Pregame

by Taylor Wade

  A petite nurse with short red hair walked over to us with a tall man following behind her. He was wearing different scrubs and had a sense of authority to him so I could only assume that this man was Wes’s doctor. He had light hair tinged with gray, and a clean-shaven face slightly wrinkled with age.

  We all sat up straight as he walked towards us, behind the nurse. The small redhead motioned to Reese, Ariana and Roy and the doctor asked them if they could speak privately. I cursed under my breath for not lying and telling the nurse that I was Wes’s sister. I fidgeted, waiting impatiently for ten minutes before Reese returned. He sighed and ran his hand across his face, standing so that he was facing each of us, but his eyes were trained on me.

  “He’s awake.” Reese told us, and everyone sighed a breath of relief.

  “Oh, thank god,” Luke and my mother both muttered as the rest of us nodded in agreement. I felt a huge weight lift from my chest and I could finally breathe again.

  “He’s a little out of it from the drugs but he’s allowed visitors now,” Reese continued. “Only two people are allowed in at a time. Roy and Ariana are in with him now.”

  “Did you get to speak with him, sweetie?” my mother asked Reese.

  “Yeah, he’s pretty tired though. The doc said he’ll be in and out of sleep for a while.”

  Roy and Ariana appeared down the hallway, and Roy had his arm around Ariana’s shoulders in comfort as she leaned against him.

  “How’s he doin’?” Luke asked Roy as he sat back down in the same spot he had occupied for the last few hours.

  “He’s doing better than you’d expect, that’s for sure.” Roy replied and then chuckled. “He doesn’t care to see anyone except Brookelyn, though.”

  “Figures,” Luke muttered. “You mind if I tag along, Brookelyn?”

  I shook my head, “Not at all.”

  Elle squeezed my hand from beside me and my dad stood up and pulled me into an embrace. “Your mother and I are going to head back to the hotel and get some sleep. Visiting hours are almost over and we’d rather Wes get to see his friends. Call us in the morning okay, Brookelyn Bear?”

  “Okay, I will. Promise.” I kissed him on the cheek and hugged my mom.

  “I’m so glad you’re okay, Brookelyn. You’re so strong,” she whispered to me before pulling back, tears filling her eyes once more. “Tell Wes that we’re here if he needs anything and that we hope he feels better soon, sweetie.”

  I nodded and watched as my parents made their way over to Roy and shook his hand telling him that it was nice meeting him, despite the circumstances. The three of them spoke for a few moments before saying their goodbyes, my dad wrapping his arm around my mom’s shoulders as he leaded her towards the elevators. Luke appeared beside me and raised his eyebrows in question. “Lead the way,” I told him.

  “I’ll wait outside so you can speak with him alone, okay?” I said to Luke. He looked at me a moment but didn’t say anything. He finally nodded once and walked into the room, shutting the door closed behind him.

  I leaned against the wall and took a few deep breaths. I was nervous to see Wes. I already felt responsible for him ending up in the hospital and I didn’t want to know that he blamed me, too. It probably took a bullet to the shoulder for him to realize that being with me was more of a burden than anything and he’d rather find someone who didn’t come with so much baggage. I felt a tear fall from my eye for the first time since we got to the hospital. I had managed to remain mostly numb for the past few hours, not allowing myself to cry for the pain that I had been the one to cause him.

  I was lost in my thoughts when Luke stepped out of Wes’s room, smiling and shaking his head softly. “I’ve spent most of my life having that guy’s back and he all but pushes me out of the room so that he can see you.” He laughed, “Whipped, I tell ya. Totally whipped.” Luke winked and turned back in the direction of the waiting room.

  I took one last deep breath and pushed the door open, shutting it quietly behind me. I tentatively walked towards where he lay on the hospital bed wearing one of those ugly hospital gowns. Somehow he manages to take my breath away even wearing the ugly light blue cloth. His shoulder was wrapped up and held up by a sling and dark circles were shaded under his eyes. He slowly turned his head in my direction at the sound of my footsteps and I could see him fighting against the sleep that was forcing itself upon him. I tried to hide my surprise when he flashed me a smile once I got to the edge of his bed. I took a seat in the chair beside him and grabbed his hand between both of mine.

  “Hi,” I whispered shyly.

  “Hi,” he whispered back, visibly forcing his eyelids to stay open. “Are you okay?”

  “Am I okay?” I laughed once, “Wes, you got shot, not me. Are you okay?”

  He smiled again, “I’m okay as long as you are, ugly.”

  I laughed lightly at his nickname but tears started to fall freely now, relieved that Wes wasn’t upset with me, or worse, breaking up with me. “I’m so sorry.”

  “Don’t be sorry, baby. None of this is your fault.” He said, “Although I am pissed that you didn’t call me.”

  “I was worried that you’d get hurt,” I admitted, lowering my head in shame. “And then you got hurt anyways.”

  “Hey,” Wes said gently, causing me to look back up at him. “C’mere.”

  I furrowed my eyebrows as he shifted on the hospital bed, wincing as he tried to move without hurting his shoulder. He pushed himself over on the bed and used his uninjured hand to pat the space beside him, gesturing for me to lie next to him against his left side, where he was uninjured. “Lie with me.”

  “Wes, I’ll get in trouble,” I told him. “And I’ll hurt you.”

  “You wont hurt me,” he assured me. I was too relived to see him awake to argue so I kicked off my sneakers and gently climbed into the bed beside him making sure that I didn’t shift the bed too much and hurt him. Wes lifted his left arm and placed it around me, pulling me against him, my head resting on his chest and my other arm wrapped gently across his stomach, “I love you so much, Brookelyn.”

  I leaned up and looked him in his beautiful blue eyes hooded over with exhaustion. I placed a soft, lingering kiss on his lips and he sighed when I pulled away. “I love you, too.” I whispered against his lips before laying my head back down against his solid chest. My own exhaustion set in as I cuddled against him, my body drained from the emotional and physical stress of the last twelve hours.

  “Wes?” I whispered.

  “Mmm?” he replied, his voice slow and sleepy.

  “You took a bullet for me,” I stated, my heart swelling in my chest acknowledging the truth of my words. Wes was silent for a beat and I figured he had fallen asleep.

  “I would do anything for you, Brookelyn,” he told me tenderly, his voice filled with promise. Tightening his good arm around me, he pulled me even closer against him. “Anything at all…”

  I smiled and placed a gentle kiss to his chest, closing my eyes and drifting into sleep.

  EPILOGUE

  Two months later

  A thick sheet of snow covered the ground as I made my way through groups of partygoers scattered outside of the fraternity house. I flicked the last of my cigarette to the ground and stomped on it, climbing the stairs that led back into the house. Girls were dressed in short dresses with low necklines despite the frosty weather, desperate to catch guys’ attention. I rolled my eyes and shook my head as a petite brunette stumbled in front of me and pushed her breasts out at me, batting her fake eyelashes up at me. She stuck out her bottom lip in a pout when I moved around her and continued scanning the mass of faces until I landed on the one that I was looking for. I smiled as I watched her laugh with her friends in the kitchen, her long golden hair streaming down her back in the sexy waves that I loved. Her hazel eyes were bright while she talked animatedly with Elle, Jade, and Savanna and I just stood there watching her, grateful to see that smile back on her beautiful face. It had been a long t
wo months since everything had happened with Jesse but with every day we were able to put more of the past behind us and move onto our future together.

  I no longer was trapped with the burden of a sling but there were times when I would move too quickly and I’d feel pain from where the bullet had lodged into my shoulder. I had to attend physical therapy twice a week and I was finally getting most of my strength and full function of my arm back. Therapy had been a bitch for the first month following my release from the hospital, but I pushed through the soreness, desperate to get back to normal. Brookelyn constantly worried over me like I was a small child and basically moved into the apartment with me, refusing to leave me alone while I was recovering. I think her motives also had to do with her own fear of the memories that still lingered in her own apartment. I wasn’t complaining, though. I loved having her with me all of the time, even if she did think she’d break me anytime she touched me.

  I would never forget the thoughts that rushed through my head when Emmy, of all people, had called my phone to tell me that something was wrong. She had seen Brookelyn across the quad as she took the phone call from Elle’s number before running to the parking lot, frantic and horrified. I figured Emmy was starting trouble like usual but with each moment that Brookelyn didn’t show up to meet me at Starbucks like we had planned, I started to freak out. I had called her phone but it rung and rung before her voice greeted me for her voicemail. I broke every traffic law possible getting to her apartment and praying she was there. Elle’s car was parked crookedly up against the curb leading up to the apartment and in that moment I knew that something really was wrong. I peered into the car window and saw her phone on the passenger side seat as well as her purse. I tried to calm myself down before bursting through the door to her apartment, praying that it was all a misunderstanding.

  The closer I got to the door the better I could hear inside of the apartment. At the sound of muffled cries and a loud male voice I flew the door open and froze in the doorway. Every muscle in my body tensed as I took in the scene before me: Elle tied up and helpless behind Jesse, who held a gun. Brookelyn was gripping a large kitchen knife like her life depended on it, and her lip was swollen, dry blood surrounding her mouth. I had wanted to do nothing more in that moment than kill the bastard who had hurt her, and as soon as he pointed that gun at her, all rational thoughts left me as I lunged towards him to grab the gun before he pulled the trigger at the woman I loved more than life itself.

  Unfortunately, Jesse didn’t bleed to death from the bullet wound that Brookelyn had inflicted to his groin. Fortunately, however, the fucker would never be able to get it up every again in his long, incarcerated life. Jesse had wisely pled guilty to all of the nine charges that the district attorney slapped against him, and he’d be spending the rest of his life locked up in a maximum-security prison. Not only had he been charged with contempt of court for violating the restraining order that Brookelyn had placed against him, but he was also charged with aggravated assault and battery, kidnapping, harassment, possession of illegal drugs, unlawful possession of a weapon, assault with a deadly weapon, and two counts of attempted murder. I was impressed by my girl’s strength throughout the whole process and I was proud of the way that she held herself together in front of people, even if she did fall apart in my arms when it was just she and I. I fell more in love with her every time I looked into her eyes, and as cheesy as that sounds, it’s the truth. I also fell harder each time I thought of how badass she must’ve looked shooting that gun off at that bastard’s junk.

  “What are you smiling about?” Brookelyn asked me playfully, nudging me with her hip as she came and stood beside me. I turned to her and she smacked me lightly on my chest when my smile widened, knowing what I was smiling about without me having to tell her. “I don’t know why you find that so funny, Wes. I didn’t even mean to aim…there.”

  I laughed aloud and wrapped good arm around her shoulders, pulling her against me as we walked towards our friends. “That’s the best part, baby. Karma’s a bitch.”

  “Yes it is,” she laughed, threading her fingers through mine above her right shoulder.

  “Wes!” Elle exclaimed loudly, slurring her words as she came over and threw an arm around me in a hug. “Let’s do a shot! A survivor shot!”

  “Babe, you’re cut off for the rest of the night,” Colin told her with a laugh, pulling her back against him and sliding an arm around her stomach as he whispered something in her ear that made her giggle.

  “That’s not a bad idea, actually,” Jade said, smiling wickedly at Brookelyn and me. Savanna was pouring tequila into a shot glass while Luke sliced up a lime and grabbed the salt.

  “We’re not taking survivor shots, Jade.” Brookelyn told her with a frown.

  “No, no! Not survivor shots.” Jade explained, “body shots!”

  Elle hooted a cheer and Savanna followed suit while Luke lightly shoved me towards the kitchen table forcing me to lie back onto it. It was like déjà vu of that first night at the frat house with Brookelyn. The night that she doesn’t even remember.

  “C’mon man, don’t pussy out on me!” Luke said and I laughed, looking over to Brookelyn who raised her eyebrows and licked her lips, gesturing me to remove my shirt. The scar from my surgery when they removed the bullet had started to heal but it was still apparent. I pulled off my shirt slowly, not for show, but rather to make sure I didn’t screw up my shoulder, and tossed it beside me. Savanna handed the liquid filled glass and the salt to Brookelyn while Jade sauntered over and handed me a slice of lime to place between my lips.

  Brookelyn made her way over to me and placed the shot glass beside where I lie, dipping a finger into the liquid and swirling it around my chest in a heart shape. She smiled at me as she picked up the salt and sprinkled it across the trail she had made with her finger and bent her head down, looking up at me through her lashes. She stuck her tongue out and slowly licked up the salt-designed heart across my chest, and licked all the way up to my shoulder. When she got to my scar she placed a gentle kiss against it. I was tortured by the assault of her mouth as she ran her tongue across me, her lips brushing softly against my skin. All of my will power from the last two months was diminishing and I was about to take her right here on this table if she kept it up. Brookelyn had been too afraid to touch me ever since I was shot, and we were back at square one despite her sleeping in my bed every night.

  I took a deep breathe to calm myself down and stared into her eyes as she finished her attack on the salt and brought the glass to her lips, throwing her head back and swallowing the liquor with a grimace. Our friends cheered around us and made catcalls but my focus was locked on Brookelyn as she moved her face closer to mine and opened her mouth, stealing the lime from my teeth. She bit down on it before grabbing it with her hand and throwing it to the floor and crashing her lips against mine. I was only vaguely aware of the people surrounding us as I brought my hands to her hair and pulled her mouth closer to mine in a hard, passionate kiss. We broke apart and I saw the desire pooling beneath her hooded eyelids.

  “How’s your shoulder?” she asked me, breathless.

  “Fantastic,” I replied with the grin that I knew she loved.

  “Good, let’s get out of here.” She said, tossing me my shirt and grabbing my hand to pull me up from the table.

  “Thank god,” I laughed in amusement and relief before slipping on my shirt. Our friends now taunted Elle to take a shot off of Colin, already onto their next victims, making our escape easier.

  I grabbed Brookelyn’s hand as she pulled me from the kitchen and laughed at her impatience. She turned to face me as we walked and shot me a mock glare, unable to hide the smile playing across her full, soft lips.

  “I love you,” she told me as we continued pushing through people to get to the front door. I would never, ever, get sick of hearing her say those three words to me. We finally made it to the exit and I pulled her to a stop, crashing her body against mine and bending my l
ips down to hers. I kissed her softly and pulled back to look at her, my gaze full of promise.

  “I love you more, ugly.”

  THE END

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  Thank you to my mother for all of her helpful feedback, and to Jen for helping me name Pregame. Thank you to everyone who buys this book and loves it. And thank you to those of you that don’t love it, but provide me with constructive criticism. As a first time author, I truly appreciate it.