself for this.”
“Do you think he’s going to go after Davis?” I wanted Ryan to tell me that Seth wouldn’t do something like that. That he would stay calm and let the authorities handle it.
“Yes. That’s why I called you. Maybe you can talk some sense into him, because he won’t listen to me. He was seeing red before, but after he comes out of that room, he’s going to be on the warpath.”
I walked back to the doorway and glanced up and down the hall. No Seth yet. I felt so helpless standing there not being able to help. Unless . . .
“Excuse me for a sec.” I moved out into the hall, leaving Grant alone with Ryan.
“Dad, I need your help,” I said as soon as he answered. “No questions right now. The girl, Seth’s sister, she’s under eighteen and the doctor is filing suspected child abuse paperwork, but last time it all fell through and I need to make sure that this time she has a chance. Even if she doesn’t want it.”
“That sounds complicated,” he said, switching from father to lawyer voice.
“Her stepfather got her hooked on drugs and he pimps her out and he beat her up very badly tonight. There has to be something you can do, strings to pull or people you know who can help. She’s seventeen, Dad.”
“And this stepfather has custody?”
“Yes. But Seth was hoping he could get some kind of temporary custody so that he can get her into a treatment center. He was trying to find a lawyer to help him do this all the right way, but this changes everything. She can’t go back there.”
“Let me see what I can find out. What is the stepfather’s name?”
“Davis. I’m not sure what his last name is, but he lives in Garden Grove Estates. Her name is Sara Hunter. She’s at Eastside Memorial. She just got out of surgery and hasn’t woken up yet.” My voice cracked, and I swallowed against the lump forming. I didn’t have a sister, but if I did, I couldn’t imagine seeing her lying in a hospital bed like that.
“I’m not promising anything, Avery.”
“I know, Dad, but we have the chance to help someone who really needs it. Isn’t that what a mayor does, he cares about the people . . .” I broke off at the sound of raised voices coming from down the hall.
“Think it through, man. This is your future here.” Ryan’s voice.
“Avery?” Dad said.
“I’ll call you back, Dad.” Seth was heading my way, and he looked furious. So mad that he didn’t even notice me standing there to the side.
I ended the call and, as Seth started past me, I reached out and grabbed his arm. He swung around, anger filling his face, but when he saw me, it faded.
“Avery? What are you doing here?”
“Ryan called me. He was worried about you.”
Seth’s eyes narrowed, and he glared back down the hall. “This is not going to happen again,” he ground out. “It shouldn’t have happened this time.” He shook off my hand and crossed his arms over his chest.
“If you go after him, you know what will happen. You’ll go back to prison. Who’s going to look after Sara then? This time, Davis won’t be around because he will get charged. I’ve talked to my dad . . .”
“It doesn’t matter. I didn’t protect her, and this is what happened. I can do something to keep her safe from now on, and I don’t give a fuck what happens to me.”
My heart dropped. “But what about us? What happens to us if you get sent back to prison? And what about you, Seth? What about the life you want for yourself?”
His shoulders sank, and he lowered his gaze. “I like you a lot, Avery, but while I was off playing house instead of taking care of my sister, that happened. I should have been working my ass off trying to save her. I can do something now, and I’m going to.”
“It’s not your fault, Seth.” I saw the guilt all over his face.
“It is. Don’t you see that?” he croaked. “I let her down. I was supposed to protect her. She didn’t have anyone else. I failed her, and now she’s lying in a hospital bed, a frail, broken version of the girl she should be. I didn’t even recognize her. She doesn’t look like herself anymore.”
His eyes were red rimmed, and my heart was breaking for him.
“There’s nothing you can say that will change my mind. I have to do this.”
I grabbed his arm. “Fine, but I’m going with you.”
“No, Avery, you’re not.”
I was losing him. The boy I was half in love with was going to walk away, and what happened after would change everything. A sob lodged in my throat. He had to stay.
“Stay, please. For you. For me. For us. You fight for her and I fight for us, remember?”
His eyes glittered, and he reached out and pulled me into his arms. They closed around my shoulders, holding me so tight. I buried my face in his chest and fought the tears that burned my eyes.
I felt him trembling against me.
His heart thundered in my ear.
“Avery.” His voice was hoarse and raw, and it ripped my heart apart.
I looked up. The regret in his eyes crushed the dam holding everything back. Tears streamed down over my cheeks.
“No,” I choked out.
“I’m so sorry.” He leaned down and kissed me, slow and deep and so filled with emotion that my knees buckled. I clung to him as tightly as I could until he stepped back and pulled my arms from around his waist. “But this is all I can do for her now.”
“No.” The wet, hiccupy word fell from my lips.
“Listen to her, man, please,” Ryan said from behind me. “There are people who need you. You can’t just fucking throw that all away. There are other ways to help her.”
“The other ways don’t work,” Seth ground out. “I was trying to play by the rules. No one gives a shit about people like us, Ry. Nothing is going to change because this happened. My head isn’t buried in the sand anymore. I need to step up and do what needs to be done. No more arguing. I’m going.”
And just like that, Seth turned and walked away.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Seth
The look in Avery’s eyes killed me.
There was so much hope there, trust I didn’t deserve. I pounded my hands on the steering wheel and sped out of the hospital parking lot. Yes, I knew I was disappointing her, but nothing was going to stop me.
Not after seeing my sister in that bed, covered in bruises and track marks.
It would Never. Happen. Again.
I promised Sara that right before I left her room. I had to make a choice between my sister and Avery, and this time there was only one I could make. I had to give up the girl I was crazy about to keep Sara safe.
Rage gripped my insides as I slammed my foot down on the gas pedal. The truck groaned and then jumped forward. Lights flew past in the corners of my eyes. Our old house was only ten minutes from the hospital.
I made it there in six.
The run-down sign came into view. I swung the truck into the entrance of the trailer park. It was close to three in the morning, and most of the trailers were dark, save for the outside lights.<
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I raced up the dirt road until my old home came into view.
Dirt billowed around the truck as I slammed on the brakes. All the lights in the place were on, and I saw a shadow moving past the living room window. Every muscle in my body went tight.
Davis had destroyed my family, and it was damned near time he paid for it.
I jumped out of the truck and slammed the door. The lights were haloed in a dim red light as I stormed up the rickety steps and yanked the screen door open. How many times had I walked up these stairs, opened the door that hung on hinges so rusted it was a wonder that the damned thing never fell off?
And what about the night, months after my mother died, that Davis opened this same door and told me to get out?
I hated this house, and I hated the person inside.
I grabbed the edge of the door, gave a yank, and felt the hinges let go. A small sliver of satisfaction went through me as I tossed the door into the dirt. The inner door swung open and Davis stood there, a self-satisfied smirk on his face.
“You’re going to pay for that.”
“You won’t be around to collect,” I growled, taking a step forward.
A flash of metal stopped me cold. Was he seriously pointing a fucking gun at me?
“I’m well within my rights here. You broke in. I have a restraining order against you because you’re violent. If I shoot you, it’s clearly in self-defense.” His words were slow and slurred, but the gleam in his eyes told me he was serious.
“Sara is unconscious, in the hospital, because of you.” Anger radiated through me. No fucking way was it going to end like he wanted. “The thing is,” I ground out, “the hospital is reporting you for what you did. You are a piece of shit, and this time, you’ll lose.”
Davis shook his head. His hair was longer and greasier than I remembered. His clothes were stained, and his eyes looked bloodshot to hell. He’d always put on a normal front, claiming it was important to look put together to instill confidence in his clients, but now he was a mess. He kept sniffing and rubbing his nose. He always swore he’d never touch any of the stuff he dealt.
Looks like he’d lied about that too.
“I already called the cops,” he said. That damned smirk was back. He thought he’d won.