Chapter Twenty-Six
“Carson, turn the music down. You’re going to blow out my speakers.”
“Oh, come on, Sydney. Lighten up.” My brother grins at me from the passenger seat, the moonlight shining on his sandy hair. “This is my favorite part.” He starts singing along to the refrain, bopping his head and hands in time with the guitar.
I roll my eyes. For someone eight years older than me, he has his moments when he acts like the younger sibling. You’d think he is eighteen, not me.
“Also, this car is so old, I doubt my music is going to ruin what’s already broken.”
“Don’t make fun of my car.” I glare at him and then give the console a quick pat.It had taken me forever to save up for it. “You’re not old, girl, he’s just mean.”
“Oh, Sydney.” He looks at me with pity. “You’re talking to the car, still? This is why you need to get out of this town and head to college ASAP so you can make real friends. Live life more.”
“I have real friends.”
“Dad and I don’t count.”
I gape at him. “Rude.”
But I smile as I continue driving along the dark road. I have a few good friends in high school, mainly the other students in Yearbook, but I’m not close to anyone like I am with Carson and Dad. Not even my boyfriend, whom I am planning to break up before we leave for college.
Carson is probably my best friend. I don’t care that that is the truth. My family is the best, even if they think I am a little high-strung.
I am just glad that Carson came home for Easter this year. He loves his work and rarely leaves California to come back to Missouri. I am determined to join him out there once I graduate college. Maybe I could even get a job at the same company.
“You know, Vince is taking me to prom, and we’re going to this fancy lake house for prom weekend. So, I am living, thank you very much.”
“Ooooo.” He waggles his eyebrows. “Just make sure he wraps it. I can even get you some if you need.”
“Seriously, C?” My face heats, and I keep all my focus on the road in front of me.
“I won’t tell Dad.” He pokes my arm, but then his tone sobers. “I’m serious, S. Have fun. I told you, I’ve got you and Dad. You don’t need to spend all your time working and studying. It’s your senior year. You have to live for yourself, Syd. No one else is going to do it for you. We can’t be perfect. You can’t be perfect. Something is always going to go wrong, so just embrace what you can. No regrets.”
“And you should be living your life, not sending half your money to us.” I level him with the same serious tone.
“Trust me, I live my life plenty.”
He chuckles and rolls down the window. Out of my peripheral, I see him throw an arm out the window. The chill night breeze fills the car.
When I roll to a stop at the next light, I poke him back. “Love you.”
He looks at me with a silly smile and reaches out to ruffle my short blonde hair. “Love you, too. No regrets, okay?”
“No regrets.” I grin.
A beep behind me signals the light change. I turn back to the road and start rolling through the intersection.
“Sydney!”
Carson’s panicked yell is the only warning I have before the car starts spinning.
Everything moves fast and slow.
I don’t understand what’s going on. The world seems to endlessly swirl around me before coming to an abrupt stop. My body jerks with the force, and my vision blurs. Everything hurts. My head is pounding, and I slowly realize we were just hit. I can’t see, everything is fading around me. I force my eyes to stay open, and make my head turn to look at my brother.
A guttural scream leaves my throat, and then the pain takes me under.
***
My eyes fly open.
There’s a loud, quick beeping around me. Panic wracks my body as I take in the pristine white walls. My eyes flick to the IV in my hand and the hospital bed I’m resting on.
No.
No. No. No.
The sound of a door opening has my head swiveling.
My dad drops the coffee in his hand, and it splashes all over the white tiles as races toward me. Tears fill his eyes as he grips my hand lightly.
“Bug?”
“Carson?” I croak.
His eyes soften with sadness and then bleed with worry.
“Sydney,” he says tentatively. “How old are you?”
I frown, confused by the question. But it’s enough to rip me out of the painful memory. I haven’t had a nightmare about the accident in years, and never one as real as that had been. Everything comes flooding back, but recent memories are still hazy. I fight through them.
“Twenty—” My voice stutters, and I see his eyes widen. “Twenty-six. Sorry,” I rush out.
“Don’t be. That’s good. That’s really good.”
Relief floods his wrinkled face, and he lets out a sigh, patting my hand before pulling a chair to the side of the hospital bed.
My body itches at the familiarity of the scene. I hate hospitals. Hate being in them. Hate what they remind me of.
“Thank God, Sydney. You had me worried there.” A watery tear drips down his face.
“What happened?”
“There was an accident; a car hit yours.”
A new wave of panic rolls over me as flashes come back to me.
“The girls.” The words leave me with such raw pain.
“They’re fine. Just a bit bruised up, like you, but fine. The vehicle hit your side first, but the car you were in was quite the tank; it took most of the damage. The other driver died on impact though.”
My chest hollows at the mention of death, but the relief I feel that the girls are all right wins out.
I let out a sigh only to wince at the pain it creates. My ribs feel like they’re on fire.
My hand comes up to cup my side, but it sets off a jolt of pain in my shoulder. Stars burst in my vision.
“Are you sure nothing’s broken?” I wheeze.
“Trust me, that boyfriend of yours made sure you had every test possible.” He gives me a pointed look that says I have some explaining to do. “Your shoulder was dislocated, so they had to reset it. Your ribs have bruising, but there’s nothing they can do other than monitor it. The others have some whiplash.”
Suddenly, I break down in tears, everything becoming way too much. My dad starts crying as well, and it just spurs me on further. It hurts, but the emotions wrack my body with violent sobs.
I know better than to keep it in.
“Sydney.”
I look up through blurred eyes, but I don’t need to see to know who it is. That voice is written in my DNA.
“Parker,” I sob.
The bed dips with his weight as his hands come around my face. The whites of his eyes are lined with red, making them look even more icy blue than usual.
“How are you feeling?”
“A little sore.”
“Sorry.” He immediately removes his touch.
“No.” I fight through the fire in my shoulder to grab his hands. Our connection is what I need right now. Seeing him is what I need. “Don’t be sorry.”
He grips my hands more tightly and brings them up to his forehead briefly before placing a kiss on them. He looks up at me from our joined hands. Worry lines are thick between his brows.
“But I am. I am so fucking sorry, love.”
“Why? It’s not your fault.”
“I should’ve made you stay in the car with us.”
I shake my head, ignoring the way it thuds with the motion.
“If it wasn’t me, it would’ve been Stevie.” My heart tears at that thought, but I push the “what if” out of my mind. “You couldn’t have stopped the car, Parker.”
It is something that has taken me years to learn, and I wouldn’t let the same emotions eat Parker alive like they had me.
Nothing that night would have stopped that drunk driver from smashing into Carson and me. Even though there were parts of me that had said it wouldn’t have happened if I’d driven a few miles slower, or taken a different route home, or even if we’d stopped to get Carson the drive-through fries he’d wanted. There were always a million alternatives, but I couldn’t live with regrets. Carson would hate me if I did. So, I would be that person for Parker.
“Besides, I’m fine.”
Clearly, the watery smile I give him isn’t very convincing because his gaze hardens.
“You scared me half to death. You weren’t waking up, Syd. You weren’t waking up. The doctor’s said you would be fine but… Lee and Deer came to last night, and you just—” His voice cracks and a stray tear rolls down his cheek. “Fuck, love.”
“I’m here, Parker.”
“You can’t go anywhere.”
“I’m not. You’re stuck with me.”
“I thought you said it wasn’t healthy to be codependent.”
His teasing makes me smile, and he leans down and places a soft kiss to my nose. Warmth spreads throughout my body, healing me from the inside out.
“I didn’t know, Syd.”
I cock my head at the words, not understanding. “What?”
“Your brother.”
My chest aches momentarily, and I glare at my dad with a sigh. “Really?”
“I was emotional. My anger might have been a little misplaced.” He avoids my stare, looking very interested at a patch of light on the ceiling. “I was worried I’d lost another one.”
I can’t get mad at him for that. Plus, I knew I was going to have to talk about it with Parker eventually.
“I’m sorry, Dad.”
“It’s fine, Bug. You’re fine.”
The doctor comes in then and gives me a check-up, adjusting my IV and making sure I don’t have a concussion or anything worse now that I’m awake. As he starts to leave, he is almost knocked over by the tattooed man barreling into the room.
“Is she awake?” Aleks asks.
Stevie and Jackson are hot on his heels, wheeling Lee and Deer in with them. My chest rips and repairs looking at the small smattering of bruises on my girls.
Aleks’ green eyes light up when he sees me, and he all but shoves Parker aside to wrap me in a hug.
“Ow,” I wince.
“Dude, careful.” Jackson wrenches him off me, and he goes tumbling onto the floor with an oomph.
“Really, babe?” Stevie holds a hand out to lift him up.
I laugh at the scene, grateful for the slice of normalcy.
“How are you?” Stevie rounds Jackson and sits on the side of my bed opposite Parker.
I had a feeling I was going to be answering some iteration of that same question a lot.
“I don’t feel that bad, honest.”
I mean, it certainly felt like I’d just been hit by a car, but I wasn’t going to worry anyone more than necessary.
“I’m sorry.” Her chocolate eyes melt with guilt.
“I shouldn’t have made you get in the car with us.” Tears drip off Lee’s bottom lashes as she wheels herself closer to the bed.
Deer is nibbling her bottom lip within an inch of its life.
I look at all the worried faces around me.
All right. That is enough.
“Don’t you all start.” I push myself up, gritting through the pain. “Look, I’m going to say this once and once only. What happened isn’t anyone’s fault. There are a million things that can happen in any day, and we can’t prevent them all.” I steel them all with a hard look. “You’re all going to do more damage worrying about the what ifs. Life can’t move on if you are stuck in the past. What happened, happened, and everyone’s okay. So, no regrets.”
My dad rubs my arm, and I turn to him to see that knowing look in his eyes.
“No regrets,” he whispers back to me.
I place my hand over his and squeeze. I’ve dealt with my demons, and sure, it is still hard for me to get behind the wheel, but I’ve done it. I would make sure the people around me don’t suffer from the same mistakes I’d made.
“You’re the best fucking thing in our lives, love. We’d be lost without you.” Parker fiddles with my blanket.
“Yeah, without you, who would keep these fuckers in line?” Aleks jerks a thumb at his teammates.
“Me? You’re the problem child, asshole,” Jackson retorts.
“Boys, what have I told you about cursing?”
A beautiful blonde woman stands in the doorway. She has a regal elegance about her that has nothing to do with the flowing olive-green silk dress she’s wearing.
“Priscilla, you were supposed to knock first.”
“I was worried.” She purses her pink lips and side-eyes the man who places a hand on her shoulder. Looking between the two of them, I am reminded exactly where Parker gets his stunning looks from. The entire Covington clan is unnaturally beautiful. “I’m glad to see you awake, dear.”
“Thank you.” I smile back at her, accepting the soothing air she radiates.
“Oh, is she alive?” Phoebe strolls in, shattering the calm.
“Pheebs, really?” Paige winces, following closely behind. The Covington sisters are opposites as always, one sharp and one soft.
There are entirely too many people in my room right now.
It is a little overwhelming, but I accept the love for what it is.
Although, now that I’m paying attention, this room is oddly large for a hospital room. Something tells me that the golden family before me had something to do with that.
Seeing all the Covingtons together triggers something in my brain. Something that has nausea rolling through me all over again.
“What day is it?”
A quiet look is shared between everyone, including my boyfriend, who is pointedly not looking at me.
I shoot my gaze at the one person who I know will answer me.
“What is the date and time?”
Phoebe’s assessing eyes flick over me before she peers at her watch. “Sunday. Eleven eighteen a.m.”
“Parker,” I blanch, gripping his arm. “The championship. What the hell are you doing here?”
“It’s fine.” He gives me a soft smile.
“It’s not.”
I close my eyes as my brain whizzes, running through the championship schedule. Sunday is the Final Destiny run. It doesn’t start until one, so he still has time. Relief runs through me. I don’t know what hospital I am at or how far it is from the arena, but it can’t be that far.
“You need to leave now. You can’t miss the run.”
He shakes his head. “I’m disqualified, Syd.”
“What?”
How is he disqualified? Parker would never cheat, so there should be no reason for his disqualification.
“I didn’t go.”
I blink a few times, trying to process his words. Slowly, tears fill my eyes as I realize what he is saying.
“What? No. What do you mean?” I shoot a watery glare at everyone in the room. “Why did none of you do something about this?”
“I barely managed to get the boy to leave and eat some food. I doubt anyone could’ve gotten him to leave the building,” my dad scoffs.
“He’s right, honey,” Pricilla adds. “He’s stubborn like his father.”
“He just wanted to make sure you were all right.” Stevie’s voice is soft as she runs a hand over my forearm.
I shake her off and push Parker with all the strength left in my body. My shoulder explodes with pain, but I welcome it, letting it fuel my fury.
“What’s wrong with you? Why would you do that?”
“Sydney—”
“No.” Guilt strangles my throat, cutting off my air. “Oh God. I ruined everything.”
“Hey, hey,” he hushes, bringing my face to his. “You did nothing.”
“I—”
“What did you just say, Sydney Lake? What happened, happened, and everyone’s okay. No regrets. And I don’t have any regrets skipping the runs. I can always compete next year. There’s always another championship. But there’s not another you. And not being by your side? That I would’ve regretted. I wouldn’t have been able to live with myself if I left you and something happened.”
“It was more than just the championship,” I whisper to him.
“And you told me you’d like me even if I was poor,” he whispers back.
“But your family—”
“You are my family, too.”
I love this boy in front of me.
I love him, and I know I have the power to fix at least some of this.
“You need to go.” My voice is solid and sure.
“What?”
“You might not be able to win the championship, but you can still compete in the run.”
“Sydney—”
“Parker Covington, I’m not fucking around.”
Silence fills the room.
Jackson lets out a low whistle. “She just swore, dude.”
“Shut up.” Parker glares at him briefly before looking back at me. “I’m not leaving you.”
“Don’t be dumb, Parker. I’m perfectly fine. But if you don’t go to that run right this very second, I promise you that I won’t be the only person in a hospital bed.”
Phoebe lets out a snort, and Paige pinches her.
“Go show Creep that he’s no match for you. Show the world that you can beat him.” I push a soft kiss to his lips. “You need to do this.”
Because he would regret it if he didn’t.
Parker would come to terms with his family because, at the end of the day, he would always have their love. While a part of him had worried about disappointing them, I know that would never be the case. They have the same love between them as my father and I have. So long as Parker is happy, they would be. And Parker’s happiness lies with his gaming career. He would feel more disappointed in himself if he is left in the balance with Creep, if he doesn’t give this a shot. He knew going into this championship that winning those first two runs was in the bag. It is the unknown of Final Destiny that will hang over him until he faces it.
I am going to make him face it.
“Listen to the girl,” a rich British voice rumbles into the room.
Parker’s hands fall from my jaw as everyone turns to look at the newcomer.
Suddenly, the room feels too full.
The formidable man strolling into the room has a thick head of silver hair and clear blue eyes. The very same eyes as four other people in this room. Philip Covington stops at the end of my bed, and I do my best to keep eye contact with him. Something tells me that I’ll lose if I look away.
“Dad, what’re you doing here?” Patrick Covington asks.
“My meeting with the Keltons ended early, so I thought I would stop by.” He cocks his head, assessing me. “It’s a pleasure to you meet you, Sydney.”
“You too, sir.” I swallow the ball in my throat.
He’s a lot more intimidating than I expected. No wonder Parker felt pressure from him.
“What shall you do, Parker?”
His icy stare shifts from me to his grandson. I watch the rise of Parker’s chest as he remains silent for a few beats. And then I see it, that slight uptick of his mouth, the barest hint of a smirk.
“I’m going to need a boatload of energy drinks.”