Uncovering You: The Complete Series (Mega Box Set) (281 page)

Somehow, I know there will be no awakening if I let it win.

The realization spurs my efforts to gain control over my body. With a great heave, I force my eyelids open.

An unfamiliar male face hovers above mine. “She’s awake!” the stranger screams behind him. Cold air rushes past my cheeks as I’m being lifted. Red, blue, and white lights flash all around me. I hear sirens in the distance, and wonder:
Are they coming for us?

I’m being laid onto a flat, horizontal surface. After a few seconds, my head gets propped up. Something about the repositioning reminds me to focus. I put all my efforts into actually
seeing
what my eyes are showing me.

I see the chaos before me for the first time. The car we were all in—Rich’s rental car—is a mass of twisted metal. It lies flipped over. The windows are shattered. The frame is crushed in two places: at the rear fender, and at the right side passenger door—right where Min was sitting.

Oh my God. Min. Rich!

I jerk upright. A wave of dizziness threatens. Two firm yet gentle hands take hold of my shoulders and ease me down.

A different male face comes into view. “Look at me,” he says. He shines something bright into my eyes. I close them to stop the shooting pain that rockets through my temples.

“Easy now,” the stranger says. “Just breathe. Slow and steady. I won’t do that again.”

The deep breaths I take help calm me. Eventually, the pain in my head fades. I open my eyes to find two people looking down at me. The newcomer is a uniformed female police officer.

“Miss, you’ve been in an accident,” she informs me. My brain barely registers her words. It feels too surreal. “You’re being taken to the hospital. Is there anybody we can call to meet you there?”

“Rich…” I manage. My voice sounds desperate to my own ears. “Min…”

The two people above me exchange a glance. “The man and woman you were with are both alive,” the officer says. “They’re being taken to the hospital as well.”

I exhale in relief.
Alive
. That had been my greatest fear.

“What’s your name, Miss?”

“P-Penelope,” I croak. Even my own voice makes my head pound.

“Penelope. You’re going to be just fine. You sustained some minor bodily injuries…”

“My head,” I struggle. “Why does my head hurt so much?”

“…as well as head trauma resulting in a concussion.” I register the words, and understand their meaning, but thinking past that is… fuzzy. My body feels battered and bruised, but nothing is intolerable. I’m most concerned about my head.

I close my eyes for just a moment. The darkness that comes feels so very comforting.

“Stay with us!” the man commands. I hear him. But, I also hear the darkness calling me. I try to open my eyes. The effort is too great.

Why struggle? The black beckons me. I know I’ll be safe there. Safe, and away from bright lights, loud noise, and pain.

I surrender to it and let the world fade away.

Chapter Twelve

I blink and open my eyes.

Silence surrounds me. The headache is gone. I’m in a room with a white ceiling. I move my arms and legs. Everything seems to work.

I take a deep breath—and almost cry out from the pain that shoots through my side. I start coughing, unable to contain it. Each time I cough, the pain intensifies. It gets so bad so fast that tears stream from my eyes.

“Hey!” A warm hand covers mine. I look to the source of the voice and find Rich smiling at me. The coughing fit subsides as soon as I see his face. “Hey, you’re up.”

Rich looks so earnest, so concerned. I feel weak. But, seeing Rich there energizes me. I start to push myself up, and then notice a tube connected to my arm. What the hell? I frown down at it, then notice the light, polka-dot gown I’m wearing.
What happened to my clothes?

“Hey, hey, easy there,” Rich cautions. His grip tightens on my hand. “Don’t move. The doctor’s going to be here soon.”

“Doctor?” I start to say, confused—and then everything comes rushing back: The fight in the restaurant. The car honking behind us. The violent collision. Blacking out, and coming to with all the sirens and lights…

“You’re all right!” I exclaim. I try again to get up and hug him. But he holds me down with a hand on my shoulder.

“Yeah, I am,” Rich says. “At least, I’m in better shape than you are.” I notice his kind smile. “You were out for a couple of hours. The nurses have been keeping an eye on you.” He motions at the machines around the bed. “They said everything looked good. They told me you’d wake soon. But, as I waited…” Rich’s voice cracks and he looks away for a second. When he turns back, the most relieved smile I’ve ever seen brightens his face. His stunning, grey-green eyes shine as he speaks. “I never gave up on you, Penny. I knew you’d come back.” He laughs and strokes my hand. “You said you’d never let me leave you. Remember? Well, I wasn’t going to let you leave me, either.”

“Rich…” I smile at him. Why does he sound so emotional? I remember what the paramedic told me: minor body injuries and a concussion. Nothing life-threatening. “I’m fine. You’re right. I wouldn’t let you get away that easily. What’s up with this?” I lift my free hand to him. “Why am I hooked up to an IV?”

“They’re pumping pain killers into you,” he explains. “You have two cracked ribs. Without the drugs, each breath you take would be agony.”

I take my hand away from his to feel under my armpit. My fingers brush against a hard cast. The pain that shot through my body originated from that spot. And Rich is probably right about the drugs: I do feel kind of… float-y.

He chuckles at my exploration of my own body. “Yeah, right there. They say you’ll be able to stand and walk as soon as tomorrow. Unfortunately for both of us, no strenuous activities for a few weeks.”

I smile. “Maybe I’ll be able to push through. What about you?”

“Take a look,” Rich says, moving away from me. I blink in confusion when he doesn’t stand. Instead, his seat moves with him.

Then it hits me. He’s in a wheelchair!

“Oh my God, Rich!” Once more, I try to push myself up. The sharp pain from under my breast makes me fall back into the pillow. My mind whirls with the horrifying possibilities. Did he break his back? Is he
paralyzed
?

“Whoa, whoa!” Rich soothes. “I didn’t mean to frighten you,” he says as soon as he picks up on my distress. “I told you, I’m not that bad.” He lifts his left leg up. I see his foot contained in a thick cast. “Just one small broken bone.” He shrugs his shoulders and cracks his neck. “As well as a bit of whiplash. I got away pretty much scot free. They want the bone to set, and tomorrow I’ll be able to put weight on it. I might even be able to walk without crutches.”

“Thank God,” I exhale in relief. “When I saw you in the wheelchair, I thought…” I trail off, shaking my head. I can’t fathom giving voice to my fear.

“Nah.” Rich wheels back to me and takes my hand again. “Sorry for the scare.”

“It’s okay,” I say. “I’m not mad at you anymore, by the way. I know when we left the restaurant—” I cut off, suddenly remembering something. These damn pain killers must be making my thinking so slow! “Oh my God,
Min
. How’s Min?”

Rich’s face falls. He turns away from me and doesn’t speak. A sinking feeling forms in my stomach again.

“Rich?” I press. “Rich, what’s the matter? Is she okay?”

Slowly, he shakes his head. “No. No, she’s not, and it’s my fucking fault.” I can hear the tears in his voice. “If I hadn’t gotten angry with her, if I hadn’t gotten into that stupid fight, everything would have been different.”

“Is she… I mean, she’s not…” I can’t finish the sentence without choking up.
Dead
?

“She’s alive,” Rich says. “Thank God for that. She’s still alive. And her condition’s stable, but her injuries…” He trails off, looking away.

I force myself up, fighting through the screaming pain that fills me. I reach out and place a hand on Rich’s shoulder. He tilts his head toward it, then rubs his warm cheek over my fingers. “Tell me,” I ask him gently.

Rich picks up my hand with both of his. He turns to face me. I can see the despair and overwhelming guilt reflected in his eyes. He does not say anything for a long time. He just looks at me, maybe even
through
me. I’ve never seen him so lost.

“Whatever happened, it can’t be your fault,” I tell him. I know he needs me now. Even if I don’t have any strength left, I can fake it. For him. “Now, tell me about Min’s injuries.”

“A concussion,” Rich begins. “Three broken ribs. One punctured lung. Two cracked vertebrae in her neck. A shattered hip bone. All three bones broken in her right arm. Some internal bleeding, but it’s subsided. Various cuts and lacerations, the worst of which goes across her stomach for a good six inches. They’ve got it stitched up.” He recites the list with absolutely no emotion in his voice. He sounds exactly the way he looks. Empty.

I know it’s his way of coping. If he lets himself feel, the pain will be too much.

“Where is she?” I ask him softly.

“They’re still monitoring her in the ICU. They won’t let me near. I haven’t seen her yet.”

“Oh, Rich…”

“Don’t tell me it’s not my fault,” he barks. “
Don’t
, Penny!”

“I wasn’t about to—”

“Don’t you get it?” he continues over top of me. “I promised I’d take care of her. I failed. I…”

He slams a fist against the arm rest. His tears are gone. Only stark anger remains. “I could not be the brother she needed. I chastised her for living her life, and then I failed her again. Time and time again, I fail her. I wasn’t there when she broke up with Joey. I wasn’t there when she gave birth. I wasn’t there when our father got thrown in jail. And this time, it’s the fucking worst.
I’m
the one who caused her injuries. If it wasn’t for me—”

“Rich, that’s ridiculous!” I interrupt. “Being worried about her is one thing, but blaming yourself like this is entirely another. It’s
nobody’s
fault except the other driver’s!”

“Oh, yeah?” Rich counters, his eyes blazing. “Think about it, Penny. If I hadn’t gotten mad in the restaurant, we wouldn’t have left early. The driver wouldn’t have been behind us. There’d
be
no accident!”

“And, if I stayed with her longer in the restroom, we would have been delayed, too,” I rationalize. “I’m terrified for her, Rich. But, I’m not blaming myself for it! You can’t live with regret, always asking yourself, ‘
What if?’
”

“No,” Rich says. “
Everything
about this is my fault. Do you know why Min is in the worst shape of all three of us? Because she sat in the spot of direct impact from the other car. It totaled the right-hand passenger door. Ask yourself: Would anybody have sat there if it weren’t for me?
No
. Min climbed in the back first, behind the driver’s seat! If I hadn’t been angry, you would have sat up front with me. We would have all escaped with relatively minor injuries. Now, my sister is going through hell in some fucking room I can’t even get into!”

My eyes widen with realization. What Rich said just cast a new light on things. Except, he’s not the guilty party.

I am.

“Oh my God,” I whisper. A sick feeling forms in my gut. I feel like I’m about to hurl. “You’re right. If I sat up front with you, Min wouldn’t have… I mean, she still would…” I swallow a sob. “It’s my fault!”

“
What
?” Rich’s eyes snap to me. “Don’t be stupid. It all started with me.”

“She trusted me. She told me the story about Joey. Oh my God, what have I done?” The next sob comes out as a hiccup. I
hate
it when I cry. But, the accumulation of stress, my injuries, and the news about Min is too much. I feel tears falling before I can stop them. Sharp pain jolts through my body as I struggle to contain myself.

It’s no use. I’m too weak to fight my emotions. If I’m in this much discomfort with one cracked rib, how bad must Min be feeling right now? Oh, God…

“Penny, stop it. Stop crying.” Irritation seeps into Rich’s voice, even if I do hear his concern. “Dammit, Penelope! I won’t have you berating yourself for something that wasn’t your fault!”

“I… I can’t. I can’t stop.” I want to laugh at how pathetic I sound. But that feeling is overshadowed by my guilt, my blame, my
worry
over Min. I turn away from Rich. I hate him seeing me like this. Right now, I am
not
the person he fell in love with.

I hardly recognize myself, or the way I’m reacting. Strength and perseverance have been my two guiding words through life. Now, all that has left me. It’s fallen by the wayside over my concern for a friend.

“I’m not going to have you uncomfortable with me, either,” Rich mutters. I feel the bed shift, and the next thing I know Rich is right there beside me.

We’re squished together on the tiny mattress. He puts an arm over my shoulder and gently steers me toward him. I melt against his hard body and bury my face in his chest. I let the tears come. The guilt eats away at me. I feel worse than useless. I hate the way I’m acting. My friend is probably fighting for her life in this damn hospital, and all I can do is feel sorry for myself?