2. Chapter Two
Chapter Two
Kat
Iheard some sort of scuffle behind me as I walked away, but I didn’t turn to look. My throat hurt I’d screamed so loudly, and honestly anyone in the garage had absolutely heard me. Oh, well. I had really wanted to know.
Did he want me to prove him wrong? Stay? Just take his abuse, however deserved?
Or did he want me to stay away, never come back, because no one would miss me? And stay away from his best friend like he’d said?
Well, I was already going to stay away from Henry. So, that one was easy enough. But I didn’t want to be known as the person who ran. When things got hard. That wasn’t what I was doing.
Leaving in Vegas was probably a mistake. But I hadn’t made that decision lightly. It had brOKEN me. But I had been TERRIFIED.
And back home? I’d been SAVING HIS FUCKING LIFE. Or at least TRYING TO.
And in the hospital. The hospital… fuck. I’d been trying so hard. But I just didn’t quite make it far enough. I didn’t do ENOUGH. And that was what mattered. The end result.
The end result of Henry screaming for me, afraid, in pain, confused.
And me not being there. I wasn’t entirely sure why he’d even looked at me after having been RESTRAINED because I wasn’t there.
Fuck that was awful. I couldn’t even imagine how scared he’d been.
I knew how confused he’d been in the ambulance, and then add anesthesia, a new environment, more pain. I…
I stopped in the hallway after I’d made a few turns.
I’d been heading to the medical center, since I needed my antibiotics again.
And that was as good of an excuse as any to walk away.
But I needed a minute. I needed to get myself under control.
But I couldn’t stop thinking about that voicemail. When Henry had been screaming for me.
I slid down to the floor against the wall, my head in my one hand, sobbing. Because sure, he wasn’t alone. Andrew was there. But he’d been screaming for ME. And I’d left him there. Alone.
I felt someone sitting next to me, and I knew it was Milo without looking. Andrew didn’t care and Henry wouldn’t have come. He didn’t touch me, and I was grateful. He didn’t say anything, either, until I calmed down a little.
“Want to talk about it?” he asked simply. I laughed. Climbing to my feet, I shook my head.
“No, I’m okay. You can go do whatever you were doing. I’m sorry you saw that. I need to get to the medical center,” I said as calmly as I could.
“What for?” he asked, looking concerned. He took a step toward me. It hit me for a moment that I thought of him as a little baby, but the damn kid towered over me. I laughed at that, too.
“Sorry. No, I need to go get my IV antibiotics. I get them a few times a week until this is healed,” I said, lifting my right wrist. He nodded, so I turned to walk away. He simply fell into step with me.
“What are you doing?” I asked, slightly suspicious. He smiled at me.
“Coming with you. I have questions,” he responded. Questions, huh? Bro, read the room. No one wants to answer your questions.
“And you’re going to answer them, because you ran off on me and wouldn’t answer my calls or texts and didn’t even open the door when I came to see you,” he continued.
He sounded so very matter-of-fact, like he wasn’t emotionally blackmailing me.
But he did have a point. He’d been dragged straight into the middle of this situation again and again and had no idea what was going on. I guessed I could tell him some stuff.
But I sure as hell wasn’t answering all of his questions. I knew that boy.
He’d dismantle my last bit of sanity with calm, logical questions.
By accident.
Ah, shit.