Chapter Twenty Eight
Maggie
Asher and Liam are quick to usher Skyla out of the room, but I can’t sit still any longer. I rush over to Bridgette.
“Baby,” I slip. “Are you okay?” I ask as my panicked eyes flick over her tear-streaked face before down to her hand.
“No, I’m not fucking okay,” Bridgette sobs. “It hurts so bad!”
My heart aches seeing her in pain. “We have to get it out and get you to the nurse.”
She shakes her head. “No, no. I don’t want to take it out. I don’t want to,” she whimpers.
I look around to see almost everyone has gone about their business now that the king and queen have left. I can’t believe Asher let it drop that they got married already. I mean, married is a loose term for what happened.
Leaning my mouth to her ear to keep our conversation private, I whisper.
“I know, baby. I know. You have to trust me. Let me help you. Let me make it better. Please,” I beg, my voice catching on that last word.
Her shimmering blue eyes meet mine, so much raw pain and agony in them that it damn near brings me to my knees. I nod my head encouragingly as I run my fingers through her hair, petting her hair soothingly the way she loves.
I keep my eyes on hers, continuing to calm her as I yank the fork out with my other hand.
A scream that almost doesn’t even sound human erupts from her as I grab a wad of napkins, wrapping her hand in them. My eyes lift once more, catching Skyla’s. Fuck. I thought she left by now. Her eyes widen in understanding as they take in Bridgette and I, like the last piece of a puzzle clicking in place. Well, guess our little summer secret is out. At least with Skyla. Not that she would tell a soul. I don’t miss the look of hurt on her face, though, before the guys rush her out of the building. Fuck me.
Looking down, I already notice that Bridgette’s hand is soaking through the wad of napkins, and I pull her with me, hurrying us to the clinic we have on campus.
When we step inside, I call out to them, a whimpering Bridgette gathered into my arms as I hold pressure on her hand.
“We need some help over here!”
A nurse rounds the corner, her eyes going wide with surprise.
“What happened here?”
“A fork,” I say as she gestures to a bed, forcing Bridgette to sit before pulling back the blood soaked napkins.
“Can you move your fingers, sweetie?” the nurse asks Bridgette.
She barely wiggles them, the small movement causing her to scream in the process.
“MRI free?” she calls out to one of the other nurses.
“Yeah!” the other calls out.
The nurse nods. “Okay, sweetie. Let’s get you checked out.”
I help Bridgette into a wheelchair as the nurse pushes her to a back room with a full blown MRI. Yeah, that’s how out of control our university is. We have a full blown clinic but with all the extra bells and whistles of a hospital.
“No chance of you being pregnant, obviously. I just did your birth control shot,” she says to herself as she helps Bridgette into the MRI. I’m hovering, looking for some way that I can help when the nurse’s eyes come to me. “You can go. Thank you for bringing her in.”
I look down to Bridgette’s pleading eyes. They are so scared and watery, and I know in that moment I’m not fucking going anywhere.
“I’m staying.”
She looks at me for a moment before nodding.
One MRI, a condescending doctor’s opinion, and a specialist brought in from Mass Gen later and Bridgette ended up having to have emergency surgery. There didn’t appear to be permanent damage, but two of her fingers were fractured and several tendons were torn. Harry made some calls and had the best of the best patching her up in no time. Once she woke up from the anesthesia, Harry left on the phone, reaming out Christopher Putnam, which in my opinion isn’t a smart choice if he wants to live to see the next day. I stayed by her bed the entire time, though.
Now we are back in her dorm and I’m laying her loopy ass down into her bed. Her cast starts just below her fingers and goes up her forearm a few inches. She smiles up at me, dazed.
“You take such good care of me, Maggie.”
“When you let me.” I smile sadly, tucking the blankets over her.
“I fucked up,” she blurts. “With Asher. I was just scared. Looking for an escape, you know?”
I frown. Not really understanding what she’s talking about. I nod anyway, though.
“I think I was falling in love with you,” Bridgette admits, causing my movements to pause.
Slowly, my head moves to meet her eyes.
“I know, that’s how I felt,” she says as she points at me. “Like, you’re a girl. You have a vagina. How could I loves you?” she laughs, slurring her words a bit. “But I did, and it’s such a pretty vagina. Tastes good too,” she says, smacking her lips as she moves her head around. “I’m kinda thirsty. Do we have water?”
Blinking hard, I shake my head and move over to her mini fridge in the corner, luckily finding a bottle of water before bringing it to her. She smiles in a daze at me as she lifts it to her lips and takes a few sips.
“Ahhh,” she says with a satisfied sigh.
I cap it and set it on the table.
“Do you need anything?” I ask.
“I think I still do love you,” she admits, her head lulling to the side as my heart skids to a stop.
I stare at her, not sure what to say or do. It’s probably just the drugs talking…right?
“Do you love me, Maggie?”
My mouth opens, but no words come out. I can’t have this kind of a conversation with her. Not right now when she’s doped up on whatever the hell that doctor gave her.
“Kiss me,” she says.
My eyes move from her eyes to her mouth as she speaks again.
“Kiss me, please. I’m starting to forget what it feels like, what you feel like. Please.”
Fuck me. I’m an idiot.
Slowly, I bend down, cupping her face in my hands as I press my lips to hers. She meets me eagerly, if not a little sloppily, as she pulls me closer with her one good hand. Our tongues brush against one another, tangling around, and a high I haven’t felt in months rushes through me. Fuck. I’ve missed her. I hate that I have, but it doesn’t change the fact that just one touch of her lips against mine has my heart racing.
Slowly, I crawl on top of her, straddling her as we deepen the kiss. I feel her lift her hips as if she were seeking me out as I cup the back of her head.
“We should slow down, baby,” I say.
“I don’t want to,” she mumbles against me.
“I know, but you’re hurt. We can pick this up later,” I say as I press a kiss to her forehead.
It surprises me when what looks like anger flashes in her eyes.
“You don’t want me? Then get the fuck out of here! GO! Leave!” she snaps before rolling over.
I’m absolutely emotionally whiplashed.
“Baby B, that’s not what I was saying. I just?—”
“No, forget it. I don’t even know why I said that shit. I didn’t mean any of it. Just get out.”
Hurt stabs in me even though it shouldn’t. I know she’s just feeling rejected, emotional, and high as a fucking kite. I can’t help it, though. All Bridgette and I ever seem to do is hurt each other, her more so than me, and I’m sick of it. Grabbing my things, I step out of the room, slamming the door shut as I make my way down the hall.
My feet carry me to my car, and before I even fully realize what I’m doing, I’m pulling up to Skyla’s new house. A perk of being the new queen of Salem? A stupid fancy mansion, I guess. I punch in the security code to the gate that she gave me a few days ago and pull in, walking up to the front door, practically shaking as I knock.
Shaking because I’m mad, shaking because I’m sad. Just…shaking.
The door opens, and Ronan Putnam answers, looking down at me with furrowed brows.
“What are you doing here?”
“I came to see Sky, if that’s alright?” I ask.
He crosses his arms but doesn’t budge an inch.
“Not sure I can let that happen, Bartlett. The way I hear it, you chose your side today, and in case you weren’t aware, you chose wrong.”
“I didn’t choose a side, I just…” I trail off on a sigh, throwing out my hands by my sides. I don’t mean to let the tears peek through, but they do, and my fucking voice betrays me on top of it, wavering with every word.
“I love her, Ronan. I’m trying not to, believe me, I don’t want to. I wanted to be there for my best friend, but I also needed to be there for the girl that I love while she had a fork stabbed through her hand and needed emergency surgery to repair the damage. I didn’t choose sides, there are no sides. I just…I had to.”
He frowns, thinking over my words for several seconds before he steps to the side. I nod my appreciation and walk through the house, peeking around the corner to find Skyla snuggled into Liam. I can feel Asher’s eyes burning a hole into me and I avoid him at all costs.
“Hey, Sky,” I say weakly.
She gives me a sad smile.
“Hey, Mags.”
My posture is stiff and rigid as I stand there awkwardly, twisting my hands together as I speak.
“Can we…talk?”
I half expect her to say no, to tell me to fuck off and get out of her life. I should have known, though. She’s too good for that. She nods, slowly standing up as she leads me up the stairs. I feel all the guys’ eyes on us as we do, but I don’t pay them any mind as we make our way into what I’m assuming is Skyla’s bedroom.
We both take a seat on the edge of her bed, facing each other before she speaks first.
“So, you and Bridgette?” she asks.
I nod, pain aching inside me.
“Kinda. Not really. I mean, not anymore, you know,” I say as I run my hand through my thick hair.
Skyla watches me, patiently waiting for me to continue, as I sigh.
“As soon as she realized people were watching me console her in the dining hall, she shoved me to the ground. She called me a nasty lesbian and ran away crying,” I lie.
Fuck, I don’t know why I lie. Maybe it makes me feel better for sympathizing with Bridgette. For staying by her side. For kissing her and wanting so much more. For loving her even when I hate her.
“What’s wrong with me?” I ask, my stupid fucking voice giving out once more. “Why does it have to be her? She’s mean and vindictive and a fucking cunt. So, why the fuck do I still want her?”
I feel a tear drip down my face, and Skyla frowns, pulling me into her. I sob into her neck, not able to stop it now that it’s started. I feel like my chest is literally being broken in half. It hurts worse than any conversion therapy bullshit Harry has ever put me through. It hurts so fucking badly. I want it to stop. I need it to stop.
“I’m sorry I was even worried about her today,” I say truthfully. “She attacked you. I should have been checking on you, not the other way around.”
Skyla gives me a sympathetic smile as she pulls away.
“It’s okay, Maggie. You like her, you saw her hurt. If that was one of my guys, I’d have felt the same way.”
“You’re not mad at me?” I frown.
She shakes her head. “I’m just sorry she’s putting you through the wringer like this.”
I let out a sarcastic laugh and shake my head.
“It is what it is. She’s just so afraid of being labeled. She can’t get out of her own way to realize how happy we were over this summer. We had the house to ourselves while our parents were out of town; we spent all day together and every night in bed. It was…perfect.”
I trail off for a moment, flashes of this perfect summer flickering through my mind before I shake my head, forcing them away.
“Whatever, though. I need to be done. After the plate thing, and then today? I can’t have that kind of toxicity in my life any more than required.”
Skyla twists her mouth up sympathetically.
“Well, for what it’s worth, I think you can do much better.”
Yeah, I wish. Not sure it gets better, as stupid as that sounds. I do my best to break the tension, giving Sky a half smile.
“If this is the part where you admit that you’ve been in love with me this whole time and want me to join the harem, you have to let me fix myself up first,” I say as I wave my hand over my face.
Skyla throws her head back, laughing as she shakes her head.
“You caught me. I’m down bad.”
“Psh, they always are,” I say with a roll of my eyes.
Fake it ‘till you make it, right?
“I should probably get going,” I say as I stand up. “I’m massively behind on econ.”
Sky grimaces and pulls me in for a hug.
“Luck be with you.”
I laugh at that, waving goodbye as I slip out of the room and down the stairs. Liam calls out goodbye, waving to me while Ronan and Asher ignore me before I’m out of the house and in my car. It’s decided. I’m done with Bridgette. I can’t let her be in my life any more than I have to.
The easiest part is admitting you have a problem. Actually following through…yeah, we’ll see how that goes.