“Did you?” Dustin asked with a raised brow.
Lucas slowly folded his arms across his chest as his smirk grew. “Ask her.”
“I’m asking you,” Dustin said, his face totally devoid of color except for two bright red splotches on his cheeks. He leaned into Lucas’s face. “Did you sleep with my girlfriend? Did you turn my sweet Irelyn into some kind of tramp? Is that why she was so eager to ditch me?”
Lucas grinned knowingly, his beautiful eyes dark and ugly with anger. I didn’t want to hear his answer yet at the same time, I did. I wanted to know what he’d say. Would he protect me or would he throw me out to sea to see if I’d sink or swim? Either way, I knew this moment would be the defining moment. This moment would end one relationship – maybe both. No matter what happened, no one would win.
When I caught the twitch of Dustin’s wrists, I pushed away from the rail. He swung and connected with Lucas’s jaw. Lucas stumbled, throwing a hand back to brace himself. He shook his head and a hateful smile took over his face.
“Stop!” I shouted.
Lucas recovered and aimed a fist at Dustin’s eye. Dustin was expecting retaliation but not the force of Lucas’s swing. He fell to the metal platform. Lucas bent and grabbed the lapel of his jacket, yanking him to his feet. Shaking him off, Dustin charged. Lucas pushed him away, causing Dustin to bump the rail.
“I will hurt you and I don’t really want to,” Lucas growled. “You better stop now while you can.”
Dustin fingered his eye gingerly as his lips fell to a furious frown. “What did you do to her? What did you say to make her sleep with you? Because you did, didn’t you? You slept with my girlfriend.”
“I said to ask her,” Lucas repeated, his voice low.
“She has a promising life ahead of her,” Dustin said as he took a step toward Lucas. “You’ll only ruin it. You’ll take everything away from her. Leave her alone. Stay away from her.”
Lucas ground his teeth and clenched his fists. “Is that what you tell all your frat buddies? That you’ll give her a wonderful life? Did you ever stop to think that maybe she’s something special and that’s why she has a promising life in front of her? That it has nothing to do with you?”
“Knock it off,” I shouted again, bullying my way between them. I couldn’t stand to hear the way they were talking about me. I hated that they were fighting because of me. I was the bad guy here – not either of them.
“Irelyn, stay out of this,” Dustin said. He swept me forcefully back and the heel of my shoe stuck in the grate of the landing. I wind-milled my arms in a desperate attempt to keep my balance but my foot slipped out of the shoe and I went down.
I heard Lucas call my name but it sounded as if I was underwater as the world flipped and turned. My head bounced off the steps like a basketball and I attempted to protect my neck with my arms. The force of my rolling and thumping body knocked my arms away and banged them against the rail and the stairs.
I landed with a final thud to the snow packed concrete at the foot of the stairway. Oxygen whooshed out of my lungs as my back whacked the ground and I gasped desperately for air. The sky above me spun and I squeezed my eyes shut to keep from vomiting.
“Irelyn!” Lucas shouted as he dropped next to me.
“Get away from her,” Dustin ordered as he grabbed my hand.
I sucked frantically as my lungs cried for air. Moisture collected in my eyes and tears fell down my cheeks. Finally, I managed to get oxygen and I wheezed in relief.
“Irelyn, darling,” Collin gasped from somewhere in the distance as thudding footsteps thundered around me. “Spence, call an ambulance!”
“Both of you get the hell away from her,” I heard Bailey order; her voice more deadly than I’d ever heard it. “Now! And I mean it.”
The clatter of feet shuffling away scared me. “No. Don’t.”
“I’m right here,” Collin said near my ear. He slipped a couple fingers in my curled hand. “Squeeze, darling, if you can.”
His voice was soft and soothing and I loved that he was there by my side. I forced my brain to focus on whatever muscles I needed to utilize to follow his order. I managed a weak squeeze and the smile in his voice was obvious.
“Good,” he said. He returned the squeeze as a tiny sob rattled my chest. I wanted to open my eyes and look in his – they were so much like Lucas’s.
“Irelyn,” Morgan whispered tearfully. “I’m here. Do you want me to call your mother?”
“No. Not. Yet.” I managed to mutter. I opened my eyes and Collin’s anxious face blurred and fluttered and spun. My stomach rolled as bile filled my throat. “Sick.”
“Breathe slowly,” Collin coaxed. “We can’t move you, honey, and you don’t want to choke. Concentrate on breathing.”
I wanted to nod but I couldn’t. My head was one big boulder being attacked by jackhammers. I did as he asked, my ears straining to clear. “Morg. Stay.”
“I’m staying right here with you,” Morgan assured me. “Where does it hurt?”
I focused on the location of the various aches and pains in my body. My head pounded and every bone screamed in protest. “Every. Where.”
“Hang on, darling,” Collin cooed. His hand – or perhaps Morgan’s – caressed my forehead.
“Irelyn, love,” I heard Lucas’s weak voice call. My heart longed for him.
“Don’t talk to her!” Dustin screamed. I winced and Collin squeezed my hand again. “This is all your fault.”
“Shut up!” Bailey yelled. “Both of you! You’ll only upset her. Think of her and not yourselves.”
Awareness seeped in and I suddenly realized that I was lying in snow wearing a thin dress. A shiver encompassed my body, aggravating my pain. “Cold.”
“Okay, hang on,” Collin said. “Tori, grab a blanket, please.”
I wondered where Lucas and Dustin were and if they were still fighting behind Bailey’s back. I couldn’t hear well – someone must have shoved cotton or snow or something in my ears. “Luke. Dustin.”
“They’re still here,” Morgan said tearfully. “They’re with Bailey.”
“Fighting.”
“No, they’re not fighting anymore,” Collin said. The comforting hand continued to gently push the hair off my forehead. “They stopped. They’re both very worried about you.”
“I’m. Okay.”
Collin chuckled and Morgan barked out a teary laugh. “We know,” Collin said. “Ah, thanks, Tori.” I peeked through cracked lids in time to see a blanket falling over me. My stomach turned again and I closed my eyes. “Better?”
“Yes.” A fresh wave of tears arrived and I just wanted Lucas. But I didn’t want Dustin hurt more than he already was. I released a painful breath. “Lucas. Dustin.”
“What, darling?” Collin asked. “Do you want them here by you?”
I nodded, whimpering in pain. “For a…minute.”
“Luke and Dustin,” Collin called in a defeated voice. “Irelyn wants to see you both.”
“Don’t say a thing to upset her,” Bailey threatened.
I sensed Lucas on my left and felt Dustin take my right hand. “Irelyn, sweetheart?” Dustin said.
“We’re both here, love,” Lucas said as he caressed my cheek. “Hold on and we’ll get you fixed up.”
The despair and panic in both their voices fed my guilt. “Sorry,” I managed to whisper. “So. Sorry.” My body continued to shiver and shake, aggravating pain everywhere.
“Don’t worry about anything right now,” Dustin said. “We’ll work this all out once you’re better.”
Lucas continued to stroke my cheek and I wanted desperately to look at him. I tried to open my eyes but the nausea returned. I flinched. “Gonna. Puke.”
“Do like Collin said, love,” Lucas coached. “Breathe slowly. Concentrate on something else. We can’t move you. We can’t roll you to your side.”
The wail of a siren penetrated the blockage in my ears and I heard Morgan heave a relieved sigh. The wailing grew louder. Tires crunched on the snow and the heat from a vehicle warmed my face.
“Back up, please,” a strange voice ordered. I felt Dustin and Lucas move away from me and the tears in my eyes increased. “Hi, miss. I’m Paula. Can you tell me what hurts?”
“Head. Everything.”
She chuckled softly as her gentle hands lifted the blanket to examine my body. Another set of hands eased a neck brace around my neck. “I’m Travis. Can you please open your eyes?”
I did and my pupils were immediately assaulted with a beam of light. My stomach clenched and I irked a few times.
“Roll her, Paula,” Travis ordered. “She’s going to vomit.”
They got me to my side in time for me to heave everything I’d eaten in the past few hours all over the snow. I coughed and spit and shivered.
“Are you done?” Paula asked as she pushed my hair off my face.
“Think so,” I said.
“We’re going to put you on a board now,” Travis said. They eased me onto a dry surface and even though they were gentle, my body screeched. My chest rose and fell rapidly as I tried to fight the pain.
“Easy, honey,” Paula said. “I know it hurts.”
“Oh my God,” I heard Morgan gasp. “There’s blood in the snow!”
Panic crept up my throat and my eyes burst open. Paula smiled at me as she and Travis lifted me to a gurney. “You have a head laceration – its fine.”
“Has she been drinking tonight?” Travis asked.
“Um, I don’t think so,” Collin said. “Luke – did Irelyn drink anything alcoholic?”
My heart stilled as Lucas’s trembling voice filled my ears. “No, I didn’t see her drinking anything. Better ask Bailey.”
“Just soda,” Bailey said.
“Would you like someone to ride with you?” Paula asked.
I stretched out an arm and winced as pain radiated up my shoulder. “Morg. Bailey.”
“Only one person, honey,” Travis said as they shoved me in the ambulance.
“Go, Morgan,” Collin said. “Bailey, Spencer, and I will follow in my car.”
“Don’t,” I said, swallowing. “Don’t leave….Luke and….Dustin…alone.”
“They’ll have to deal,” Morgan said in a hard voice. “It’s their fault you’re in this ambulance.”
I shook my head making my stomach roll again. I closed my eyes. “No. Accident.”
“I know it was an accident,” Morgan said as the ambulance sped away, sirens once again causing a ruckus in the night. “But if they hadn’t been fighting, you wouldn’t have fallen.”
Fatigue flooded me and I wanted to sleep.
“Stick with me, Irelyn,” Paula ordered. I thought she must be a mind reader. “We’re almost there.”
When we finally reached the hospital, I kept my eyes glued shut as the gurney jostled and sped to a bright room. I cracked my eyes open and found a horde of medical professionals hovering over me, removing my clothes and dressing me in a hospital gown. People shouted orders at each other and my skin was pricked and my body prodded. My stomach rolled but panic was first and foremost in my mind.
“Hi, Irelyn,” a smiling man with glasses greeted. “I’m Dr. Nickels. We’re going to need to take some x-rays and run some tests. Is there anything that hurts worse than everything else?”
“My head,” I mumbled.
“Okay. You have a laceration on the back of your head and we’ll stitch that up in a minute. Anything else?”
“Everywhere hurts.”
He patted my arm gently. “Just relax. We’ll give you something for the pain after we check you out thoroughly. Is your mother or father here?”
“Her mother is on the way,” I heard Morgan say. I wanted to move my head to find her but the neck brace prevented me.
A nurse helped me to sit up and pressed something to the back of my head. I winced, crying out. “We’re going to take you for x-rays before we stitch you.”
They wheeled me out of the room and my eyes darted at the faces gathered nervously outside the doors. They all rushed to the gurney as the nurses pushed me through them.
My heart fluttered when I spotted Lucas leaning against a wall, his dejected head bent. He lifted his eyes to mine and smiled weakly. I wanted him. I tried to reach for him but my arms felt unbelievably heavy.
Shame jumped in the fray and mixed with everything else going inside my body.
After they x-rayed everything they could and examined every part of me, my head still pounded as they wheeled me back toward the trauma room. My eyes remained closed as the bright lights only intensified my pain.
“Irelyn, honey,” I heard my mother squeal as she walked beside the gurney. I smiled as I opened and closed my fingers. She slipped her hand in mine as the doctor spoke to her. The nurses parked my gurney and eased me upright. The neck brace had long ago been banished and I was grateful. It had started to itch. “Oh, sweetie,” Mom cried.
“Your daughter is very lucky,” the doctor said. “Nothing is broken but she is banged up pretty good. She’s going to be very sore for at least a week – probably longer.”
I breathed a little easier.
“We’ll give you something for the pain,” a nurse whispered as something pricked and stung the back of my head.
“I’m going to stitch this cut up back here, Irelyn,” he said. “You’ll feel a little pull but if it hurts, let me know and I’ll numb it some more.”
I didn’t dare nod – not with a needle by my head. “Okay.”
“She has a mild concussion and we’d like to keep her overnight just in case,” the doctor continued. “But she’ll be able to go home in the morning.”
“Okay,” my mom said as she squeezed my hand.
When they finished with me, they left me with my mother to see about a room. The nurse injected me with some kind of pain killer and my mind fogged. My body relaxed and my lids grew heavy.
“Mom,” I croaked. “I’m sorry.”
“Shh, honey,” she said. “It will be okay, don’t worry about it tonight.”
“But, I made such a mess,” I cried.
She brushed my cheeks with soft fingers. “And we’ll fix it – just not tonight.” She kissed my forehead. “Bailey, Morgan and the others told me what happened. They told me about Lucas.”
The dam broke and sobs wracked my aching body. I just couldn’t be comforted. My mother knew what I’d done – what I’d become. Embarrassment, shame, guilt, and remorse mixed with the tears.
“Honey, don’t cry,” she said, alarmed. She perched on the side of the bed. “Irelyn, sweetie, you’re only human.” She kissed my cheek. “You’re entitled to make mistakes – and learn from them. Whatever happened is in the past now. You need to make amends and look to the future.”