Collateral Damage (From the Damage) (2 page)

Even though he was one of Alex’s closest friends, Kay hated the jerk ever since he’d talked her into making a sex-tape and then e-mailed it to half the school. It hadn’t taken long for the tape to go viral and completely ruin Kay’s reputation.

“You here to see Alex?” she asked.

He looked confused. “Alex is here? What happened?”

“He was hit by a car,” she said.

Concerned, he took a few steps toward her. “Wow. Is he okay?”

She kept her gaze on the pavement, studying a large crack in the cement. If she had normal parents and a normal life, she might’ve been able to stay and find out. “I don’t know.”

“I’m actually here to see my sister.” He lingered in front of her, like he wanted to say more. “But…I’m glad I ran into you. I’ve been thinking about you a lot lately.”

Rolling her eyes, she waited for some smug comment about making another tape or how her ‘performance’ had been, or some other chauvinistic crap like he was always spouting.

“I’m sorry…for everything I did to you.” 

She looked up at him, a little startled. “Are you actually admitting you did something wrong? I think I’m going to faint.”

He stepped back, nodding. “I deserved that. Look…I gotta go. It sounded like my sister was upset. But, I just wanted you to know that I am really, really sorry.”

With that, he walked into the hospital. Outside alone, she wondered what had happened to suddenly make him apologize. The tape thing happened months ago, and he’d been nothing but an arrogant jerk since.

Looking down at her cell phone, she checked the time. Her dad should be getting to the hospital any second.

She’d only been waiting for a few minutes when she heard the automatic doors behind her open. She turned, seeing Kelly walk out.

“Hey…I’m glad you haven’t left yet.” Kelly walked up to Kay, an unusually friendly tone in her voice. “I wanted to tell you Alex is going to be okay. They said you did a good job with the ribbon…slowed the bleeding down enough so there wasn’t serious damage.”

Kay simply stared at the girl, wondering why she was coming out to tell her this. “Um…thanks. I tried.”

Kelly gave her a small, half-smile. “I’m sure he’d like to see you…it seems like you guys have been spending a lot of time together.”

“Actually, I can’t, right now—” Just as Kay was about to explain that her dad was coming to pick her up, she heard an obnoxiously loud horn honking. Seconds later, his beat up truck barreled up to the sidewalk and screeched to a stop.

“My dad’s picking me up,” Kay explained, wanting to crawl into that crack in the sidewalk. He honked the horn again. “I gotta go.”

“Wait…” Kelly said, and then she hesitated. “I’m sorry I was a bitch earlier. I blame my step-sister…she makes me crazy.”

Kay started to tell Kelly that it seemed like she always blamed other people for her problems, but the window to the truck rolled down and her dad bellowed, “Kay! Get in the damn truck!”

Her cheeks burning, Kay backed toward the truck, muttering,
“Don’t worry about it.”

She got inside the truck, barely shutting the door before her dad sped off again. As her body slammed back against the seat, she felt it irritate a bruise from last week, and winced in pain.

“What the hell’s your problem?” her dad spat, looking at her like she was a freak.

“Nothing,” Kay mumbled. “And Alex is going to be fine. Thanks for asking.”

“One less of your boyfriends to worry about, if you ask me,” he grumbled. “It’s not like you haven’t had plenty. What is it? A new one every week? I thought I told you to stay away from that boy anyway.”

Kay sighed, shifting her gaze out the window.

“Don’t ignore me when I’m talking to you.”

“You’re not talking to me,” she said. “You’re insulting me. And I really don’t feel like falling into one of your fights tonight, Dad.”

“My fights?” he shouted. “My fights? Right. You
never
do
anything
to start it, do you?”

Kay bit her tongue, trying her best to remain silent, when all she wanted to do was scream that no, actually, she never does anything to deserve the hell he reigns down on them every other night. But doing that would be falling into his trap…and she was too exhausted to fight.

“I’d really like to know how I wound up with such a self-righteous slut for a daughter.”

There it was-the verbal punch in the gut. Sure, she was used to hearing that from the kids at school, she could block most of the pain out, then. But hearing it from
her own father? It never stopped hurting.

Still silent, Kay refused to give in. She just closed her eyes while he sped across town to their house, praying she could slip into bed without a three-hour fight first.

***

Alex

***

Groggy and light-headed from painkillers, Alex frowned down at the cast on his arm. “This is itchy. And heavy.”

“Well, you’re lucky you didn’t need surgery on it,” his mother responded.

She was across the room, going through the bag with his belongings in it. She pulled his letter jacket out of it, eyes tearing up when she saw the bloodstains. “We’re all very lucky you weren’t killed.”

“Mom, I’m okay,” he said, sensing the fear in her voice.

“I know,” she said. “I know. I keep telling myself that. But what if you hadn’t been? If I ever lost you, I don’t think I could take it.”

“You didn’t….and you won’t. I promise, I’ll be more careful.”

“You mean by looking both ways before you cross the street?” She tossed an impatient, very motherly look over her shoulder as she reached into his pocket. “If I could just find your keys, I’d move your car from the school’s parking lot.”

“You don’t have to do that tonight, Mom,” he said, getting a little nervous. He knew what was in that jacket.

“It’s fine. I’ve got to do
something
—” her voice went silent as she pulled out the small photograph. The sonogram Kelly had given him.

His mom turned to him, concern in her eyes. Dread. “Alex…what’s this?”

He cleared his throat, looked away. “That’s…that’s a sonogram photo.”

“I can see
that
,” she snapped. “Why is Kelly’s name on it? Why is it in your pocket?”

Alex stole a glance at his mom. She was still looking down at the picture, eyebrows furrowed in curiosity and concentration. “This…it was taken months ago. And Kelly was just here…she’s as skinny as she ever was.” Her tone turned from soft to demanding. “Alex Walker, you better start explaining. Now.”

He tried, he really did, but he couldn’t get any words to come out. All he could think about was how scary she looked, how disappointed she’d be, and how much he’d hate to tell her what he had done.

Her eyes bored into his, never leaving his face and making it impossible for him to lie. “Is Kelly pregnant?”

“No,” he said finally. “Not anymore.”

“Not anymore,” she repeated flatly. “What does that mean?”

His mind filled with dread and reluctance, but he finally told her the truth. “We decided to get an abortion.”

She dropped into the chair at his side, staring at him like he was a stranger. “I don’t understand…that doesn’t sound like you.”

Letting out a deep breath, he sat up and looked over at her. “It was toward the end of the school year—last year—and Kelly told me she was pregnant. I didn’t know what to do…so I went to Dad for advice. Which was a
stupid
thing to do.”

“Oh, God.” Mrs. Walker sank into a nearby chair. “What’d he do?”

“Come on, you know him. He didn’t want anything to ‘jeopardize’ my ‘future’. After enough grilling and lectures…I convinced Kelly to have an abortion.”

She shook her head, ashamed and disappointed. “I can’t believe this.” She stood up and began to pace. “Why didn’t you just
come talk to me?”

“I don’t know,” he said. “Dad said we should leave you out of it. That’d it break your heart.”

“You know what breaks my heart?” she snapped, turning to him. “The thought of you two kids going through this alone, with only the guidance of that one-track-minded man out in the waiting room!”

“Mom, I wanted to tell you, but—”

“But you did what your father said, just like you always do.”

“It’s not all his fault. I was the one who pressured her into it. I was the one who said—” 

“That’s enough,” she said firmly. “This isn’t the place…and it’s definitely not the time. You rest up. We’ll talk about this when you’re better.”

“Mom, I’m fine.”

“You’re not fine! Your arm is broken, Alex. And it sounds like your heart was broken long before that, so you just get some rest and I’ll come by and see you in the morning. Okay?” She walked over, planted a kiss on his forehead, and then left before he could say anything else.

Alex sank back against the bed.

***

Meagan

***

Meagan was trying, and failing, to calm herself down when her brother finally came into the hospital room.

“Meagan, what happened?” Trevor asked, looking concerned the second he saw her so upset.

“It was Seth,” she said, trying to sit up. “He was here.”

“What? He came to see you?” Trevor sat on the edge of the bed, a look of disbelief and anger on his face.

Meagan nodded, and told him what had happened. By the time she finished, she was in tears again. “I said I’d rather die, and he said ‘you might.’ That’s a threat, right? I mean, it sounds like a threat, doesn’t it?”

“Yeah, it does,” he said, his voice taught with worry. “Don’t worry. He’s not going to get away with this.”

“Yes he will,” she said, wiping a tear away. “He always does.”

Trevor reached out, giving her shoulder a reassuring squeeze. “I promise I’m not going to let him hurt you, okay?”

Meagan nodded, trying to believe this, but somehow feeling like it was an empty promise.

“You just try to get some rest. Do you want me to get the nurses to give you something to calm you down? Something to help you sleep?”

She shook her head. “No. I can’t risk being out of it…”

“Hey,” he said, trying to get her attention before she went into panic-mode again. “I’m going to be right here. All night. I’m not going anywhere, okay?”

Though her heart was still racing, she nodded as she clutched on to Trevor’s hand, trying to believe that she would be safe. But safety was something she’d come to think of as a luxury, and that would never change as long as Seth walked free.

***

Kelly

***

It was just past one a.m. when Kelly finally arrived home from the hospital.
Emotionally exhausted and drained, she stopped by the table in the foyer and dropped her purse and keys onto it. Then, hearing Kendall shouting from the sitting room, she thought better of it and stuffed her keys down into her purse.

The door to the sitting room opened and her mother came out, meeting
Kelly in the foyer.

“
You’re home,” Jodi said softly. Her blond hair was pulled into a low ponytail, and her pretty, youthful face looked frazzled. “How’s Alex doing?”

“He’s got a broken arm,
” Kelly said, picking her purse up off the table. “But he’ll be okay. No thanks to—”

“Look, I’m sorry!” Kendall’s voice echoed from the sitting room. “How many times do I have to say it, dad?”

“I don’t want your apologies,” Jordan said, just as loud. “I want an explanation! You know better than to drink and drive…than to drink at all. You could’ve killed someone, or yourself! Didn’t rehab help you at all?”

Jodi sighed wearily. “They’ve been at that for an hour.”

“Fun,” Kelly said sarcastically. Any time Kendall was around, tension ran high. Kelly didn’t know exactly what was up with the rebellious girl, but she always had an attitude and did whatever she wanted. Last year, when she’d been living with them, Kendall had disappeared for days at a time, came in drunk or high. One time, Jordan caught an older guy in her room in a very compromising position. He shipped her off to rehab after that, but she ran away in the middle of the program. A week or two later, she called to say she was living with her mom and no one had heard from her since. Now, Kelly was afraid Kendall’s arrival wasn’t just a
visit
. “Mom…tell me she’s not—”

“Honey, she has nowhere else to go.
Her own mother kicked her out.”

Kelly groaned and leaned against the wall. “No, no, no. Tell me this isn’t happening.” 

“She’s Jordan’s daughter—we can’t just turn her away. I know you guys don’t exactly get along….”

“Get along? We’re mortal enemies. She’s selfish and rude and she just hit my ex-boyfriend with her car! How is she not in jail, anyway?”

“Jordan talked to this friend at the police station…they didn’t drop the charges but they’re letting us take care of her until the hearing Monday morning.”