Awaken Me (The Jaded Series Book 4) (47 page)

“Noah!” Ms. Taylor’s scream pulls me from my frozen state.

I scramble to my feet and fight the lightheadedness. My stomach cramps, nearly bringing me back down, but I push through it. I rush past Ms. Taylor, who’s holding a small crying girl in her arms. Noah’s still on top of Danny, sending punch after punch to his face. Danny is no longer moving, having already, hopefully, passed out.

“Noah, stop!” I yell and reach for his arm. He looks up at me with frenzied eyes. His nostrils flare and his chest heaves with his heavy breathing. He has a drop of blood running down from the cut on his cheek and sweat dribbles down his face. “He’s out, Noah. You can stop now.” I try to soothe him.

He looks around frantically until he sees his mom and sister off to the side. He stumbles off Danny and runs over to them. I hear a loud single blare of a siren and look over just as Mac’s car skids to a stop. He gets out and hurries over to us.

“What the hell is going on here?” he asks. When he catches sight of my busted lip, he curses. “Fuck!” He walks to me and gently grabs my chin and turns my head both ways to check the injuries on my face. “What the fuck happened? Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” I tell him, and pull out of his grip. I’m out of breath. I reach up and finger my lip and cheek and wince at the sting. “Go see to them first.” I gesture to Noah and his family.

He bends down and checks Danny’s pulse before getting back up. He looks over at Noah, who’s standing with his mom and sister in his arms, then back to me. “Where’s Nick?”

“In town picking up a few things.”

“Isn’t he supposed to be with you?” he asks with narrowed eyes.

“I’m not a child that needs to be babysat, Mac,” I bark at him. “I can take care of myself.” He lifts his brows at me. “I had no way of knowing this would happen,” I mutter. “Just go check on them, please.”

Instead of leaving, he asks, “What happened?”

I give him a quick rundown of what happened when I got here.

“I’ll be back,” he says, and walks over to Noah and his family. He talks quietly with them for a few minutes, making sure to keep an eye on Danny on the ground as he does so, then pulls his phone out to make a quick call. I watch as Noah leads his mom and sister over to the porch to sit on the steps. My face is really starting to ache, and I know I’m going to have a nasty bruise. Nick is going to be so pissed I came here by myself. This was the very reason he wanted to come with me. He’s just going to have to get over it, though.

“They’re okay,” Mac says, walking back to me. “But I called an ambulance for him,” he gestures to Danny with his chin, who still hasn’t moved. His chest is moving, so I know he’s going to be okay, which is good for Noah. He’ll just have a killer headache when he wakes up.

“I called Nick. He’s on his way back.”

I nod. “Okay.” My chest tightens at the thought of Nick’s reaction.

The jerk on the ground moans and Mac bends, rolls him to his stomach, and puts handcuffs on him.

When Mac stands back up, he looks at me with a frown. He takes my chin again and takes a better look. “Are you sure you’re okay? You don’t look so good.”

“I just got slapped twice, Mac. What do you expect?” I ask him dryly.

“No, it’s more than that,” he lifts the back of his hand to my forehead. “You’re warm. Are you feeling unwell?”

I throw off his concern with a shrug. “I woke up this morning not feeling too good. I’m sure I’m just getting a cold or something.”

He looks at me with concern. Having seen enough pity to last me a lifetime, I turn from him and walk over to Noah.

“Hey, are y’all okay?” I ask the three.

Noah gets up from the steps. The look in his eyes as he sees my face shows remorse.

“I’m so sorry, Ms. Matthews. I shouldn’t have called you,” he says, looking down at his feet.

I cup his cheek and lift his face. “Don’t ever apologize, Noah. You probably would have done better calling the cops, but I understand. You needed help. I just wish I could have helped sooner. Who is that man?”

“My dad.” He sighs, still looking contrite.

“But I thought your dad left when you were little?” I ask, confused. He hasn’t told me much about his home life, but he did divulge one day that his dad left when he was five years old, right after his sister was born.

“He did, but he came back during the summer break.”

If I remember correctly, Noah and his family moved to Jaded Hollow about five years ago. It makes me wonder something.

“Has your mom been running from him?” I ask him gently.

He looks back his mom before turning back to face me. “Yeah,” he says softly. “As you can see, he’s not a nice person. It wasn’t him that left. It was her.”

I pull him to me for a hug. Surprisingly, he hugs me back. I look at Ms. Taylor over his shoulder to see her watching us with desolate eyes. I release Noah and walk to her. The little girl in her lap looks up at me, and I smile at her. I’m relieved to see she doesn’t have a mark on her. I just hope she doesn’t have them in places I can’t see.

Ms. Taylor stands and shockingly pulls me forward into a hug. I hear her sniffling at my ear. “I’m so sorry for what happened to you. But thank you for helping us.”

When she pulls back, anguish is clear on her face. I push back the hair that’s stuck on her cheek.

“I’m glad I was able to help.” I give her a sad smile. “Mac will get everything taken care of.”

She grabs my arm before I can turn away. “I’m sorry for your loss,” she says quietly.

Her words steal my breath and leave me feeling empty again. I’m not surprised she knows. I’m sure everyone in Jaded Hollow does. That’s part of living in a small community. I hate when people bring it up, though. I’m trying to forget, and when people bring it up, it makes it harder. It’s not her fault, just like it’s not the others’ fault. The only thing I can do is nod.

As I leave, I stop by Noah and squeeze his arm. “I’ll see you at school next week right?”

“Yeah,” he says. I pull him in for another quick hug before I walk back to Mac, who’s in a squat talking to a now awake Danny. The look on Mac’s face would make anyone shrink.

When he sees me coming over, he gets up and walks the rest of the way to me.

“Is it okay for me to go home?” I ask, a wave of tiredness hitting me, almost making me dizzy.

“I’m not sure. Are you okay to drive?” he asks, uncertain.

“I’ll be fine, Mac. It’s just a few miles,” I reassure him. “I’d like to be there before Nick gets back.”

After several seconds of contemplating, he relents. “Okay. But call or text me when you get there. If I don’t hear from you, I’m coming over,” he says sternly.

I promise, then get in my car and head home to the confrontation I know is coming.

Twenty minutes later, I’m sitting on my bed when I hear the loud crash of my apartment door slamming shut. In seconds, the sound of Nick’s boots coming down the hallway can be heard. The look in his eyes when he appears in my doorway can be called none other than wild and feral. I brace myself when he strides toward me. I’m sitting in the center of the bed, so when he makes it to me, he gets on his knees until he’s inches from my face. I saw the damage and know what he sees. It looks worse than it feels.

He puts his hands on the sides of my neck and uses his thumbs to tilt my head first one way, then the other. He doesn’t say anything as he examines my cut lip and the bruise on my cheek, but I can see the barely hidden wrath in his eyes. I just don’t know if it’s directed at me or the person who did it.

I get my answer when he wrenches himself off the bed and snarls at me, “What the fuck did I tell you?” He doesn’t wait for me to answer before he continues. “I fucking told you to not go out there by yourself!”

I ignore his outburst and say quietly, “I’m fine, by the way.”

He whirls around, and I flinch at the scarcely contained rage. “I fucking know you’re okay! I don’t know because you called me, but because Mac did. Goddamn it, Chris, what the fuck were you thinking?”

He drags his fingers roughly through his hair and starts stalking back and forth in my small bedroom, muttering curses. I clench the covers at my sides.

“I couldn’t leave them there, Nick. Noah called me, and I knew something was wrong. I couldn’t wait until you got back. I tried calling Jase but he didn’t answer. And I left a message on Mac’s phone. I knew he would be right behind me.”

I’m hoping that pacifies him and lets him know I tried. It doesn’t work.

He leans over the bed and gets in my face. “Obviously he didn’t get there fast enough, did he?” he sneers. “Shit!” He snaps back to standing. “How can you be so fucking stupid?”

I wince. I see the old Nick is making an appearance. The thought brings a sharp pain to my stomach. I thought we were moving forward. He’s been so kind lately. I’ve almost gotten used to it, but deep down, I’ve been wary, knowing it wouldn’t last. This is what I’ve been afraid of, what I’ve been waiting for.

“Do you have any goddamn clue what could have happened? How much worse this could have ended?”

“Yes!” I shout, slamming my fists down on the bed. I feel like crap and I’m tired of him snapping at me. I was the one who was assaulted today. Not him. I get that he’s upset because I didn’t wait for him. And I’m sure he’s worried, but that doesn’t give him the right to be an asshole. “Stop fucking yelling at me! I should have waited! I know that now! I didn’t and I paid for it! Now back the hell off, Nick!”

“Fuck!” he roars to the ceiling. When he looks back to me, the old pain I used to see in his eyes is back and it almost knocks me on my ass. “You know what? I can’t fucking do this shit again. I just can’t.” He grabs his hair furiously and gives it a tug.

“What does that mean?” I ask, needing to know his answer as much as I fear it.

He lifts his head and I know, I
know
, what he’s saying without him even saying it. The pain of that realization has me desperately trying to pull air into lungs that feel like they are rapidly deflating. Tears prick my eyes and one trickles down my cheek before I can stop it. I knew this was going to happen. I knew it, but I still let him back in against my better judgment.

His eyes have emptied of all emotion. The dead look is back. A hurt like no other slams into my chest when he says quietly, “I’m sorry, but I’m done. I have to go. I just… can’t,” he repeats.

With one last look at me, he turns on his heel. He’s at the door when I stop him with a question. There are things I need to know before he leaves. I need to know if the pain I’m feeling was ever worth it.

“Do I have any of your love, Nick?” I ask tearfully.

He drops his head and keeps his back to me when he answers, ripping my world apart piece by piece.

“No,” he replies gruffly.

“Do you care about me even a little bit?” I ask hoarsely.

“No,” he says again, taking another chunk out of my heart with his words.

“Do I mean anything to you?” I choke out.

“No,” he mutters roughly, making the wound on my heart fester.

The tears are now pouring down my cheeks. I throw my hand up to my mouth when a sob escapes. I turn away from him and lie down on my side, the agony in my heart making it impossible to stay upright. All I want to do is curl into a ball and let out all the hurt he’s caused me. I don’t want to feel the pain anymore. I’m so tired of living in misery. I’m just tired, period. I just want to sleep and hopefully wake up numb.

“Chris—”

“Please leave.” I cut him off, my voice sounding dead even to my own ears. There’s nothing left to say. His three one-syllable words said enough. I’m done. I can’t bear to hear his voice anymore. It’s too painful.

I hear his feet on the floor coming closer. I squeeze my eyes shut, not able to look at him either.

“Chris—” He tries again.

“Leave!” I cry loudly and put my hands over my ears. I draw my knees to my chest and tuck my head into them. I feel like I’m going crazy. Insane from losing my baby and now Nick once again. He’s the one who was helping me get through the loss. It was he who dragged me out of the depths of my despair. And now he’s the one who’s plunging me back inside, only this time it’s much deeper and darker.

I don’t know how long I keep my huddled position. I listen intently when I pull my hands from my ears. Nick’s gone and the apartment is silent. I bring my hands up and put them both under my cheek. My head pounds from crying and my throat is dry. Even lying down, I feel the vertigo as my world turns fuzzy. My mind blanks of everything as I lie there and stare vacantly at my wall.