Until the End (Sea Breeze #9)(20)
I closed her door and ran back around to get in on my side.
If she was walking by herself, then Krit had to be somewhere safe. I didn’t want to make her talk, but I also didn’t want that kid left alone with whoever had done this to her.
“Where’s Krit?” I asked as I pulled out slowly onto the road.
“Green’s. I promised him,” she said almost too quietly. “If he r-ran to Green’s and stayed there . . . I’d call Davey to take . . . m-me to the hospital.”
Instead she’d tried to walk the five miles from her house to the hospital. Stubborn female. But at least the kid was safe. “I’ll get in touch with him as soon as we get to the hospital and let him know I’m with you and you’re getting fixed up,” I assured her.
“Thanks,” she managed to say before wincing.
I wasn’t going to make her say anything else.
We drove in silence while I pictured the many ways I was going to kill whoever had put their hands on her.
It took only seven minutes to get to the local hospital, but it felt like forever. Hearing her whimper and sniffle was doing me in. I hated this. I hated her being hurt. I hated not being able to stop this shit. Why couldn’t she have let me be there for her? Why had she pushed me away?
I pulled up to the entrance and looked at her. “I’m getting you a wheelchair and helping you out. Stay put.”
She gave me a little nod and a tight smile.
Never f**king again. She wouldn’t get hurt again. I swore to God I’d make sure of it. I wanted to promise her that right then, but I didn’t. She would just worry about how I intended to keep that from happening. I was going to show her.
Trisha
Two fractured ribs, but then, I’d already known that. Luckily, my lungs weren’t punctured. A dislocated elbow and a fracture in my radius bone, which meant that my wrist was broken. When Fandora’s new boyfriend had grabbed my hand and slung me across the room, I’d heard the crack. So I already knew that too.
My nose wasn’t broken, thank goodness. It had bled so badly I wasn’t sure. I was just thankful Fandora had stood in front of Krit and kept him back. He had gotten slapped around a little, but she had put a stop to it fast. Krit had gone ballistic trying to get to me, but Fandora had stayed between him and her boyfriend, screaming at the guy not to touch her baby.
All of this because her disgusting boyfriend had grabbed my butt. I’d told him to stop, and then he had pinned me up against the wall and started telling me he wanted a taste of my pu**y. Krit had walked in on it and gone apeshit. He’d started attacking the guy, and the man had used his weight to throw Krit off him and onto the floor.
Fandora had come running out of her bedroom and seen the mess in the living room, and of course blamed me. I had fought back, but when I kicked the greasy jerk in the nuts as hard as I could, he began to beat me instead of grope me.
When Gary Holmes, the older man who lived in the trailer beside ours, showed up at the door, Fandora and her sorry excuse for a man left. I had hidden in the bedroom, where Krit had followed me. The last thing I needed was for Mr. Holmes to call the police. I’d heard Fandora tell him that they were just having an argument. I had begged Krit to stay quiet.
In the end Krit had agreed to go to Green’s if I went to the hospital. I told him if he didn’t leave right then, I wouldn’t call Davey and we would stay there all night. He’d battled with leaving me, but every time I breathed I whimpered in pain. So he finally left, making me swear to go to the hospital and call him as soon as I was there.
I couldn’t let Davey or Riley know about this. They would want me to tell the cops. But I wasn’t getting separated from Krit. He was safe here. Fandora had proved tonight that she didn’t want anyone hurting him. I could survive.
Rock coming out of the darkness had made me want to weep with relief. I had decided I was never going to make it to the hospital. Then he’d been there. And saved me.
The nurse had questioned me about Rock. They knew someone had done this to me, and their immediate response was to question the boyfriend. But I had sworn to them it wasn’t him. He had saved me.
The fact that he didn’t have a scratch on him helped.
Then they had started asking me who had done it. I had told them I’d fallen down the stairs outside my house and landed on a brick. It was the best I had been able to come up with. They didn’t believe me. I kept swearing that that was what had happened, and I could see they were frustrated but they eventually backed off.
The nurse walked into the room with a kind smile. “We can’t get your mother on the phone. I’m afraid you’ll have to stay here until we can get her to sign the paperwork to release you. Do you know where she may be?”
Yes, at a bar somewhere. “No. My younger brother was staying the night at a friend’s, and Mom went out on a date. Since my plan was to stay home tonight, she wouldn’t think there would be any sort of emergency.”
The nurse still didn’t seem to be buying it, but she nodded. “Okay. Well, we have two very anxious boys outside waiting on you. Is it okay if I let them inside? One is your brother. I think the guy who brought you called him and he got a ride here.”
Oh crap. What had Krit been saying in the waiting room for everyone to hear?
“Sure, yeah,” I replied, with a smile I didn’t feel.
She looked at me one last time with sadness in her eyes. I didn’t need her to help me. She’d ruin everything. I wasn’t being separated from Krit. I had less than two years before I was eighteen. I could save us both then.