Chapter 31
CHAPTER
THIRTY-ONE
Bru
I was at the campus hospital with my family and friends, Wells beside me, rocking. Our parents were on the way to campus from Maywood Heights. The drive was long, and it’d take them a couple hours.
Bow’s parents were on their way too.
Shit happened so quickly. I’d seen a green SUV zooming toward my sister and Bow.
I didn’t think.
Bow had pushed Sloane out of the way by the time I got there, but I’d been able to grab Bow in time. I’d gotten scraped up a bit in the process, but I didn’t care.
Bow.
She’d blacked out, which had been scary as fuck, her head seeping blood. The blackout had been brief though, and she’d woken up by the time the paramedics arrived. My sister had called them. Thank fuck for my sister since I hadn’t been thinking clearly with everything happening.
“Why the fuck aren’t they telling us anything!
” Wells shot off his chair, his hands in his hair.
We’d both been coming back from the bathroom when everything with Bow went down.
We’d both seen the SUV coming, but I got there faster.
Wells came in shortly behind me as well as Thatcher and Aspen.
Our focus had all been on Bow, so no one had paid attention after the SUV went by.
Nobody had seen who was behind the wheel or even a plate number.
The driver had gotten away, and here we were with the aftermath.
The aftermath was Wells who, when he wasn’t sitting, was pacing the hospital’s waiting room. Both Dorian and Thatcher had started to get up, I assumed to talk to Wells and calm him down.
The guys’ help wasn’t needed though. I lifted a hand to them, and they nodded, going back to their girlfriends. Dorian was needed more with Sloane, who was rocking too. She’d gotten checked out like me. She was fine with just a few scrapes and thank God for that.
Returning to his seat, Dorian put his big arms around my sister, and she hugged him back.
She buried her face into his chest, and I think the only reason Thatcher was able to be a semblance of calm was because of Aspen.
She’d gotten up and put her arms around his waist. She was supporting him.
We all had support, and Ares and Fawn were here too of course.
They’d gone off to get coffee and bottles of water for everyone.
“Eh!” Wells rushed up to the reception desk, getting the attention of the entire ER’s waiting room. He slammed his hands on the desk, which made the lady behind the glass jump. He growled. “I need an update on Rainbow Reed. I needed one like fucking yesterday and—”
I got an arm around his chest. I pulled him away, and it wasn’t without effort. He punched at everything, and that included me when I brought another arm around his chest. Wells growled. “Let go, Bru. I swear to fucking God.”
I didn’t let go.
My arms were covered in bandages, my own wounds raw, but I used all my strength to hold him back. I wanted to punch something too. I wanted to go to old habits and fight, but I had to be strong here. I had to be strong for him and her.
“I swear to God, Bru,” Wells croaked, but he stopped fighting when I held him close. Getting a good hold of him, I guided him out of the ER. Some of the guys started to follow us, but I shook my head. Wells and I didn’t need them.
We needed each other.
“I swear, if she’s not okay.” Wells paused like he couldn’t even continue the thought. Once we were outside, I let go of him, and he squeezed his eyes shut. His whole face was red, his hair messy. He laced his fingers on top of his head. “Bru, what will I do?”
What would we do. We. The three of us had just figured this all out, and, even though we were all still coming to terms with our relationship, we’d solidified it. We were together. All three of us.
“She’s going to be okay,” I told him, and not just for him.
I needed the words just as badly. I hooked my arms around Wells’s waist, and he brought one around my neck.
He took me into a tight hold. We hugged that shit out.
We engulfed ourselves in the moment and the emotion of it.
We had to release this shit so we could be strong.
“She’s going to be okay,” Wells whispered to me, and I nodded. He pressed his face into my hair for long moments before he pulled back.
I held his face.
“She’s going to be okay,” I said before pressing our mouths together. We took the final seconds to release this shit. We felt it in the moment so we could let it go and deal with whatever was about to happen. I think we needed the moment, this moment.
So that’s what we did.
Wells and I returned to the ER as a unit, our hands together. It wasn’t lost on me that my family, this family of tight friends seemed to always be in the fucking hospital. It was like the grim reaper followed us on the regular, but he wasn’t going to win this day. He wouldn’t. He wasn’t.
Our friends’ eyes were on Wells and me when we arrived. Ares and Fawn were there, so everyone had either a coffee or a bottle of water.
I sat by my sister, and Wells took my other side. Sloane gave me a warm smile that had to have taken energy. Her face was just as red as Wells’s had been.
I squeezed her shoulder, but our attention drifted when a doctor approached our small group. She was a woman who appeared to be our parents’ age. She introduced herself as Dr. Miller.
“Are you the family of Rainbow Reed?” she asked, and Thatcher immediately stood up.
“I’m her brother,” he said, but the rest of us stood up too. Thatcher waved to all of us. “We’re all her family.”
I could tell Wells was fighting beside me. He was squeezing my hand, and I’d bet he was screaming on the inside. I certainly was for something, anything of an update.
Dr. Miller smiled. “Rainbow is fine. She has a mild concussion and a few bruised ribs, but she’s okay. We’re going to keep her overnight for observation, but she should be good to go home tomorrow.”
It was like a weight in the room lifted. Like someone had let the air in when we all collectively breathed.
She’s okay.
I faced Wells, hugging him. He hugged me back, and I heard Dorian say he was going to text our parents.
“Thank God,” Sloane breathed out. She had tears in her eyes as she hugged Dorian, then Thatcher. Thatcher, too, had looked pretty rough. He was definitely considered the pretty boy in our group, but he was completely disheveled with the weight of a thousand thoughts playing all over his face.
He hugged Aspen, squeezing her so hard.
“I told you she’d be fine,” Aspen whispered to Thatcher, but I was more focused on Wells. Wells had never hugged me so hard. Hell, I was usually the one giving the firm hugs.
He wouldn’t let go of me, and he didn’t have to. I smiled. “She’s cool, bro.”
“Yeah,” Wells said, and when he pulled away, he kept my hand. I didn’t mind at all. Wells released a breath. “When can we see her?”
“You can now, but I’d go in groups of two or three,” the doctor said. “The room is on the smaller side. But, before you do, I need to know who Wells Ambrose and Bru Sloane-Mallick are.”
“That’s us,” I said before Wells could. I touched my chest. “I’m Bru, and he’s Wells.”
Wells nodded.
The doctor smiled again, but this time, it didn’t quite reach her eyes. She nodded. “Rainbow requested to see you both first if that’s all right.”
It was more than all right, but Wells and I exchanged a glance with Thatcher. I think we didn’t want to encroach on Thatch. Bow was his sister after all.
“Go on,” Thatcher said, obviously reading our look. Thatcher nodded. “I should call my mom and dad anyway. Tell them exactly what the doc said.”
That was so good of him, letting us see her. I knew this whole thing was driving him crazy as well.
“Squeak.” Wells entered Bow’s room before I did. There was just enough room for Bow’s bed and all her monitors.
I’d sort that out for her, get her a bigger room. Wells and I would.
Bow sat on her bed in a hospital gown, her hands in her lap. She looked up when Wells called out to her, though.
“Wells,” she said, a small smile on her face, but it was so faint. Gingerly, she lifted her arms, and the bandages on them matched the one on her forehead. Her hair was down, but her curls only covered some of it.
Her head had been bleeding so much in the parking lot, and I’d been terrified. Why had I not grabbed her differently? Protected her better?
The guilt weighed heavily on me, and I stayed back when Wells rushed in and wrapped his long wingspan around her. He brought her to him gently, and her small body disappeared in his embrace.
“Fucking hell, Squeak,” Wells gasped, his eyes shut tight. I’d never seen Wells the way I had in the past few hours. He’d gone from hopeless wreck to this very hug giving him air, giving him life.
I felt whole inside, watching them. Especially when she hugged him back so tightly.
“Wells…” She was shaking a little, and I saw that in her limbs, her petite and scraped-up limbs. She didn’t just have bandages on her arms but bruises as well.
It was illogical as fuck, but I felt her condition was my fault. Obviously, there’d been that asshole in the SUV, but I didn’t have to grab her so hard, hurt her.
I was still frozen at the door, wanting so much to go in there and hug them both. I wanted to love them both.
Swallowing, I couldn’t move, and it was like something otherworldly happened. Both Wells and Bow broke away from each other slowly, then their attention was on me.
“Bru.” Bow blinked down a tear. She had tears in her eyes. She lifted a hand. “Bru.”
Her voice sounded stripped, raw, and I saw something equally emotional in Wells’s eyes. There was a plea there, like he needed me to be a part of this moment.
I didn’t fight anymore. I came over and immediately cradled Bow. I did as softly as I could. She was so delicate.
“Bru,” Bow sighed as she hugged me back, and she did so hard. Well, as hard as she could considering the circumstances. She pressed her face into my chest. “Bru.”
I heard a sob escape her.
When she pulled away, there were tears falling from her red eyes, and I felt kicked. Like the SUV actually hit me today, and my insides were tossed, battered. I shook my head. “I’m so sorry, Bow. I shouldn’t have grabbed you so hard. I—”
She cut me off with a kiss, which dulled my panic instantly.
I pushed back her hair, drinking in the moment. She sighed against my mouth, and that was when I felt Wells. He had his arms around us, holding us. Bow’s bed was high up, so it was easy for him to do so.
This felt so fucking right, all of us. I’d never known a love like this before. This was so right. This was home.
There was a cough, and we separated to see the doctor standing in the doorway.
“Hi, Rainbow. How are you feeling?” Dr. Miller asked. She closed the door, and I felt Bow’s hand find mine.
She found Wells’s too. In fact, she held on to us both as the doctor took a seat on a stool at the foot of Bow’s bed.
“All right,” Bow said, staring at the bed.
Dr. Miller’s head tilted. She just stared at Bow, and, again, Bow didn’t make eye contact. Bow must have been aware the doctor was looking at her though, because she nodded slightly.
I didn’t know what the nod meant, but Wells noticed it too, glancing at me before staring down at Bow. He sat beside her on her bed. “You should be going home soon, Squeak. The doctor said you’re all right.”
Bow nodded again, still not looking up. Something kicked at my chest then. Especially when Bow squeezed my hand.
She also winced.
“Bow asked me to explain to you both exactly what’s going on,” Dr. Miller said, glancing between Wells and me. She smiled. “She said you’re both very special to her.”
I also took a seat on Bow’s bed. There wasn’t much room with Wells already there, but I found a little.
“What’s going on?” Wells asked, and, even though the doctor had spoken, he looked at Bow. He touched her face. “Squeak?”
Bow winced again like Wells’s touch hurt her, but that was unlikely. He’d touched her so gently.
“Rainbow was pregnant, Mr. Ambrose,” Dr. Miller said, and Wells’s eyes flashed. His attention shot to the doctor and mine did too.
“I don’t understand,” Wells said before I could. “Pregnant?”
“She was?” I cut in, then stared at Bow. Her head was still down, and she gripped my hand like she was holding on for dear life.
Bow shook her head, her gaze lost on the white sheet covering her legs. “The baby wasn’t yours.”
The words were a whisper, so soft.
“The baby wasn’t yours.”
My brain couldn’t compute what she said.
It didn’t make sense. The confusion only resumed as the doctor continued on for Bow.
She talked about how Bow was pregnant, and it wasn’t either of ours.
It wasn’t Wells’s or mine, and that Bow had lost it.
She lost it because of the fall she had in the parking lot. The fall I caused.
“The baby wasn’t yours.”
Bow couldn’t have been pregnant because that didn’t make sense. The three of us had just had sex, and we used protection.
“I’ll let you have your time,” the doctor said as if she hadn’t just dropped a bomb on the room. Dr. Miller stood. “Rainbow, let me know if you need anything. Just use your call button, and I’ll come.”
Bow nodded, but just barely.
She’d also let go of our hands. She held herself, rocking.
“Bow,” I started to say, but Wells lifted his hand. He shook his head, and he put his arms around Bow. He held her in silence.
It was like he knew what she needed.
Bow lost it there in Wells’s chest, sobbing, and Wells held on to her like he was trying to fuse himself to her, both of them rocking together. Like he also needed her in order to continue on in that moment.
“It’s okay,” Wells said, the words tight. He was restraining his emotion, his face red. He kissed the top of her head. “It’s okay.”
It’s okay.
Wells looked at me, and our eyes connected. We shared a brief moment of something before I brought my arms around Bow too.
“It’s okay, Bow.” I was shaking, and Wells’s hold was the same as mine.
“I have to tell you something,” Bow gasped between us. She was so small, so fucking fragile. She shook her head. “I have to tell you about him.”
Him.
Wells and I glanced at each other. Right now, Bow needed us. She needed our love. She needed our support, and that was enough to keep both our monsters at bay, I think. Someone didn’t just touch her. They did something else, and I could fucking feel that in my soul. Someone hurt her.
And that was all I needed to know.