Chapter 27
KELSEY
One second, we’re cheering as Ryder sped to the finish line, next, everyone is gasping, and the crowd goes into frantic screams. The Vipers collided with Hayden’s car, and now both are a mangled, fiery mess on the track.
“Ma’am!” Somebody yells and tries to grip my arm, but I shrug them off, running onto the track. I see Ryder running too. He abandoned his car feet away from the finish line. He keeps screaming for Hayden, but my brain is telling me what my heart doesn’t want to believe.
My heart is palpitating in my chest, and I feel sick to my stomach. Lights and sirens come from every direction, while crew members work diligently to extinguish the fire. I can’t see any signs of Hayden, but I can’t even tell what I’m looking at. It’s all charred, smoking metal.
First responders arrive at the scene and start pulling gurneys and equipment out of the trucks. I press my hand to my chest, and my bottom lip quivers.
“Ma’am, I need you to step away.” A police officer says. I nod absently and do as he says.
A body is pulled from one of the frames, and I hold my breath until I confirm it isn’t Hayden. The paramedic presses two fingers to the man’s neck, then shakes his head. He’s dead.
If he’s dead…. No.
Ryder fights with an officer who is trying to push him away from the scene.
“That’s my brother!” He shouts, jabbing a finger in the direction of the wreckage.
“We need space to work.”
Ryder isn’t having it. He shoves past the officer and drops to his knees beside one of the frames. Bloodied knuckles lay limp on the asphalt. My hand covers my mouth, softening the guttural cry that escapes. My knees give out, and I fall, scraping them on the cold pavement.
When Ryder pulls part of his body out, he grips him under the arms and drags him the rest of the way. I get up and run on wobbly legs only to drop again next to them.
“No. No. No.” My voice breaks. “Hayden, no! Please, God!!”
Ryder gently removes the helmet, and his face is blistered and a bloody mess. His clothes are a tattered, burned mess with most of his raw skin exposed.
“Hey!” Ryder shouts to the paramedics. “He has a pulse,” he rushes out when one of them runs over with the medical bag.
“Hayden, wake up,” I beg, gripping his cut-up hand. His injuries are severe. If he hadn’t had the helmet, he would have been crushed.
His chest rattles with each agonizing breath. I’ve heard that sound once before. When my grandmother passed away, they called it the death rattle. The paramedic works quickly to hook him up to the machine. His heart rate is weak, and so is his oxygen, but he’s alive.
Two more medics rush over with a gurney, and they lower it to the ground before lifting him onto it. Hayden grunts at the movement.
“Hey, I’m we’re. We’re here.” I don’t know if he’s conscious, but I need him to know he isn’t alone.
“Stay with me, brother,” Ryder urges beside me.
“What the fuck happened?” Jessie yells, breathlessly, behind me. Mascara runs down her cheeks, and her eyes are glossy and red.
“The Vipers,” Ryder growls. “Alejandro’s lucky he’s dead.”
“Motherfuckers!”
“He needs trauma,” One of the medics says to another as they race him to the back of the ambulance.
“Is he,” I hiccup, “gonna be okay?” I sniff, wiping the tears from my cheeks.
Ryder runs a hand through his hair and shouts, “Fuck!”
“We need to go. We need to follow that ambulance,” Jessie says, and we run to Ryder’s car. Ryder kicks it into gear, and we fly through the exit gates.
We’ve been in the hospital waiting room for two hours. They rushed Hayden to trauma and haven’t heard anything from the doctor since.
“What do we do about the Vipers?” Jessie’s the first to speak since we’ve been here.
Ryder is either pacing the halls or he’s outside punching the brick wall.
His hand is bleeding and swollen, but he won’t let me look at it.
I try to talk to him, and he turns away or goes back outside.
I know he’s freaking out, and I want to be there for him, but how can I be if he won’t let me?
So I sit here with Jessie in silence instead, while he continues to pace.
The double doors with the words “Authorized Personnel Only” written on them swing open. A doctor walks out and immediately finds us. “Are you the family of Hayden Langley?”
We all answer anxiously, “Yes,” and stand to our feet.
The doctor frowns, taking a deep breath with his eyes closing briefly. Oh no. “Hayden suffered a major accident. Most wouldn’t have been pulled out alive.”
“Get to the point,” Ryder hisses.
The doctor nods, “He’s stable… For now. He’s in a medically induced coma with a ventilator.”
“He’s going to live, right?” Jessie asks.
“He has a long road to recovery if he does. His pelvis was crushed, he has a broken clavicle, radius, and spinal fracture at the base of his skull.”
“When can we see him?” I ask.
“You can see him now, but prepare yourselves.” He gives a tight-lipped smile. “I’ll have the nurse show you to his unit.”
The doctor leaves, and we wait impatiently for the nurse in silence. I’ve resumed biting my nails, and that empty, nauseating feeling in my stomach returns. I can’t remember the last time I’ve eaten anything, not that I’ve been able to stomach anything recently anyway.
“I’m gonna go grab a water. Anyone else want one?” I offer.
“Nah,” Ryder answers.
“I’ll go with you.” Jessie jumps up and grabs her purse.
I stick my two dollars into the machine and punch in the code for the water.
I watch it drop down, then grab it from the dispenser.
I pop the cap, taking a sip. The water gets lodged in my throat, and I gag.
I try to swallow, not wanting to puke in the middle of the emergency waiting room, but I fail miserably.
I barely make it to the trashcan in the corner of the room before it all comes back up, making me choke.
Jessie is hot on my heels. She pulls my hair back and pats my back. “Bitch, are you good?”
I gasp, swallowing air, “Uh huh.”
“You’ve been getting sick a lot lately,” She confronts with a knowing look.
I didn’t think she had noticed. I’ve tried being discreet about it, to keep everyone from worrying about me relapsing back into my eating disorder.
I’ve been meaning to speak with Doctor Howard about changing my prescription, but I keep forgetting.
I haven’t exactly had the chance to do that with everything going on.
“It’s the meds. I need to change them.”
“We’ll talk about this later,” She says.
An older nurse in blue scrubs walks out, “Langley family?” She calls out into the waiting room. I wipe my mouth with the back of my hand, and we collectively run up to her. “I’ll be taking you to Mr. Langley’s unit.”
The nurse scans her badge and escorts us through a set of wooden double doors to an elevator. We wait for it to descend and open before we all step on, then she presses the button, taking us to the fourth floor.
Jessie grabs my hand when we exit on the fourth floor, and I grip hers back just as anxiously. “I’m really nervous,” I whisper in her ear.
“Me too.”
The ICU sign over the nurses’ station has me taking a deep breath, attempting to swallow the knot that refuses to go down. Beeping from the machines, people groaning painfully, and family crying beside their loved ones is all too overwhelming.
“Right this way,” The nurse continues to lead us past the nurses’ station and down another hall that branches off to the right. The third door on the left is where we stop. She steps to the side and draws the curtain back.
I inwardly gasp, my hand instinctively covering my mouth. Hayden is covered in gauze head to toe, and his arm is suspended in the air.
“I can’t do this.” My eyes burn, and I turn away.
I hear Jessie’s sobs from the hallway, and my body begins to tremble. I feel a presence at my back and glance over my shoulder to find Ryder with his hands against the hallway wall, looking down at the ground. I walk over to him, pressing my hand to his shoulder, and he tenses.
“I’m so sorry,” My voice breaks, and I sniff.
“He’s not dying.” He growls as if that’s what I was insinuating.
“He’s not,” I agree.
Jessie joins us in the hall, “You should go see him, Kels.”
I nod and take slow steps into the room. I watch my feet instead of looking up. Afraid of what I’ll see. Hayden has become one of my best friends over the past few months. I can’t lose him. I’ve already lost my parents, and they were all I had until meeting them.
Who am I supposed to have my smoke seshes with if he’s gone? Who’s going to crack jokes at me and make me laugh? Ryder has no sense of humor, that’s for sure. He’s too serious about everything. I rarely ever hear him laugh.
I stand beside his bed, and I drag my gaze up inch by inch until they land at the foot of his bed. The steady rhythm of the heart monitor beeps beside me. I trail my gaze up his legs to his hand, where I place mine over his. He’s warm. His large calloused hand remains so still, and my heart breaks.
“Hayden—” I sniff again, “You have to pull through this. I need you. We need you.” My throat constricts as I speak the words I never thought I’d speak.
See, that’s the thing about life. It’s brutal and unexpected. You never know what will be thrown at you tomorrow, so it’s important not to take things for granted, or you’ll regret it. You won’t realize how much you missed out on until it’s too late and you can’t go back and change it.
I can’t bring myself to look at his face. That will be what breaks me. His beautiful, handsome face. Only his hand tattoo is visible, and I trace it with my thumb.
“I would give anything to hear one of your corny jokes and that laugh again.” I wait. I don’t know why. He isn’t going to respond. He can’t. He’s in a medically induced coma, dumbass!
“You can’t leave me. You gave me that car, and you’re supposed to ride with me in it, damn it!
You promised me you would take me back to the waterfall!
” Tears pour down my face, and my nose is all stuffy.
I squeeze his hand one more time and close my eyes, kissing his cheek.
I drop my eyes back to the floor and cry quietly as I step back into the hall with Jess and Ry.
On the way out to the car, my mind plays through memories.