My heart leaped at the small positive sign. Even if he was slurring his speech, at least he knew who he was.
I looked up at the medic that had stayed with Hunter, desperate for any sliver of hope. “He woke up. That’s good, right?”
The man whose nametag said his name was Nick nodded. “Yeah, that’s good. If we can get him to the hospital quickly he should be okay. You never know, but waking up is positive.”
He should be okay. The thought that Hunter might not be okay—that something might be permanently wrong with him—nearly paralyzed me. Hopefully Nick was right and Hunter would be fine now that he had woken up.
“Lorrie?” Hunter said softly. His eyes darted from my face to the lights at the Bearded Squirrel and back to me lazily. The in and out movement of his breathing had slowed down to a normal rate, which seemed good. It was another sign he would pull through.
The thoughts that had rushed through my mind when I saw him on the mat—that I loved him, that I was leaving him, and that he was badly hurt—finally caught up to me. I began to cry. Sob after sob seized my body so hard I could barely breathe. How had things gone so wrong so fast in our lives?
I wiped my eyes with my sleeve, trying to calm down. “Hunter,” I choked out. “It’s not your fault I’m leaving. I’m so sorry. I wish I had a choice.”
“Lorrie no,” he slurred. He opened his eyes as wide as he could, but they had swollen so badly that it wasn’t much. It made me feel ill to watch him struggle.
He finally pulled his eyes into focus and stared at me through the purple and black of his bruises. “Lorrie, don’t go,” he muttered again.
I blinked away fresh tears. “I’m sorry, Hunter. I have to. If I don’t take care of myself right now, I’m afraid of what’s going to happen to me.”
“No, no no no,” he trailed off. His eyes drifted unfocused then shut.
My stomach dropped. What was happening to him? I thought once he had woken up he would stay awake. I looked up at Gary, who seemed to be in shock.
“Help!” I yelled. “His eyes closed again.”
Nick, who had been watching his partner clear a path to the exit, looked back at us over his shoulder. “Keep talking to him,” he said. “We’re almost done clearing a path.”
“Hunter,” I pleaded, clasping his hand. “Please wake up.”
I held my breath, every dreadful second dragging on. What if he didn’t wake up? Could I leave Studsen if I wasn’t sure Hunter would be okay?
His eyes shot open and relief coursed through my veins. He grabbed toward my hand clumsily, making contact with my fingers but not holding on. “I should have told you, Lorrie . . . You wouldn’t change. You could still see me.”
I shook my head, frantically trying to decipher the meaning of his words. “Hunter, I’m right here with you.”
He made another grab at my hand. “I’m sorry,” he said, trailing off. “You don’t have to go.”
His eyes shut once more. Gary, who had been silent, looked up at me, forehead wrinkled with worry. Hunter was breathing hard again with his nostrils flared. Gary’s face twisted in panic. “You’re stressing him out,” he answered. “You need to get out of here before he gets worse.”
My face burned with frustration. “Why do you keep blaming me for everything?”
“Because I’ve watched you turn him into a fucking trainwreck!”
I balled up my fists, barely able to control my rage. My jaw was clenched tight. “What does that mean?’
Rather than respond with something nasty, Gary watched as Nick’s partner came back.
“We’ve got a clear path here,” the medic said. He and Nick hefted Hunter’s stretcher up and began walking it to the ambulance.
“Where are you taking him?” I asked anxiously, walking alongside them. Gary followed close behind.
“Arrowhart College Hospital,” Nick replied.
I nodded, my heart racing. “Is he going to be okay?”
“Should be,” Nick said as we neared the ambulance. “It will be important that he recover over the next twenty-four hours, but once he’s in the hospital he’ll be in good hands. I would be very surprised if he had any permanent injuries from this. Nose might be messed up, but nothing worse.”
Gary sighed behind me. “God I hope not,” he said.
We stopped when we got to the ambulance. Nick and his partner paused in front of the vehicle’s back door.
“One of you can ride with us to the hospital,” Nick said.
“I will,” Gary and I said simultaneously.
Nick grimaced. “I’m sorry, but we can only fit one.”
“You’re not coming,” Gary said to me sternly. He towered over me, his stare rooting me to my spot.
Blood rushed to my face, making it feel extra hot against the cold wind. “Why not?”
“Haven’t you done enough damage?” Gary yelled. “Look at him! Look at what you’ve done!”
Stunned, I opened my mouth to speak. This was all too much.
“Lorrie,” Hunter mumbled.
Both our gazes flew down to Hunter. His eyes were open but he wasn’t all there. He looked between me and Gary, mumbling incoherently under his breath.
“We need to get out of here,” Nick said. He and his partner hefted Hunter up into the ambulance before he turned back to us. “Both of you are welcome to visit him in the hospital during visiting hours. Is one of you riding with us or not?”
“I’m coming,” Gary said. Nick looked at me briefly then nodded and climbed into the back of the vehicle. Gary turned to me. “I’ve known Hunter for a few years now. He has plenty of his own issues, but at least he was working on them. You came along and he got totally obsessed with you. At first it seemed like you made him better, but then he just got worse. A lot worse. He missed training, flipped out at that party, skipped classes, all kinds of stuff. Then you pulled the rug out from under him, and I haven’t seen anyone fall that hard. Ever. Listen, Lorrie, I know you didn’t mean for all this to happen, but you’re no good for each other.”
Gary’s words hit me hard. I felt like I was the one who had just been punched in the face. I had suspicions that even when Hunter and I were holed up in his apartment, lost in our own little world, that our relationship wasn’t entirely healthy, but hearing it from Gary felt like a stake through my heart.
Gary hopped into the back of the ambulance as I stood there stunned and still processing what he’d said to me. He turned back to me with his lips pursed and sighed. “I’ll tell him you came to talk to him,” he said. “If he wants to talk, he’ll come find you. If he doesn’t, please stay away. I don’t want to do this again.”
I nodded limply and he shut the door. The ambulance drove off, sirens fading into the distance, leaving me feeling like an empty husk.
Gary was right. We weren’t good for each other.
Chapter Thirty
WRECKED
I sat on the bus back to Indiana and watched the streetlights fly by. They were the only breaks in darkness for miles as we rolled through Illinois farm country. My head pressed up against the glass, I thought about the last few days, trying to hold all my emotions in.
How had it all happened? It was the nightmare I’d been trying to avoid: a messy breakup. Yet again, I’d proven I couldn’t trust myself to ride out the twists and turns my life presented. Letting myself get so attached to someone had been a huge mistake. I’d dragged us both down, and now one of us was in the hospital. Sorrow clenched in my chest.
I curled up in my seat and hoped for the hundredth time since the bus left the station that Nick the medic was right and Hunter would be okay. He had seemed pretty confident and I believed him in the heat of the moment, but now I was having second thoughts. I’d never seen someone look so beat up. What was going to happen to him? What had led to a breakdown like that?
A dull ache throbbed in my heart. Whatever Hunter had been dealing with over the past week, he hadn’t wanted my help. I looked around the bus at my f
ellow passengers. Many were sleeping. The man and woman across the aisle from me were nestled together lovingly. The peaceful expression on the woman’s face as she lay her head on his chest painfully reminded me of the way I did that with Hunter. She looked like she was claiming that spot for life.
Sighing, I threw myself back in my seat and stared out the window some more, thankful I didn’t have someone sitting next to me. I needed space to myself right now. The hurt inside was too much to bear.
If Hunter didn’t end up being okay I would never forgive myself. I closed my eyes, letting a tear roll down my cheek. I was never going to see him again. There would be no tearful reunion, no working stuff out. The world wouldn’t be that kind to us. Our brief time of happiness together was over.
I began to cry harder, doing my best to stay quiet and not embarrass myself. The tears rolling down my cheeks became warm, salty streams. What was going to happen to Hunter? Did he hate me now? Would he think that I abandoned him? Even when I tried to live a normal life, something always came to drag me back. Dad had been wrong. I wasn’t strong enough. I wasn’t rolling a giant boulder up a hill every day, I was caught under it.
And I couldn’t break free.
Chapter Thirty-one
WAKE
Hunter
My head felt like someone was jabbing a knife into my temple. The second thing I noticed was the unpleasant smell of the hospital and I knew where I was without even opening my eyes. How had I gotten back here? What had happened? I wasn’t sure what my last memory was; I couldn’t separate my fevered dreams from reality.
I felt pressure on my eyes as I tried to open them. This was a familiar feeling. I’d clearly just had my ass kicked. My entire face felt like shit.
“You there, bud?” a man’s voice asked.
It was Gary. He must have come with me to the hospital.
I craned my neck over toward his voice. He was blurry at first, but eventually his face came into focus. “Yeah, I’m here,” I croaked, discovering that my throat was bone dry.
He watched me for several seconds, deep concern marring his expression. “Do you remember anything?”
“If you’re asking me whether I remember how my face got so fucked up, the answer is no.”
He sighed and his jaw worked silently. “Okay. Figured as much, but thought I should ask.”
“What happened?”
His eyes narrowed. “What’s the last thing you remember?”
My mind was fuzzy, but slowly, it was coming back.
“Lorrie,” I rasped quietly.
Gary’s expression was a mix of pain and relief. “Yeah.”
I took several deep breaths. There it was. We were done. She was on a bus taking her far away from Studsen, to deal with her own pain. I had saved her that cold winter day when I pulled her out of the lake, but I couldn’t save her from what she was dealing with now. Goddammit.
Clenching my fists, I tried to sit up, but was stopped by the IV hanging from my left arm. I used my right hand to grab the needle so I could yank it out.
Gary grabbed my wrist fiercely. “Whoa, dude, settle down! Where do you think you’re going?”
“Get off me,” I growled softly.
His grip remained strong. “Stop trying to rip your IV out and I will.”
My muscles tensed. I tried to contain my anger, but it was no use. My whole body began to shake. The way Gary was trying to physically restrain me from going after Lorrie seriously pissed me off.
“Lorrie!” I roared. I ripped the IV out of my arm and sat up. A searing pain shot through my arm.
Gary tackled me back onto the bed. He glared, his eyes a pair of thin flames. “Stop!” he yelled. “Hospital security will take a fucking taser to you and strap you to that bed if that’s what it takes. Nobody wants that.”
I struggled for a second, but it was no use. Weakened as I was, I couldn’t fight Gary.
After I’d calmed down, he looked to the door, but nobody had responded to our raised voices. “Now tell me what’s on your mind,” he said, his voice lowered. “What are you going to do?”
I froze and stared at him. What could I do? Gary was right. I was stuck in a hospital bed while Lorrie was on a bus going somewhere far, far away. Was I going to chase the bus down? In my current state? I could barely move my legs.
Defeated, I slumped back in my bed, my breath coming in thin wheezes. I’d lost this round. Gary watched me for a second, then took his hands off my wrists. My hands dropped heavily to my sides. I wasn’t going anywhere.
We sat in silence for a few minutes. My swollen eyes were focused on nothing in particular. There was nothing to look at. It was a hospital. I was stuck in a sterile room again, waiting until I could go home so I could go do whatever. I’d regret the past few days, mostly. And probably drink too much.
“You good?” Gary asked, breaking the silence. “I’m gonna go hit the bathroom. You’re not gonna do anything stupid, right?”
I looked up at him and nodded.
His lips a thin line, he turned to walk out but stopped at the door. “Listen, before she left, she came to the fight. Said she wanted to talk to you. Do you remember any of that? You know what I think of that, but I promised her that I’d tell you.”
He watched me for a reaction, but when I didn’t give him one, he turned and walked out the door. I wasn’t sure how to react. A ringing began in my ears as I rocked back and forth. Lorrie wanted to talk. She hadn’t given up on me. This wasn’t the end of us. This was a blank slate.
I was going after her even if it killed me.
Rescued (Wrecked Book Two)
Coming Early 2014
“There would be no happy ending for us. He was too damaged. I was too broken.”
The conclusion to Priscilla West’s Wrecked.
Lorrie’s semester started off hopeful but ended in disaster. Now, she’s even more lost and confused than she was at the beginning of the year. As Lorrie flees to the only family she has left, she has to come to terms with how things ended with Hunter.
Hunter has fought for so long to keep the truth from Lorrie in an effort to protect her, but it has only caused more heartache and pain.
Realizing his mistake, Hunter has made a vow to get Lorrie back, but is it too late?
Will Hunter be able to overcome his own demons and help Lorrie through her pain, or are they destined to keep hurting each other?
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