32. Eli
Eli
“Inever wanted you to have to sit by my hospital bed again, Pop. I am so sorry, so sorry to make you go through this.”
What the fuck? Sit by her hospital bed again? I wanted to burst into the room and demand to know what the hell Kendra was talking about, but she was having private time with her dad, and I was finishing up my conversation with Danny. He just told me he was coming back to see Kendra soon.
“Eli, you still there?” Danny’s gruff voice snaps my attention back to the phone in my hand.
“Yeah, sorry, Danny. I’m just exhausted.” I pinch the bridge of my nose.
“I’m sure. But now that she’s awake, you can go home and get some rest. Let someone else take a shift,” Danny suggests.
“Can’t do that, man. She doesn’t want me to leave, and I can’t stand the idea of being away from her right now either.” I run my hands through my hair and lean back against the cool wall.
“Alright, I get it. Just hang tight, I’ll be there when I can to take her statement. But let her know that we have that fucker in custody, so Kendra at least can have the peace of mind.” Danny rumbles out the last sentence.
“Thank God. I’ll see you soon.”
Hanging up with Danny, I know that I have to make a new call that I’m absolutely dreading.
The phone rings a few times before Rem finally answers, voice filled with happiness and that rough scrape that signals little sleep. “Hey, brother. Good morning, well, afternoon, I guess? I don’t even know. What time is it?”
“Sorry to bother you,” I start.
“What’s wrong?” Instantly on alert, Rem knows, can tell something happened.
“I’m at the hospital with Kendra. She’s going to be okay, but, Rem, it was bad.”
I hear him shuffling on the other end of the phone.
“Oh my God, what happened?” Lainey shrieks; he must have told her and then turned them on speaker phone.
“That piece of shit, Bennett, took her home after the reception last night and nearly beat her to death. I found her on the living room floor unconscious and . . . I called the ambulance and we got her here.” My voice shakes as I tell them the rest.
“Why the fuck didn’t you call us?” Rem demands.
“It was your wedding night! I was here, Danny came, her dad came. I was not going to let that asshole ruin your wedding. I’m calling you now.”
“Okay, okay,” Lainey says. “We will be there soon. Do you need anything?”
This woman, so kind and always thinking of others. Rem hit the jackpot, that’s for sure. “Yeah, I could actually use a change of clothes and stuff from home. Do you mind picking it up? Rem has one of my spare keys.”
“No problem, man,” Rem says.
“What about Wren?” Lainey adds.
“My mom has her,” I say, reminding me of the next call I need to make.
“Alright, see you as soon as we can. Tell Kendra we are on our way!” Lainey rushes, ending the call.
After speaking with my mom and having her agree to bring Wren up to the hospital for a visit so I could see my little peanut, I make my way back into Kendra’s room.
I brought more terrible coffee for me and Max.
Kendra was sleeping. As much as I hated that her eyes were closed again, it was a relief to know that it was because she was resting and groggy from the pain meds, not still out from the concussion and surgery.
“Holy shit.” Lainey’s pained whisper comes from the door a while later. She rushes into the room followed by Rem, and Lainey’s tears can’t be stopped at the sight of her best friend laid out in front of her, body and face nearly unrecognizable.
Rem walks to where I have been sitting, and I stand to embrace him. Max hugs Lainey, whispering words of comfort in her ear as her body shakes against his strong chest.
“Eli.” Kendra’s voice calls to me, and she has my immediate, full attention.
“Right here, sweetheart.” I pick up her right hand, kissing it, ignoring all the eyes in the room on me.
“You didn’t leave?”
“Told you, not going anywhere. Ever again.” I punctuated the point with a light squeeze to her hand.
Lainey steps closer and says, “Hey, bestie.”
“What are you guys doing here?” Kendra’s swollen eyes try to widen in surprise.
“Where the hell else would we be? My best friend is in the hospital.” Lainey puts a hand on her hip.
“Yeah, but it’s the day after your wedding.” Kendra bites down on her split lip and winces.
“We love you and are exactly where we need to be,” Rem assures her.
“And I should have been here last night”—Lainey glares at me—“but Eli didn’t call us until a little while ago.”
Kendra takes a deep breath, gritting her teeth against the ache from the broken ribs, eyes drooping again with tiredness. Max and I fill Lainey and Rem in on more details of Kendra’s injuries, the surgery, and what happened.
“Is Danny coming?” Rem asks.
“He said he will be here in a little while.”
“We got you all of your things so you can shower and change.” Lainey holds up a duffle bag.
I exchange a worried glance with Rem. When he went to shower and change when Lainey was in the hospital after their house fire, that was when her brother snuck into her room and tried to strangle her to death.
Kendra is looking at me when I say, “Danny told me they have Bennett in custody. You are safe.”
“And we are all going to stay right here,” Lainey says.
“I’m gonna get cleaned up for you and then I will be right back, promise.” I bend to kiss Kendra’s cheek softly, then head into the hallway, determined to set a world record for showering.
“Hey!” Rem calls after me.
“What?” I spin around to face him.
“Want to tell me what the hell is going on with the two of you? Last time I checked you both could barely be in a room together. Kendra especially despises you and only tolerates your presence because we share friends. I’ve heard her complain to Lainey about having to breathe the same air as you and how it will probably make her less intelligent. ” He looks at me skeptically.
Dropping the duffle bag at my feet, I brace both arms behind my head. “Nobody knows this, but Kendra and I have a history together.”
“A history?” Rem startles back.
“Yup, a complicated one. She was nineteen and I was twenty-one.” I give him a knowing look.
“The summer you built the shelves for the library?” Rem scrapes a hand over his blond stubble.
“Yeah, normally Kendra would spend all her time with Hannah, but she was working a summer camp that year for the first time. So that summer, Kendra spent time with me.”
“Why have you never told me any of this?” Rem asks, sounding more than a little hurt. We have never kept secrets from each other, and this one has been the biggest secret of my life. And I didn’t only keep it from Rem, I kept it from everyone, which I needed him to understand.
“I never told anyone.”
“Ever?”
“Ever . . . I was ashamed.” I pick up my bag.
“Of being with Kendra?” Rem practically growls.
“No,” I snap. “Of the way I fucked it all up. Of the way I broke her heart.” I pound my chest. “Of the way I let her walk away without letting her know . . . know how I really felt about her.” With that I spin on my heel and leave my best friend standing under the harsh glare of the hospital lights, speechless.