Chapter 26
Chapter Twenty-Six
F rankie was rushed into the operating room, leaving me alone to wait—to worry—to relive those horrible moments, wondering if I’d reacted differently if we wouldn’t be here.
How was it fair I walked away with only bruises while Frankie sustained life-threatening injuries?
I should sit down, but I couldn’t.
My back pressed into the sterile, white hospital walls. I knew I looked a sight, covered in blood and wearing only a bra and shorts, but my appearance couldn’t be further from my mind.
Slinking to the floor, I curled into a ball, the severity of what happened barreling into me like a battering ram. My chest squeezed, making breathing difficult. I dropped my head onto my knees, trying to keep my shit together, on the verge of either passing out or bursting into tears.
“Arie?”
I stiffened at the sound of my name in that familiar voice. This wave of emotion rode through me, part of it because I was suddenly not alone—even if he was the last person I expected to see.
My head lifted.
Cole stood over me, a nasty scowl etched on his lips .
I blinked. Seeing him standing only feet away lanced a bolt of shock through me as his dark eyes captured and held mine. My mind went blank and yet whirled. The combination made me dizzy. He strutted straight for me, lifting me off the floor and yanking me into his arms.
I let him hold me longer than I should, but I craved the comfort of someone else, of someone I could lean on. Cole might not be that person, but he had a foxy strength. It was like being hugged by the devil, yet other times, it was like being engulfed by angel wings.
His chest heaved, and I swore I felt a shudder underneath me, but I couldn’t tell if it was mine or his. No matter how upset or angry I was with him, I couldn’t deny the comfort he offered. His scent, his arms, his familiarity, and the contour of his body gave me a strength I desperately needed. It was like he lent me the strength I didn’t have.
When I lifted my head, our eyes met. His were somber and narrowed. He brushed a tendril of hair behind my ear.
“What are you doing here?” I asked. This was the first time we’d seen each other in a week, and I couldn’t process how I felt, not with everything going on with Frankie. A week wasn’t long yet somehow seemed like a month or more.
His hands moved from my back to run down my arms as he surveyed me. “You’re okay,” he murmured, still doing a thorough examination as if he couldn’t believe I wasn’t hurt.
I couldn’t blame him considering how I looked. I didn’t know what to do with my hands, so I let them awkwardly fall to my sides. “Only because of Frankie.” I tripped over her name, my voice quivering, and my vision obscured with tears.
He wiped the dampness slipping down my cheeks, not caring about the blood. “How is she?” he asked as if realizing for the first time my best friend was hurt and why I was at the hospital.
I shook my head. “I-I don’t know. She’s in surgery.”
“Stay here. I’ll see if I can get any information on her.” He shed out of his white tee. “Here, put this on.” He tugged his shirt over my head.
“I’ll ruin it,” I protested, but it was pointless.
“I have an extra shirt in my car.” Guiding me to a chair, he sat me down. “Don’t move. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”
Watching him walk shirtless to the nurse’s station, I wrapped my arms a round the clean cotton that felt like a blanket against my skin. It seemed wrong that Frankie lay alone on an operating table while I had Cole swooping in like a white knight.
I had no doubt the young woman behind the desk would give Cole any information he wanted, and how could I blame her? Seeing the perfectly sculpted chest covered in tattoos did one of two things to the female population. They either gawked in appreciation or judged in fear.
She was a gawker.
His handsome face only enhanced the Cole effect.
As my gaze followed him, I remembered he never told me how he ended up at the hospital. How had he known I was here? Why had he thought I was the one hurt?
I couldn’t hear what he said to the nurse, but she appeared charmed, a sheepish, sympathetic smile on her lips.
Any other time, I would have rolled my eyes.
I took out my phone and made the difficult task of calling Frankie’s mom, a conversation I dreaded, but it had to be done.
Cole returned, wearing a different shirt, as I finished talking with a now very frantic and frazzled Carrie Barlow. Frankie’s mom was a bit scattered on a good day. She would be an utter mess, rushing to be by her daughter’s side.
“She’s stable,” Cole said. “Still in surgery, but so far, it doesn’t look like any vital organs were impacted. The biggest concern is the amount of blood she lost. The doctor believes she will pull through with a full recovery.”
“Oh god,” I sighed. The tension I’d been holding in my shoulders unknotted as I dropped my face into my hands, taking a moment to breathe easier. “I was so scared.” I was an emotional wreck, the sobs I’d been suppressing finally breaking and freely falling down my cheeks.
Cole pulled my head to his shoulder, and I buried my head into his neck while he rubbed circles on my back. He brushed his lips over my hair before resting his chin on my head. “Let it go, Killer.”
It took another long few moments, but I managed to pull back, wiping my eyes. “I’m sorry for slobbering all over you.”
He frowned in that Cole way of his. “Weirdly, it wasn’t horrible. ”
A mangled chuckle bubbled out of me. “Don’t make me laugh.” Humor of any kind evoked feelings of guilt.
“Come on. Let me take you home. There’s nothing else you can do. She’ll be sedated for a while, and it gives you time to clean up and eat. I can drive you back to check on her but only after you take care of yourself.”
A responsible suggestion. I waited until Frankie’s mom arrived, which prompted guilt to press harder inside me and more tears. I couldn’t apologize enough. Carrie hugged me through it all. I promised I’d be back.
Cole ushered me out of the hospital. My body was sapped completely of energy. I was surprised my legs had the strength to carry me. It helped that Cole more or less held me up. If I tripped, he would keep me from falling.
Inside the car, the gentle rumble of the engine soothed me. We sat in silence for a mile or two, Cole sensing my need for nothingness. My mind had been speed running, and now it barely crawled, but slowly I started functioning at normal levels.
I toyed with the hem of my borrowed shirt, my gaze glancing at Cole. “How did you know I was at the hospital? Don’t misunderstand. I’m grateful you were there. I’m trying to puzzle together how you knew.”
His jaw clenched as if the memory caused him pain. “You called me.”
Confusion had my brows bunching together. “I did?”
Cole’s fingers flexed over the leather-wrapped steering wheel, slowly guiding it to the left one-handed. “You didn’t say anything when I picked up the call, but I heard you were in an ambulance.”
“And you thought it was me?”
The vein in his neck ticked. “I hoped it wasn’t, but I had to be sure.”
Warmth spread inside me, chasing the cold that had permeated my veins since I saw the knife in that asshole’s hands. I didn’t want to feel moved by his concern, but fuck me, I was. “I appreciate you coming. It helped.” More than I would admit. He was there when I hadn’t wanted to be alone.
“I know you probably don’t want to talk about it, but if you do…”
He was giving me an opening, and I chewed on the inside of my cheek, contemplating. “It happened so fast. ”
He turned the radio down a few notches. “Did you see the guy?”
I nodded. “I don’t think I’ll ever forget his face. I wish I’d been able to stop him from running.”
“If you see him again, I want you to tell me,” he said carefully.
“Why?”
He took his eyes off the road to look at me. “Just promise you won’t do anything reckless. You call me.”
“Fine,” I agreed, uncertain if I’d be able to keep that promise. He’d nearly killed my best friend. If the attacker knew what was good for him, he’d never show his face in Fallen Oaks again.
Cole’s eyes narrowed as he focused on the road. “Did you actually attack him?”
“What was I supposed to do, let him get away?” It unsettled me to think he might.
“Yes,” Cole ground out from between clenched teeth. “He could have hurt you.” Why did he look like the idea caused genuine fear in him?
Something in my chest tightened. “Well, he wanted to, but instead, he nearly killed my best friend because of me.”
“I’m going to kill her for this,” he growled so low I almost wasn’t sure I heard him correctly. It sounded as if he knew who was responsible for putting my best friend in the hospital.
I needed a name. “Who?”
He only clamped his jaw together tighter if possible.
“Cole,” I prompted. “If you have an idea who did this, you have to tell me.”
Another long pause stretched, and he shifted in his seat, cracking his neck to the side as he weighed giving me the answer I demanded. “Gianna.”
I bristled, my fingers clutching the edge of the seat. “She did this?” I hissed, and an unbridled flame licked in my heart, flurrying like a firestorm. I’m going to kill her.
“I don’t know. It’s a hunch and one I intend to follow up on.”
My head whirled in his direction. “I want to be there.”
“No, absolutely not.” He pulled into my driveway, slamming the car into park. “You’re going home and then back to the hospital.”
I glowered at him, the darkness in my expression intensifying. He wasn ’t the only one who could be scary when it suited him. “I don’t take orders from you. Remember, you ended our…agreement.”
“To save you from shit like this,” he argued, flinging off his seat belt.
“News flash, Riley, it didn’t work.”
His eyes flared with dark, dangerous emotion.
“Why do you care what happens to me? You made it clear you were done with me.” I reached for the door handle, forgetting my seat belt was still secured across my chest.
“Killer—”
I snapped back in my seat. “Don’t,” I warned, fumbling with the lock mechanism. “Don’t call me that. I’m nothing to you, remember? You lost the right to call me anything.”
“You’re right,” Cole conceded, something I never imagined he’d do.
Since I was already on an emotional roller coaster, the stewing anger wasn’t difficult to summon. “ You pushed me away. You don’t get to show up and pretend you were worried about me. Don’t bother coming back. I’ll find my own ride to the hospital. I don’t need you .” I aggressively opened the door.
“Arie,” Cole growled, leaning over the seat to glare at me as I slammed the door shut.
Nothing had changed between us. We were still stuck in the same spot, and I didn’t want to travel down that road again when I’d just veered off that road onto a new one. It was still heartbreakingly emotional, and the two roads seemed to have intersected. Now I was stuck in the center, deciding which path to take.
When the choice was between Cole and my best friend, Frankie won every time.
S adie gasped when she saw me, her hand pausing from the task of stirring whatever simmered in a large pot on the stove. It smelled like soup, warming the inside of the house to an unbearable temperature. Even with the windows open, it was hot.
“It’s not my blood,” I quickly assured, wondering how the hell I’d been in this kitchen a few hours ago and my world had been so much bright er then, which said a lot. “Frankie’s in the hospital. I need to get back after I clean up. Do you think you can drop me off?”
“Of course. Is she okay?” Sadie asked, genuine worry crinkling at the corner of her eyes. She had her blonde hair pulled back into a low messy bun while she cooked.
“I think she will be, but I don’t know,” I admitted, dropping my bag on the kitchen table.
“I’ll make you some iced tea and pour you a bowl of soup while you shower. You need to eat before you go.”
My mouth opened to protest that I didn’t have time, but my stomach rumbled loudly from the savory smell of the soup infusing the air.
“If you want a ride, you eat,” Sadie added before I could argue.
Would it be so bad to let Sadie take care of me? No, but it was difficult when I was so used to being the dependable one. Sadie had that maternal instinct that made her so good at her job.
I turned the water as hot as my skin could take it and began to scrub. The clothes I’d worn sat in the trash, including the shirt Cole let me borrow. This time, I wouldn’t be returning it.
Checking my phone as soon as I got out of the shower, I had no messages. I wanted to believe it was a good sign.
After tossing on the first clean thing I found in my room, I wolfed down the soup Sadie made me eat and drank my iced tea. I hadn’t tasted a thing, but my stomach no longer complained. It had taken effort not to burst into tears, sobbing into my bowl of soup, but with Sadie keeping me company, I held my shit together.
Sadie didn’t drive like Cole. She was responsible and didn’t have a reckless bone in her body, but she was safe.
Unlike someone else.
“Was that Crew Riley I saw drop you off?” she asked as we cruised down the Strand, heading toward the main road.
My spine stiffened. I shook my head, staring out the window. “No, it was Cole.”
“You’ve been spending a lot of time next door. Is there something going on between you?” she prodded but in a caring parental way that surprisingly didn’t bother me .
I hadn’t thought anyone noticed. Had Sadie heard the rumors? If Frankie had, then there was a good chance most of the town had as well. I sighed. “Not anymore.”
“I know you hate getting personal, but if you ever want to talk or need a sympathetic ear to listen, I’m always here. You know I love you like a daughter, Arie.”
“I know. And thank you, Sadie. Really. I mean it. I don’t know what Dad and I would do without you.”
She patted my hand. “Do you want me to come in with you?”
“No, I’ll be fine. Her mom is there. I’ll text you later once she wakes up.” Because I refused to entertain any world in which Frankie didn’t open her eyes. She was a fighter. She would get through this.
I spent another two hours in the waiting room before the doctor came out and informed us Frankie was awake. A nurse showed Carrie and me to Frankie’s room where my best friend lay under a white sheet with tubes coming out of her arms. Her eyes were heavy, but she glanced our way as we entered the room.
Hanging back while her mom rushed to her side, I lingered at the end of the bed, not wanting to interrupt. Frankie held out her hand to me, the one not hooked up with shit. I swallowed a giant lump in my throat, fighting back tears as I stepped forward, and gently clasped my fingers over hers. “Hey.”
A weak smile teased her lips as if it took effort to get her facial muscles to work, but the attempt was there. “What a fucking day,” she joked, her voice huskier than usual.
I squeezed her hand, my smile bigger than hers. It was one thing for the doctor to tell you she would recover, but it was another to see her for myself. The cluster of worry and fear that had grown inside me like a suffocating weed finally died. “Don’t ever scare me like that again.”
“I can’t make any promises. You know how I like to live on the edge.” Only Frankie would wake up in a hospital bed after having surgery for multiple stab wounds ready to cause havoc on the world.
“Thank you for not dying,” I said, fighting back tears threatening to take my voice.
“Thank you for pressing on my wounds. ”
A flubbed emotional chuckle left me. “How can you have a sense of humor right now?”
She put a hand over her wrapped stomach, wincing through the smile she couldn’t subdue. “Don’t make me laugh.”
I shook my head. No one else could have the spirit Frankie did after such a travesty. “That was all you.”
Whether it was the meds or Frankie’s strong will, she cracked a smile. “I know. I can’t help it. I’m just a funny bitch.”
She was going to be okay.
Me…not so much.