“I don’t know how I’m going to pay to fix my car. I don’t know how I will pay to go through the last semester or do anything. We got more bills from the hospital,” she said, her laugh hollow. I looked over at her as I pulled onto one of the side roads instead of getting onto the highway. My traffic app told me there was an accident on the highway, and we were going to be late if we went that way.
“Are you serious?” I asked.
She nodded. “Yep. Another hundred grand. And there will be more to come. We’re already losing the house, and I honestly do not have the money to pay for the semester. I have no idea what I’m going to do. All of this... I have no idea what to do. I can’t afford to fix my car; I can’t afford to do anything. I should have just gone to community college and called it a day.”
“Things were different when you started here,” I whispered. I knew as soon as I said the words that they were the wrong thing to say.
“You’re right. They were. Maybe I shouldn’t have started this semester at all. I shouldn’t have started a lot of things. They only hurt in the end.” She looked at me, and I glanced at her out of the corner of my eye, wanting to keep my eyes on the road.
“Nessa, I...” But I didn’t get to get the words out. I heard a scream, a crunching sound, and felt as if I had been thrown back in time. Back to when Rachelle had been screaming when we hit the guardrail, and everything changed.
Only it wasn’t then. This was now, and it wasn’t a guardrail. I hadn’t let my attention wander. I was the one driving, not my twin.
No, something had hit us. Nessa screamed, and I tried to move, tried to do anything, but there was nothing I could do.
I heard another scream, and my head smashed into the window.
And then, there was nothing.
Chapter 19
Nessa
* * *
I groaned as I fluttered my eyes open, trying to figure out what’d just happened. Everything ached, and the coppery taste of blood in my mouth told me something was wrong. Light shone in my eyes, and I closed them again, trying to catch up. Something was wrong.
A groan escaped as I lifted my lids again, trying to take in my surroundings. We were in the car. Miles and I had been talking about something I didn’t remember. Miles. He had to be okay. Had we gone off the road? No, something had hit us. Right?
I turned my head, moaned, and then looked at him, my whole body shaking. Miles lay with his head against the side window, cracks in the glass, more shattered around both of us. Blood ran from a wound on his head. His eyes were closed, his body still as death at first, but then I saw his chest move. He was breathing.
“Miles,” I gasped and swallowed hard.
I reached out, but I couldn’t move. My seatbelt was jammed, digging into my hip. My fingers fumbled as they went to the clasp, trying to press the button. It wouldn’t work. I pulled and tugged. Finally, the mechanism released, and I nearly fell forward.
I reached for Miles, afraid to move him in case he had a spinal injury, but I still had to touch his hand. To feel his warmth, his pulse.
“Miles. Wake up.” Tears fell down my cheeks, and my voice was a rasp, but I needed Miles to wake up. He needed to be okay.
I looked for my phone but couldn’t find it. It had been on my lap before the accident. Now, it was somewhere in the car. What the hell had happened?
Someone should have seen. Should have witnessed the accident and called 911 for us. Maybe the other driver? I looked around, and a scream wrenched from my throat.
Xander stood on the other side of the door, his face pressed against the window. He smiled.
Oh, dear God.
This was all Xander. He had run us off the road. All of this was him. Somehow, Xander had used the situation and followed us, and now we were hurt. Miles was unconscious, and Xander was here.
And I was alone.
“Call 911,” I yelled, trying to plead for mercy, but I didn’t think that would happen. Not with Xander. And not now.
He smiled again and opened the door. It creaked and strained against the angle the accident had bent it into.
Only the car had hit Miles’ side.
Not mine.
Xander had hurt Miles. All to get to me?
What the hell was he going to do now?
“Come with me quietly, and nobody has to get hurt.” He winked. “No one else, anyway. Sorry about Miles. He should’ve listened. I told you that you were mine. We had a great time together, Nessa love. We enjoyed one another. And then you had to go for him. It’s all his fault.”
“Xander,” I rasped as I kicked out. “You can’t do this.”
He shook his head and slowly pulled something metal out of his pocket. I froze, my whole body shaking. “I don’t want to have to use this,” he said as he waved the gun. “We’re at this corner here. Nobody’s driven by in over ten minutes. They’re all stuck on the highway or taking other back roads. Lucky for me that I have this moment with you. I was planning to take you out at home, but you were never alone. Then I got pinched, and well, here we are. The accident was fortuitous. Come with me. I promise, I won’t shoot him. He already looks to be hurt enough, don’t you think?” he asked and winked again.
I had to talk him down. There was no way I could fight back, not with the gun in his hand and the look on his face. I didn’t want to die, and I sure as hell didn’t want whatever Xander had planned for me. Yet, the only thing that truly mattered at the moment was Miles. I needed to lead Xander away from Miles before he changed his mind and hurt Miles even more. “Xander, you don’t have to do this.”
“I do. Don’t you see? You didn’t listen to me at the party. You didn’t pay attention the way you should have. In reality, this is your fault, Nessa darling.”
I didn’t scream. I didn’t do anything but try to catch my breath. I wasn’t having an asthma attack, but it felt like one could come on at any moment. When Xander tugged at my wrist, I nearly fell out of the car, tripping over my feet. “Stop being so clumsy. You aren’t going to get out of this. You were supposed to be mine. Don’t you see? I am a nice guy. I took care of you. I was kind to you. I noticed you when no one else did. That little British friend of yours? He left you for that bitch. I was there to protect you. What did you do? You fell for the guy in glasses. I’m the one who will always be your friend and take care of you. Not this loser.”
He waved the gun again before putting it in its holster at his hip. I hadn’t even realized he wore one. This had to be a nightmare, but I wasn’t going to wake up anytime soon.
“Now, I don’t want this gun to get in the way of what I’m going to do to you,” he said as he leered and tugged me towards his truck. It was a big one with a lift kit. He’d smashed it into our car and it barely looked damaged from the assault. “Get in the fucking truck, Nessa. Please don’t fight or you’ll regret it.”
He didn’t have his hand on the gun. I had time to flee if I was quick. I pulled at him, and he struck out, the back of his hand meeting my face in a blur of heat and pain.
I tripped back and fell to the ground. We were behind a pillar, bushes and trees all around. Nobody could see us from the road. Even if I screamed, I didn’t think they would hear it over the sounds of the highway in the distance and the waterway behind us.
No one could hear. I needed to save myself. And Miles.
I had to get to Miles.
“I’ll just get a taste here while we wait.” He kicked me, and I groaned, rolling into a ball to protect my stomach. Then he looked at me and licked his lips. I screamed again and kicked at his knee. He went down. I punched his face, trying to claw at him, but I knew the best thing I could do was run.
Run and get Miles. Find my phone and call for help. There had to be something I could do. I scrambled to my feet and began running, but he pulled at my hair. I fell backward and hit the ground, my body bruising, but I didn’t care. I needed to get out of there.
Again, he didn’t reach for his gun. He didn’t go for
anything but me.
Did he forget that he had it there? I hoped he had. For all of our sakes, I hoped he forgot.
“You’re going to regret you did that,” he growled, and then he was on top of me, pressing his mouth to mine. I kneed him in the balls, and he shouted, falling off me. I kicked him again and again before scrambling away.
“You bitch.”
“No, you’re the bitch,” Miles snarled from behind me. I looked up then, blood on my palms and my knees, my heart racing.
“He has a gun!”
“I don’t fucking care.” Miles hit Xander once. Twice. Xander just grinned as he stumbled back, but he didn’t reach for that gun.
He lashed out at Miles, but Miles was quicker. They were both standing now, and Miles hit him again, and again, and again. I looked at them and then at the car. I knew my phone was in there somewhere. I needed to call for help.
“Miles, stop. Don’t kill him.”
“He deserves it,” he growled, and I ran towards the car. My phone lay on the floorboard, and I grabbed it and called 911. Miles stood over Xander, and my stomach roiled.
“I need help. We need help,” I whispered into the phone. Miles looked at me then, blinked, and then fell, his whole body sagging as whatever adrenaline he had left, disappeared in a rush. I ran towards him, towards the man who had saved me even as I tried to save him, and pushed at Xander to make sure he was out of it.
As I looked at the gun that had fallen at his side, I realized there were no bullets in it. He had threatened me with no ammunition. He didn’t matter now, though. Only Miles did. I gently put Miles’ head in my lap as tears streamed, and I tried to explain to the authorities where we were. I heard footsteps, other cars finally seeing us on the side of the road, the drivers coming to help. I cried and held onto Miles, hoping we could fix this.
Hoping to hell this wasn’t the end.
Chapter 20
Miles
* * *
I leaned my head against the pillow and looked over at Pacey. My roommate had his hands steepled in front of him, resting his elbows on his knees as he stared at me.
“You scared the shit out of me,” he said.
I nodded. “It scared me, too.” My eyes pulsed because I had moved my head, and I told myself I shouldn’t do that again. “Is she okay?” I asked, my voice soft.
I needed to know. All I could do was think about the sound of the car hitting us, the metal against metal that was so familiar. It had already echoed into my dreams for so long, and it had nothing to do with Nessa before. Now, her scream and my sister’s would be forever entwined, and I wasn’t sure how to deal with that.
I’d been in two car accidents in my life, both so severe that the cars had been totaled and I was afraid I would lose everything.
All I could do now was try not to throw up, thinking about what could have happened and how it could have been worse.
“Her dad took her home,” Pacey said after a moment. “She got stitches on her forehead from some glass that cut her. She’s bruised, but she wasn’t hurt other than that. You took most of the impact.”
“That asshole dragged her across the ground, Pacey. Yanked her out of that fucking car and kicked her and hurt her, and it could have been so much worse.”
Pacey’s jaw clenched. “It could have. It wasn’t. You took care of her.”
I snorted and then cursed.
“Stop doing that,” Pacey said. “You’re only going to hurt yourself.”
“I deserve it. She saved herself, you know. She was fighting back and kicking. She didn’t need me.”
“That’s where you’re wrong,” Pacey growled. “You two saved each other. Bloody hell, I can’t believe that kid did that.”
“He’s not a kid,” I snapped, ignoring the pain. “A kid doesn’t do that. We call him a kid, and we’re giving him an out. An excuse. He’s a grown-ass human being. A fucking man—or so he thought. He did that. He hurt her. Fuck him.”
“You broke his jaw, his nose, and Nessa hurt his balls so bad, he’s going to need surgery to get one pulled back or whatever. I don’t want to think about what that entails.”
“They should keep them inside him. That motherfucker.”
“They should just castrate him for what he planned to do to her.” I let out a low growl, ignoring the pain once again.
“She hurt him, but so did you. You saved each other. And that fucking wanker will never touch her or another human being again.”
“I thought the cops said he was still in jail for a DUI.”
“He got out on bail. Thanks to his father, I guess. That was his mother’s boyfriend’s truck he used to hurt you.”
“So, he was following us. It’s not like he orchestrated a car accident on the highway to get us to that road.”
“No, it seemed to be out of the blue. Not premeditated, at least that’s what other people are saying. Maybe to try to get a lesser sentence. I don’t know, but I hope they throw the book at him.”
“I hope they do, too. I’ll do whatever I can to make that happen.”
“Her dad took her home. I didn’t get to talk to her,” Pacey said after a moment. “I don’t know what I would’ve said.”
“You guys are still friends, you know,” I said after a moment. “It was never weird between you and me, was it?”
“No. I like the two of you together. She’s happy.”
I nearly laughed, but I knew it would hurt, and more than just my head. “No, we weren’t together. We were only pretending. Then she left me.”
“Take some time. You’ll figure it out.”
“No, it was already too much for her before the accident. I’m not going to force myself or her into a relationship she doesn’t want.”
“Give yourself some time,” Pacey said again. “You helped me figure out everything with Mackenzie. You help us all. You deserve her. You’ll figure things out. Nessa is one of my favorite human beings. You deserve each other.”
“Somehow, that doesn’t sound like a curse,” I said with a soft laugh, grateful that my head didn’t hurt that much this time.
“Sometimes, you guys are stubborn. But then again, so am I. I am going to go now and let everyone know you’re okay. Your family’s waiting, so I can’t stay for long. I’m surprised they even let me in here in the first place.”
I nearly sat up, but Pacey’s glare stopped me. “They let me in here first, though I don’t know why. They’re out there, and they look scared. I’m sorry you’re going through all of this.”
I had told him and Dillon everything that had happened with my sister before since keeping secrets after telling Nessa and Tanner didn’t work anymore. I was trying to be more open, or at least I had been before the accident.
I still couldn’t believe that Nessa had been hurt. That her dad had taken her away. And I wasn’t sure when I would get to see her again. I didn’t know if she would stay with the girls or if she would find an apartment with her dad. Or even if she was going to stay for the semester. I didn’t know anything. And all I wanted to do was hold her and tell her that everything would be okay. And then I wasn’t sure that was the truth. I didn’t know if I was lying anymore.
Pacey gave me a look, a tight nod, and then walked away, presumably to find the rest of my roommates. I let out a breath and looked up as my parents and Aaron walked in. My stomach clenched. The last time I’d been in the hospital, it had been because of the accident with Rachelle, and I remembered the broken looks on their faces. Their disappointment had shattered me. I didn’t want to see that again. So, it took me a moment to meet their gazes. When Dad cleared his throat, I looked right at him.
There was no shame, no judgment there—just utter despair.
I didn’t know what was worse.
“Mom, Dad,” I whispered, and my mom let out a broken sob.
She rushed forward and gripped my hand, looking down at me as she wiped away her tears. “I’m so glad you’re okay.”
“I’m f
ine, Mom.”
“We could have lost you,” she said, shaking her head. “We could have lost you again. I know it wasn’t your fault,” she began. “The accident. Either time. And I’m so sorry. We’re just so scared to lose you. We were so scared to lose you before. Now, it’s even worse. I can’t believe that man came after you and Nessa. I can’t believe any of this.”
She stood back and put her arm around Aaron’s shoulders as my little brother stared at me, his eyes wide. My dad cleared his throat again and then leaned forward to brush my hair away from the stitches on my forehead. “He’s locked up?” my dad asked, and I swallowed hard.
“Yes. He won’t be able to hurt Nessa again.”
My dad narrowed his eyes. “He won’t be able to hurt you again either.”
“I’m sorry,” I whispered.
“It’s not your fault. None of this was ever your fault,” my dad whispered. “We were so afraid of losing you after we lost Rachelle that we didn’t know how to control everything. We need to fix this. We need to make sure that you know we love you. We won’t take Aaron away from you. I promise.”
I looked up at my little brother then, my stomach hurting. “You okay?” he asked, his voice soft.
I nodded. “I’m going to be fine. Just a little banged up.”
“And Nessa? She’s okay?”
I swallowed hard. “She’s going to be okay.”
“Good.”
“We’re going to let you rest,” my mom said, rolling her shoulders back. “Then we’re going to talk. I think we have a lot of things to talk about. Things we should’ve discussed a long time ago. I love you, Miles.”
“Same here,” my dad said, his voice rough. He leaned down and kissed me, then I watched them walk away, my little brother giving me a wave—although he was nearly my mother’s height, so maybe he wasn’t so little anymore.
They left me alone as I lay in my hospital bed, trying to catch up. I wanted Nessa here. I wanted her to be here so I could talk this over. So I could figure out what to do about my family. Because something had just changed. I didn’t know what exactly. Maybe we’d be able to find a way to focus on making things work.
My Next Play Page 17