Crash into You (Pushing the Limits #3)(98)

“Rachel!” Isaiah lifts me upright, wiping my hair from my face.

“No hospital.” They can’t know...they can’t know...they can’t... “Promise they won’t know....”

My stomach cramps, and I roll away from him with the blast of heat rushing through my body.

“Jesus!” Isaiah scrambles beside me. “There’s blood.”

Chapter 65

Isaiah

PROMISE THEY WON’T KNOW...

Craving a physical connection, I slide my finger along the back of Rachel’s hand. She’s asleep. Has been for a while. Curled in the fetal position in the middle of my bed, Rachel wears the mask of a ravaged person. Somehow, I missed the signs: dark circles under her eyes, the clothes that once fit perfectly now hang, her skin so pale it’s translucent.

Rachel told me she had attacks, that she ended up in the hospital once, and that she hides them from her family. I never thought to ask if she was concealing them from me.

Her eyes press tightly in her sleep, and she flinches as she swallows. I wish she’d sleep deeply, but she doesn’t. Staying restless, Rachel turns her head. I tuck the blanket back around her, whispering for her to rest.

“Isaiah,” Abby says softly from the doorway. “Everyone’s here.”

I nod and Abby slips behind the door. Everyone being here would be Noah’s doing, not mine. He found us—me cradling a broken Rachel in my arms—and drove us home. Took everything I had not to rush Rachel into the E.R., but she made me promise not to. I’ve never considered going back on my word as much as I do right now.

The world is stacked against Rachel and me. The money is due this weekend. We’re down a car and we aren’t even close to the amount. Rachel’s body is worn, her spirit drowning. If we don’t pay off this debt, a nightmare will visit us both. Eric will come after me and he’ll hurt her. My fingers ball into a fist. I’ll die before I let that happen.

A rustle of sheets, then soft fingers glide against mine. I glance at Rachel and meet glazed-over blue eyes. The spark is gone, taking the violet hue along with it.

“How are you?” I ask, and focus on not demanding why the hell she’s kept all this from me. We’ll have the conversation, but not in this moment.

“Okay,” she says in a hoarse, cracked voice. “I’m sorry.”

I shake my head, not wanting her apology. “Me, too.” I lace my fingers with hers. “Why did you run from me?”

“I saw you hug Beth,” she croaks.

“I love you. Not anyone else.”

“I know. I’m sorry. My head got messed up. I was worried about you and we had a fight and I didn’t know if you were alive and when I saw you two together...” Rachel lets the words trail off. “Beth’s strong.”

“So are you,” I say.

“You don’t think that.”

“Fuck that,” I snap, then close my eyes to rein in my temper. I suck in a breath before reopening them. “I do think that. Most girls I know would be lying under a bed in the fetal position after living a day with Eric on their backs. You’ve stood strong the entire time.”

“Except now.”

I’m shaking my head again. “Everyone has a breaking point, and I’d lay odds this isn’t Eric.” But I won’t go near a conversation about her family. “Your body may need a break, but your spirit is still strong.”

“I bet this wouldn’t happen to Beth.”

“No, it wouldn’t, because Beth always ran.”

Rachel blinks.

“Beth was always a runner. She may have stood in place, but she always hid behind the wall she built, and if that didn’t work, she ran to a guy, to drugs, to anywhere other than where she should have been, to forget. You and Beth—you’re night and day.”

“If you really think that then let me race Zach.” Her voice breaks, leaving her only able to whisper. “Let me bet the seven hundred and race him. I’d do it without you, but he already said that he won’t race me without your permission because he doesn’t want to mess with you.”

The muscles in my jaw contract. “Is that all he said?”

She winces. “He’d also race me if I broke up with you. But ignore that. Isaiah, we’re already in trouble. If I win, then we try to double the fourteen hundred, and then we try to double again. Let me help dig us out of this hole.”

Rachel’s so pale I can see the veins beneath her skin. She could win. Rachel’s been practicing. Stolen moments between us in abandoned parking lots. All she lacked was experience and confidence. My angel has both now. Even with her body defying her, she’s a force of nature.

But what if the race Zach’s offering isn’t innocent? What if his association with Eric drags her in deeper? Not able to see the angle he’s playing, I can’t take the risk.

“Everyone’s waiting on me,” I say as a cop-out. “Let me talk to them.”

She casts her eyes down. “We won’t work if you never trust me to be strong enough.”

I kiss her forehead. “It has nothing to do with trust or strength.” But with keeping her safe. “Rest. You can’t do anything if you don’t sleep.”

I close the door to the bedroom behind me and freeze when I assess the room. All eyes fall on me. Echo and Abby lean against the kitchen counter. Noah stands near the couch. Ryan and Beth sit next to Logan, who has his bum leg propped on the old coffee table.