Chapter 14
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Collin
I wheezed, the air seeming to be sucked from my lungs with every step. Or, limp I should say. Hunter gripped my arm, trying his best to keep me steady, while Foster got me on my other side as we approached my door. Every inch of me ached, yearning for more pain medication.
I’d been an idiot throwing that fight, but I hadn’t expected Rocky to go as hard on me as he did either. Normally, he was a fair fighter. Something had definitely crawled up his ass and died that day.
When we made it to my bed, the guys helped prop my legs and head up in an attempt to elevate my body and then tucked me in like I was a small child.
I was grateful for them, but my mind remained elsewhere. I knew I’d seen her; it couldn’t have simply been a figment of my imagination. The fear that had coursed through my veins, scared of what she planned on doing to me while I was helpless in that bed still lingered in my chest. She could have probably killed me and gotten away with it if she had wanted to. That meant she probably had bigger plans for me.
“I’m going to go grab you something from the cafeteria,” Foster offered, his jaw tight with tension as he looked over my broken state. “And if I pass Rocky on the way, I’m going to beat his ass.”
A laugh got lodged in my throat as my lungs contracted and pain splintered through me, making me wince. Foster was one person that could take Rocky in a fight, and even then, it was fifty-fifty on who would win. That’s a fight I’d like to see, considering they’d only thrown hands in the ring and not out of hatred for one another.
Foster took his leave, Myles mumbling for me to get better before following behind him muttering about more shit he needed to take care of. As much as it annoyed me, I didn’t have the energy to comment on it.
When the door closed behind them, Hunter leaned down, invading my personal space, his hands gripping the sheet as his eyes searched mine.
“I have to know,” he began. “Did you really see her?”
“I swear it,” I confirmed. “She’s alive.”
My chest lightened at the prospect of someone actually believing me about this. I thought for sure Hunter was taking Foster’s side on this one. To know that maybe, just maybe, I wasn’t alone in this after all, made me feel a lot better.
Hunter sighed and threaded his fingers through his chocolate-colored hair. “Fuck,” he muttered, righting his posture. He started pacing back and forth across the room, his brows pinched, and his lips set into a thin line. “What the hell does she want? Why is she still lingering around? Why didn’t she run?” he rambled.
Those were all questions I’d asked myself countless times, never coming up with an answer that made sense except for one.
“I think she’s planning something.”
Hunter’s movements stopped and his head whipped over in my direction. “Like what, some grand revenge scheme?” When I nodded, he snorted. “Because that worked out so well for her last time.”
This time it was my turn to be confused. Sure, she did some retaliation, but considering what we did to her, I wasn’t sure if it qualified as actual payback. This felt…different. The look in her eyes, the tension in her limbs, how in control she seemed.
“I don’t know man, she looked like she wanted…blood.” The words that left her lips didn’t match the anger and fire behind her irises. She thought she was playing me for a fool, but I wasn’t na?ve.
“Are you scared of her ?” he asked in bewilderment, like the mere thought was insane to him. “She’s like a hundred pounds and doesn’t stand a chance against the four of us.”
He had a point. I wasn’t the type to scare easily; it had simply caught me by surprise. A breath of amusement fluttered from my lips at the absurdity. What the hell was wrong with me? Scared of a petite female who couldn’t take one of us let alone four. That was proven with how many times we’d hauled her away or forced her to follow us around. There was no way she’d do that willingly, so she knew she was nothing compared to us.
“You’re right,” I said with a shake of my head. “I don’t know what I was thinking.”
“If I’m being honest,” Hunter started, taking a seat on the edge of my bed, making it dip at my side. “I’m relieved she’s not dead.”
My mouth kicked up in acknowledgment, my chest feeling loads lighter than it had over the last couple months. “Me too.” Since she was still alive, there would never be a body for them to find. Aside from Raven’s. My stomach twisted with that knowledge, making my chest tighten once again. Fuck. What kind of shit did we get ourselves into? How was Myles always able to do this like it meant nothing? Did he ever feel paranoia?
“Do you think she’ll pay all of us an individual visit, or were you just an exception?” He smirked, arching an eyebrow.
“I doubt she will. I think she only came to see me because I was in the hospital. She knows any of us could overpower her if we wanted; it would be stupid of her to do that.”
He nodded in agreement, his lips pursed while his eyes grew distant, getting lost in his thoughts. Even Hunter seemed a little better since I’d mentioned her being alive the other day. The bags beneath his eyes weren’t as potent, and today, I didn’t smell any alcohol on him. His hair even appeared to be washed.
“Foster and Myles aren’t going to believe it,” he pointed out, slinging his brown eyes in my direction. “I guess they’ll be in for a rude awakening when she inevitably does make her grand appearance.”
“Foster and Myles are both hard-headed,” I agreed. “Why the fuck would I make something like that up?” The fact that I was accused of hitting my head, seeing things, and being unwell, pissed me off. Especially coming from my best friend. He even had me believing that maybe he was right, and I was fucked in the head, but I know what I saw. Foster could go screw himself.
Hunter shrugged, seeming to follow my exact train of thought if his facial expressions were anything to go by. “You know how Foster is. He’ll have to find out for himself. It’s a lot to take in, and even…unbelievable.” His eyebrows pinched together at the end of that sentence.
“Why do you believe me then?”
“Because I know you, and I saw how frantic you were about the whole thing. You can’t fake fear like that.”
Relief spilled through me but was quickly replaced with another emotion—unease. One problem might have been solved, but what about the new problem that has now arisen? If Aspen were alive, which she was, then that meant our reasoning for attempting to kill her in the first place was for nothing. If Foster found out she was still alive, there was no doubt in my mind that she wouldn’t be for long. I couldn’t let him kill her. Not again.
“Do you think she’ll go to the police?” I questioned. “About Raven?”
Hunter blew out a breath, his posture going rigid. “There’s no way of knowing. I’d be surprised if she hadn’t already gone to them.”
The thought was enough to have bile rising to the back of my throat while paranoia coiled around my gut. I couldn’t get arrested, couldn’t live the rest of my days in a maximum-security prison where I’d be separated from the guys. We had to do something about Aspen, I just didn’t know what.
There was no time to finish our conversation due to Foster sauntering into the room with a plate of steaming food. My mouth salivated at the sight, my gaze sweeping across the tray and taking note of the chicken fried steak and veggies sitting off to the side. Academy food topped hospital food any day.
“You’re able to feed yourself, right?” Foster asked, placing a bottle of water down on my bedside table.
I rolled my eyes. “My wrist was sprained, not broken.” And even then, it was a light sprain. The real pain was my collapsed lung and bruised ribs.
Foster gently sat the tray of food in my lap and handed me the silverware I’d be needing in order to eat. I was propped up enough that it was manageable, so I quietly dug in while Foster and Hunter immersed themselves in a conversation about Rocky and how he deserved to pay for this.
The gravy melted in my mouth, warming my throat with every bite. This was heaven compared to what I’d been eating the last few days.
“Where’s he been sneaking off to lately anyways?” Foster demanded, piquing my interest.
I swallowed; my brows pinched in confusion. “What do you mean?”
They both turned to face me in synchronization, their movements seemingly robotic.
“He’s been late to the gym on Saturdays, sometimes has to leave early, I caught him running through the parking lot last week away from the academy; something feels weird,” Foster supplied. “Like he’s up to something.”
While Rocky has always been a thorn in our sides, he seemed harmless for the most part. We did our trades and that was that. Never had any issues. We didn’t like each other, but it never got out of hand.
“Maybe he’s fucking Miss Raleigh in secret,” Hunter joked.
“I doubt it,” I mumbled, drawing their attention back to me. “He walks around like he’s full of morals and like we’re beneath him.”
“Could be a guise,” Foster interjected. “Why else would he be sneaking around the teacher’s apartment complex?”
That was a good question, one we definitely needed to find out the answer to. Even if it was to catch him in the act with Miss Raleigh, it would be good leverage. I shrugged and took another bite, savoring the taste. I was too broken to do anything right now anyways; it would have to wait until I’d healed more.
My muscles relaxed as the pain medicine filled my veins, dulling the ache that had been there before. Foster had left earlier in the day, but Hunter had been adamant about staying with me and was currently passed out in my armchair, his neck in an uncomfortable looking position.
A sigh fluttered past my lips as my gaze drifted to the TV mounted to the wall, the black screen staring back at me. The drug forced me into a relaxed state, though it didn’t stop my thoughts from wandering. I was tired of thinking, tired of being paranoid, tired of the guilt that ate away at me every single day, and most of all, I was tired of playing by everyone else’s rules. I’d been a coward before; fiercely loyal to the point that I did everything asked of me. That had to stop. It was time for me to make my own choices, regardless of who was against it.
My eyes darted over to the window where the curtains were slightly parted to give me a view of the dark blue sky, indicating it was officially nighttime. Being holed up in my room all day did nothing for my depression, making it consume me entirely as I had nothing but my thoughts to keep me company throughout most of the day.
Classes seemed even less important than they had before, making me question why I was still going along with this charade. After ending up in the hospital, I was way behind on my work with no hope of catching up. Not to mention the many days I’d missed before that.
Hunter shifted, forcing my gaze back to him right as his eyes met mine. “You’re still awake?” he grumbled, cracking his neck as he re-positioned himself in the chair.
“I’m on drugs, remember?” I challenged.
He snorted at that and then proceeded to rub the sleep from his eyes. “I wish I was. I’ve been sober for three days.” My eyebrows rose at that admission, hope filling my chest.
I’d seen the empty pill bottles lying around his room, but never bothered to point it out. We were both coping in our own way at the time; it would have been hypocritical of me to say anything. Knowing Hunter had been suffering too brought me a sense of comfort. Myles and Foster didn’t seem like they could be bothered, almost like neither of them had a soul or any set of morals. It made me feel alone, which was much worse.
“I can’t get her out of my head,” I admitted, surprising even myself.
This time it was Hunter’s turn to raise his eyebrows in surprise. “In what way?” he asked, intertwining his fingers together within his lap like this was a therapist’s office and he was the shrink.
I lifted a shoulder in a shrug, unsure of how much I should tell him. He made it clear on how he felt about Aspen. She was nothing to him, and all he’d wanted to do was break her in the end. But I was tired of the secrets between us, of the unsaid words. We were all in this together. Ever since she came to see me, she’s all I’ve been able to think about, and knowing she was still alive changed everything.
“I want her forgiveness. She didn’t deserve what she got, regardless of all the twisted shit you said and did to her. She didn’t deserve it.” My eyes searched his as I stared him down with an intense gaze, finally owning up to the things I wanted.
His bottom lip slipped between his teeth as he contemplated what I’d just said. He was silent for a long moment, my heart thumping with every second that passed between us.
Finally, he blew out a breath. “I only said those things to hurt her,” he admitted. “I never truly believed them. We were always in the wrong, and I’d always been acutely aware of that. But if it’s forgiveness you’re wanting from her, I don’t think you’ll get it.”
My jaw slackened in astonishment, disbelief coursing through every fiber of my being. Never in a million years did I expect those words to leave his lips, never would I have even considered that it had all just been words to him. Not with the way he treated her. He was right about one thing though. It would take a lot for her to even consider forgiving any of us.
I nodded my agreement. I knew it wouldn’t be easy, but I never wanted any of that to happen. If Raven hadn’t been killed, we’d have better luck at being forgiven, that much was obvious, but Aspen was also different. She was unlike any girl I’d encountered before. Just as twisted as we were; she liked some of the things we did to her and even despite it all, she still kissed Hunter after it was all said and done.
My pulse kicked up, my dick twitching in my pants from the mere memory of it. Even coated in Raven’s blood, she reacted to our touch. She could blame it on whatever she wanted to, but I knew the truth. She craved us just as much as we craved her.
Blood typically made me squeamish, but the only thing I could think about when I was inside of her was her . Everything else faded to black, becoming unimportant.
“You’re probably right,” I agreed, doing my best to keep my breathing even due to the pain in my lungs and ribs. “But we’ll see. There’s a part of her that yearns for all of us, I’ve seen it.”
“That was before we raped her, killed her best friend, and tried to kill her,” he reminded me. “I don’t think she’ll want any of us ever again.”
Once again, he had a point. There was no telling what was going through her mind right now. She probably wanted us all dead. That was fine though; I was a patient person.