65. Everest
T he only sound in the room is the dull beep of her monitor, letting me know her heart is still beating, that’s she alive, that she’s breathing.
Something that she wasn’t doing when I walked into the house earlier.
Harden went to Bishop, but I went to her, her neck already swollen from how hard he had choked her, and when I lifted her wrist, I felt nothing.
At that moment, I knew that it didn’t matter how good my memory was, that there would never be a time where I could forget how it felt to not feel her pulse.
I’m pretty sure I was screaming as I started CPR, following the trails of blood to Griffin’s body, and wondering how the fuck we could have got it all so wrong?
I registered the familiar faces of guys on the team, as they ran to check on what was happening.
I could hear them offering me help and calling for an ambulance, but the only thing I could focus on was keeping her alive.
We did a first aid class during our senior year at Vander, as part of our health class, something me and the guys made fun of, but as I pumped my hands up and down on Aurora’s chest, I had never been more grateful.
Every word the nurse and her assistant said that day was playing in my brain on repeat, recalling the perfect technique and rhythm.
I heard the doctors say I’m the only reason she’s still alive, that I saved her, but that’s not true.
She’s the one who saved me.
When the paramedics pulled me off, I didn’t fight, I just let them take over, flicking my stare to where they were also removing Harden, both of us stumbling back, as the reality of what had happened settled between us.
Hours have passed since then, but I am still trapped in that moment of realizing how much danger she was truly in.
Bishop was her stalker. He was the one behind the flowers, the photographs, the damage to her room, hell, even the fucking letters I knew nothing about. Ones that went back a fucking year, each one more detailed than the last, and as my eyes scanned across them, there was only one thing on my mind.
I left her with him.
Harden was driving as fast as he could, I know he was, but still it wasn’t enough. And when we finally did arrive, I’m not sure anything could have prepared me for what we walked into.
Aurora broke, Griffin bleeding, our world ending right before our eyes, and all I could do was silently plead, to whoever would listen, for me not to lose them. For me to not lose her.
It’s been hours and I haven’t left her side, not since they brought her to this room, her hand is so cold and limp in mine that it barely feels like hers.
My mom is completely distraught, she hasn’t stopped crying, not when I called her, not when she got to the hospital, and not when she saw Aurora unconscious in this bed.
Not that I can blame her, my own tears haven’t really stopped either, even when the police asked me question after question.
My dad was at my side, insisting that I didn’t have to do this, but I needed to get it over with so I could be here with her. So I told them everything I knew. Where they could find the letters and photographs, what happened on campus, and what we saw when we entered the house.
Apparently Bishop is also in bad shape, thanks to Harden, but they took him to another hospital, which is probably for the best, because if Haze came across him here, I’m certain he’d finish what he started.
He’s in the family room with my dad now, waiting for news about Griffin.
They took him into surgery a couple of hours ago, and we haven’t heard anything since.
How the fuck did we get here?
To Aurora, unconscious with bruises around her neck, that almost stole her life, and Griffin, in surgery with no information as to whether he will survive or not?
The thought has me cursing, fresh tears falling down my face, as my mom reaches out and puts her arms around me. “I can’t lose them, Mom,” I choke out, after a prolonged silence, bringing fresh tears to her own eyes.
“You’re not losing them, she’s here, she’s safe, you saved her,” she tells me, her voice shaking. “And Griffin will be fine too, you’ll see.” I let her hold me for a while, her touch soothing me, until a nurse comes in to check Aurora’s vitals again.
They dip in and out every thirty-minutes, checking who knows what, before smiling softly and leaving the room.
Once they are gone, my mom clears her throat, checking her phone before she abruptly stands. “I just need a minute,” she tells me, storming from the room before I can even respond.
Not that I was going to. No, my only focus is on Aurora.
I’m not sure how much time passes before the door opens again, but when I lift my stare, I don’t find my mom, but my brother instead.
Archer is standing in the doorway, his face etched in pain, as his stare trails over our sister.
He was in training earlier, his phone locked away with no way for my mom to contact him, but I knew he would show up eventually.
She called him right after she called Aurora’s dad, and his wife, Katrina, both of them now on a flight back from California to get here.
I’m not sure where Daemon is, but I’m sure he’s here somewhere.
I’m sure that they all planned to be anywhere but here for this moment.
When his eyes flick to mine, before going down to where I have Aurora’s hand curled in mine, I rise to my feet slowly. “I’m not leaving,” I tell him firmly. “You can hit me again if you want, but you will have to kill me before I’ll ever leave her side.”
Archer storms toward me and I brace myself for the pain, reluctantly releasing Aurora’s hand and taking a step back, but when he reaches me, he throws his arms around my shoulders. He’s not hitting me, he’s hugging me.
“I’m so fucking sorry, Ever,” he chokes out, crushing me against him like he can’t quite believe I’m real.
My arms are pinned at my side, so all I can do is take his words, not really sure what to do with them, until he pulls back and his tear-filled eyes meet mine.
“Tell me what happened,” he demands, pushing me back into the chair I rose from, taking the one beside me.
So I do. I tell him everything, and he listens intently, his body shaking with rage when I get to the part about what we found when we got to the house.
“I heard Harden almost killed him,” he grits out in reference to Bishop, and I nod, barely remembering my friend’s rage over trying to save Aurora.
“I think if Griffin wasn’t bleeding out, he would have,” I reply quietly, pulling Aurora’s hand back into mine, silently willing it to feel more alive.
“Mom said he is still in surgery,” Archer grunts, his eyes once again locked in on our intertwined hands, and I nod.
“My dad and Harden are waiting for an update,” I force myself to reply, trying not to think about the fact that I could still lose my best friend. Instead, I focus on the elephant in the room. “Look, Archer,” I start, but his hand snaps into the air, halting me.
“Don’t,” he warns, his eyes still on Aurora, and that one word tells me everything I need to know.
He’s not here for me, he’s here for her.
“Do you have any idea how hard it is for me to sit here, knowing that I wasn’t there for her, that you are the one who saved her?
” he scoffs, swiping the tears from his cheeks.
“You did what I always wanted you to do, you protected her, you were the fucking moutain that couldn’t be moved, and I can’t fucking stand it. ”
His words sting worse than the beating he gave me, and I swallow thickly, filling in the words he left unsaid. “Because I didn’t do it as her brother,” I confirm, making him scoff again.
“I’m not mad that you love her, Everest, hell, that love fucking saved her life,” he pauses, as he tries to keep control over his emotions, and his eyes move from her to me. “I’m mad that you didn’t trust me enough to tell me how you felt before any of this started.”
Those words cut through me deeper than anything else, because he doesn’t look angry, just betrayed.
“Arch,” I sigh, scrubbing my free hand over my face, trying to articulate how to even put my feelings into words.
“I didn’t trust myself,” I tell him truthfully.
“I’ve always known my feelings for her were different, that I didn’t love her the same way I loved you, but that doesn’t mean I understood it.
Even now as I sit here, I’m unable to fathom the depths of how much I love her.
” I shake my head in disbelief, my hand tightening around hers.
“I knew what I felt, and I knew it was wrong, but I never once crossed a line with her, not until she came to FU.”
I need him to know the timing of everything, even if he never forgives me, I need him to know I never fucking preyed on her.
“That’s why you barely came home last year,” he confirms, and I nod.
“I saw the way she was looking at me, at all of us, and I knew what it meant. I was looking at her the same way, and so were they, a thousand times over, and I knew I had to put a stop to it.” Even now, all the unanswered calls and texts still cause me pain, and I take a deep breath before I carry on.
“It was the hardest thing I have ever done, and I would have stayed away forever if she had let me go. I’d have watched her from afar, fall in love, get married, have babies, whatever it took, as long as she was happy. ”
At that my brother lets out a humorless laugh. “And what? Now you’re just happy to fucking share her with them?”
I don’t expect him to understand, not when I don’t even understand it myself, but that’s what love is, isn’t it? Madness. Doing whatever it takes to make the other person happy, risking your heart every time.
“Now I’m just an idiot in love,” I sigh, knowing I would give her the fucking world if she asked.
“I’m not asking you to forgive me, but I do need you to accept this.
Not for me, I get I’m not your brother anymore,” I choke out, taking a minute to get my emotions under control.
“You need to accept this for her, she needs you.”
He doesn’t say anything, not for a while, both of us just silently watching her sleep, before he exhales slowly. “I can’t forgive you, not right now at least, but you’ll always be my brother, mountain man.”
I nod, tears blurring my eyes, before we both go back to quietly watching her, with only one thought in my mind.
Please wake up.