Finding You (By You #3) (33 page)

The halls of the dorm were empty and quieter than she'd ever heard them. She took the stairs and walked quickly down to his room. Her stomach was doing flips over itself for some reason, and as she came to his door she was almost too nervous to knock.

Then she noticed the small crack of light coming from under the door. He'd either left the light on when they went out to dinner, or he
had
come back.

Sarah blew out a sharp breath and pinched her lips as she knocked on the door. The loud noise ripped and cut through the silence of the hall, but she was too busy watching that crack of light for movement to care about how much noise she made.

She banged on the door again. Three loud knocks.

"Jeremy, are you in there?" she said, her voice a loud whisper. Seconds later a shadow moved behind the door, and the lock clicked as the door handle turned.

Sarah's jaw dropped when the door opened. Her heart raced in her chest while her stomach felt like it was going to fall straight out of her.

"What are
you
doing here?" she said.

No sooner had the door behind him shut than Braden let his head slump forward. He held Reagan's hand between his, still not able to believe that the broken girl lying in the bed was her. He didn't want to believe it, but he knew it was true.

He never should have left her alone in the big city. There was no reason for her to be there. School was important, but she could go to the community college like everyone else did. He had told her to watch herself. He had told her to stay safe.

A flood of tears came to his eyes. Tears that he'd managed to hold back all this time. Tears that he didn't want anyone else to see. But he and Reagan were always like that together. They were as close to best friends as two people could be, and he'd never been afraid to share anything with her. He could cry in front of her. He didn't have to be so strong in front of her.

He rubbed her hand, just wishing that it would move, that she would wake up, even though he knew the doctors had made sure she wouldn't.

"I'm going to get you out of here," he said. His voice holding a touch of anger. "We'll get you back home and make sure you get better. And we can put all this big city college stuff behind us. We'll make it work out."

But he knew that wasn't what she wanted. He knew she had bigger plans in mind, and he knew that as long as she was alive, she wasn't going to give up on her dreams. That's the kind of person she was--that's the kind of person her brothers had turned her into. She wasn't afraid to do the hard things, and she wasn't afraid of falling down because she knew she could just pick herself back up.

But if something happened to her--something
real
bad--who was going to pick
him
back up?

She might be his younger sister, but in many ways Braden looked up to her. She'd always been wise beyond her years, always had her act together. While he was off chasing skirts she was taking care of things at the lodge. Always the responsible one. Always the one their family could depend on.

"She looks peaceful," a voice said behind him.

Braden's heart skipped a beat, not realizing someone had come in the room. He wiped the tears on his sleeve, quickly, and grunted.

"She's just sleeping," he said.

Thom shrugged and knelt down next to him. He put one arm around Braden and squeezed him tight while resting a hand on Reagan's arm.

"Still... She doesn't look like she's in pain or anything."

Braden nodded. "Yeah, Doc said she wasn't hurting or anything."

Thom gave him a soft smile and turned back to her. The two brothers watched their little sister for a time before either said anything.

"Everything's going to be just fine," Thom said. "Before you know it she's going to be marching around telling us what to do, again. Then you're going to wish she was still all laid up."

Braden let out a laugh. "I can't wait."

"Me neither."

"Have you heard from Lucky and Shane?" Braden asked.

"I tried calling a few more times, but you know how reception is out there. Hopefully they'll get the messages in the morning and come right away."

Braden nodded. The only other brother that was missing was Willem, and he was all the way up in New York. He'd be on the first flight in the morning and probably be there before the other two.

"Mom's going to freak out when she sees her," Braden said.

"Dad's going to be worse."

Braden nodded.
 

"But we'll pull through. We always do."

"I'm never letting her out of my sight again," Braden said.

Thom shot him a grin. "We'll see how well that goes over with her."

"I'm serious." He could feel the tears coming to his eyes, again. He didn't wipe them away, this time. "I'm serious, when she gets out of here I'm going to throw her over my shoulder and walk her back home, if I have to."

Thom's grin spread even wider.

"Boy, the moment you throw her over your shoulder is the moment she'll give you an ass whoopin' that even Dad would be proud of."

Braden set his jaw and jerked his head in a nod.

"Good. I'd like to see her try."

Thom agreed, "We all would."

"What are you doing here?" Sarah asked.

The confusion she felt was quickly giving way to anger as her mind went at warp speed to try and figure out what was going on. And every explanation it came up with wasn't good. She craned her neck to see past the girl that was blocking her way into the room--a girl that Jeremy had told her was just a friend.

Becca stared back at her, her eyes set with a cold glare. She was wearing a tight, little tank top and black yoga pants.

And she's in Jeremy's room!

"I'm here for Jeremy," Becca said, her tone accusatory.

"Well, I'd like to talk to him--if that's okay with you." Sarah's words were hard, probably harder than she intended, but she wasn't about to show any weakness.

Why had Jeremy run off to Becca instead of going to the hospital? Didn't he know that she'd be worried sick over him?

Becca's eyes burned with some kind of cold intensity that Sarah hadn't seen on her before. She looked like she was about to start throwing punches.

"If he were here, I probably
wouldn't
let you talk to him," she said. She looked Sarah up and down while shaking her head. "You know, after everything he told me about you, I was actually starting to think you might be good for him... I won't be making that mistake, again."

Sarah's jaw dropped to the floor, stunned. What in the world had
she
done that wasn't good for Jeremy? She'd been nothing but good to him. She would do anything for him. What right did Becca have to accuse her of anything?

Through the stunned anger, Sarah realized something, and then she had even more questions.

"Wait, did you say Jeremy isn't here?"

"No, he isn't. But I'd be a lot happier if he was." Becca folded her arms in front of her and shifted her weight between either foot. The cold stare she leveled at Sarah was unwavering.

"Well, if he's not here, then what are you doing here?" Sarah asked.

"I came over when I got his message, earlier," Becca said. "Trust me, if I knew where he was then I wouldn't be here."

"He called you? But I have his phone..." Sarah dug it out of her pocket and held it up.

Becca swiped it out of her hand before she could pull it away.

"Yeah, he mentioned that in his message. He told me he was at a party tonight, a
rave
, and that things got out of hand. He told me he was there because of
you
."

Sarah watched her, stunned and confused, as she started going through his phone. Becca looked like she was intent on finding something, but Sarah had no idea what it could possibly be. And when had Jeremy called her? It must have been some time after the accident if he'd left a message saying he didn't have his phone. Why hadn't he come to the hospital?

"Well, if you didn't see him, then how did you get into his room?"

Becca didn't even look up when she answered.

"My key," she said.

Her key?

A sense of dread came over Sarah as the pieces of the puzzle started falling into place. Her mind raced back to all the times she'd seen him with Becca, all the times he'd had to run off with her late in the evenings, all the times he'd tried to tell her that she was just a friend. And now she was standing here because she'd been the first person he'd called after everything went wrong. He hadn't gone to the hospital to see how Sarah or Reagan was doing--he'd called Becca. If that didn't make his priorities clear, then nothing would.

And to top all of that off...she even had a key to his room.

Sarah shook her head, not wanting to believe it, but knowing it was true. Jeremy and Becca were having some kind of affair. For how long, she had no way of knowing, but it seemed clear as day now that she'd pieced it all together.

It was the whole Huck situation all over again. Only, at least Huck had had the decency to own up to it and tell her the truth. Jeremy had kept it all one hell of a secret. She'd been a fool to think that they were getting any closer together. She'd been an idiot to trust him after all the warning bells she'd ignored.

"You know what? You can have him," Sarah said, backing away as she did. "I'm not going to put myself through this shit, again. You two can have whatever this little thing is that you've got going on. I'm not going to be in the middle of it." She turned to walk away, and then added, "Oh, and in case he's wondering, Reagan's in a coma. She might live, she might not. So..." She threw her hands into the air with a shrug and continued down the hall.

She needed to get back to the hospital. She'd been an idiot to leave her best friend's side. What if she... No, she couldn't think about that. Reagan would still be fine when she got there.

"Hey, wait," Becca called out. She ran down the hall to catch up to her. "What are you talking about? We don't have a
little thing
going on."

Anger bubbled up through Sarah's chest and into her face. This wasn't what she needed, right now. She just needed to get back to the hospital--where she should have been, in the first place.

"Look, it's not a big deal, alright? I get it--you two go way back." She threw her hands up again. Her eyes were getting blurry with tears. "He's all yours, I won't get in the way. I just have to get back to the hospital."

She pivoted around on her foot again, and started walking as fast as she could. She had to stop herself from breaking into a full on run--maybe she'd be able to save at least a shred of dignity.

"Sarah, wait," Becca called after her. "You've got it all wrong."

But she couldn't stop. She'd already been played the fool too many times in her life, she wasn't about to listen to even more lies. Reagan needed her, and she needed people that actually cared about her.

Footsteps pounded behind her as Becca chased after her. Was she really going to make this much of a scene? By the time Becca caught up to her, tears were pouring down Sarah's face. She didn't bother wiping them away. She didn't care what this girl thought about them.

"What do you want from me?" she screamed. "You win! Can't you just leave me alone?"

Becca's eyes lost their cold edge as she regarded Sarah. Then she put a hand on Sarah's shoulder. It was a soft touch, a warm one, and Sarah buried her hands in her face.

This night was just too much. All she wanted was to have Jeremy by her side, to know that he was okay. She had thought he was different. She had thought he was someone special. Why had he done that to her?

When Sarah was able to pull herself together, Becca was still looking at her, still had a hand on her shoulder, squeezing gently. Sarah let out tiny sobs as she wiped away the tears in her eyes. Her throat burned with every breath she took. It was a pain she hadn't felt in a long time.

"Jeremy and I aren't dating," Becca said. "Or anything like it. Not even close."

Sarah shook her head. More lies? Why was she trying to drag this out?

"Then why are you here? Why do you have a key to his room? Why did he call you instead of come to the hospital to be with me?"

Becca's face flashed pain for a second, and then she closed her eyes and blew out a long breath. When she opened her eyes again she was looking at Sarah in a new light. All the animosity from earlier was gone, and in its place was something kinder. The change was so dramatic that it threw Sarah off, leaving her even more confused.

"Jeremy said he told you about me..." she said.

Sarah nodded. "He told me how you were Dani's best friend, and that you guys are still friends."

Becca shook her head, letting out a sigh.

"That's only partially true," she said. She tugged at Sarah's arm, leading her back toward Jeremy's room. "Come on. There're some things you need to know."

Jeremy sat motionless, staring at the bottle between his feet while the sounds of the rushing water pounded all around him. He didn't know how long he'd been staring at that bottle, but he hadn't yet opened it, hadn't yet taken it to the next level.

But he wanted to. He knew what waited for him at the bottom of that bottle, but that didn't scare him as much as it should have. He'd been there before, and it was familiar.

He thought about Sarah, again. Thought about all of the ways that he'd messed everything up with her. It had been doomed from the beginning, he figured. At least he'd gotten to feel what happiness was like, again, even if for only a short time. She was going to be fine--he knew that. She might be upset that things didn't work out between them for a while, but there would be a line of guys ready to take his place. She'd be over him in no time, and she'd move on with someone that she actually deserved, someone that deserved her.

The only thing Jeremy deserved was waiting for him at the bottom of that bottle.

Time passed slowly while he stared at it, and he got so lost in his thoughts that he almost didn't hear the car doors slamming shut out on the street. Two people were walking toward him, but it was too dark to see who they were until they were almost on him. In one quick motion, he snatched the bottle and jumped to his feet, backing away from them.