Catching Summer (Second Chances, #6)(53)

Closing my eyes, I laid my head on his bed and just listened to his breathing. Fortunately, he was doing it on his own. “Please wake the f*ck up,” I murmured desperately.

About fifteen minutes later, Summer walked through the room, bringing in the smell of bacon. I could eat anything and everything as long as it had bacon on it. My stomach growled so loudly that Summer laughed. “I guess if I ever want to wake you up, all I need to do is fry up some bacon?”

“Or you could always wear it,” Derek replied in a low, hoarse voice. “He’ll eat you up in a heartbeat if you do that.”

Summer gasped and I lifted my head to see Derek’s tired grin. “Well, holy shit, Sleeping Beauty’s finally awake.”

“Please tell me you didn’t kiss me,” he joked.

I grabbed his hand and held it tight. “I love you, brother, but not that much.”

“Actually, he did kind of kiss you,” Summer replied sadly. “He saved your life when he gave you CPR.”

Derek’s smile faded when he looked at her, and then to me. “What the hell happened, brother? All I remember is that f*cker running us off the road and then blacking out.”

The moment I dreaded had finally come. I glanced quickly over at Summer before settling on him, sighing. “We were in an accident. I’m probably the reason you have the broken ribs. I couldn’t give up on you.”

He tried to take in a deep breath and winced. “Fuck, I feel it now. I can’t believe I slept through this shit. How’s Bri doing? Did the police catch the son of a bitch who ran us off the road?” Summer set the food down and put her hand on my shoulder. I needed her touch, but it did nothing to ease the ache in my chest. Derek could already tell something was wrong by my hesitance. “Spit it out, Townsend,” he growled.

“No, they haven’t caught the guy or girl, or whoever it was who made us crash. It’s being investigated as we speak.”

Derek’s jaw clenched. “And Brianna? How is she?” Summer squeezed my shoulder and I closed my eyes against the burn.

When I opened them, a set of tears fell down my cheeks as the words left my lips. “She didn’t make it, Derek. I went to her first to save her, but I couldn’t.” I lowered my head. “I’m so f*cking sorry, brother. I wanted to be the one to tell you.”

I waited for him to blow up, but no words came. I could feel the tension and darkness creeping into the room, smothering me. I lifted my head to see Derek glaring at me with dark, murderous eyes. “She’s f*cking dead? Is that what you’re telling me?”

Summer moved closer to him and placed her hand on his, but he turned his head, jerking his hand away. “We’re so sorry, Derek. We’re going to find who did this and put them away. We all loved Brianna.”

“Not as much as me,” he growled, meeting our stares. His face was blood red and the heart monitor skyrocketed out of control. The whole bed started to shake, but I grabbed his hands and leaned over him.

“And we know that. You loved her and she loved you. I promise that when we find out who did this, we’ll make them pay.”

The door burst open and two nurses barged in, rushing straight over to Derek. “What’s going on?” the dark-haired one in the pink scrubs asked.

Derek jerked out of my grasp, and his breaths came out fast and hoarse as he faced her. “He said my girlfriend died in the crash. That can’t be true. Surely there’s been a mistake.”

Eyes wide, the nurse fumbled with her words and looked to us for guidance. Derek was on the verge of losing control. Summer whispered something into the other nurse’s ear and she rushed out of the room. “Be prepared to hold him down. I don’t think he’s going to last much longer,” Summer whispered in my ear.

Derek relentlessly glared at the nurse and she sighed, her expression torn. “I’m sorry, Mr. McLaughlin, but sadly, they’re telling you the truth. There was nothing anyone could do to save her.” Derek closed his eyes and his lips trembled. I could only imagine the pain he was going through. A lady in a white coat came through the door; her name tag said she was Dr. Angelica Scott. She and Summer conversed as if they knew each other.

“How did she die?” Derek asked, his voice low and dark.

I didn’t really know the exact answer to that, so I turned to the doctor, looking for guidance. She smiled sadly at me and then down to my heartbroken friend. “Derek, I’m Dr. Scott. Your body has been through so much. It might be best for you to rest for now.”

“Fuck that,” he hissed. “I want answers. How did she f*cking die? Was it painful? Did she suffer?”

Dr. Scott closed her eyes for a second and then opened them back up. I could tell she was used to giving bad news. There was no way in hell I could handle doing that every single day. “No, she didn’t suffer,” she admitted truthfully. “From what we could tell from examining her body, she died almost instantly in the crash.” Derek broke down and covered his face as he let grief overtake him. His shoulders shook and tears ran down his fingers. The monitors started to blare and Dr. Scott pulled a syringe out of her jacket, discreetly injecting the liquid into his IV.

Derek lowered his hands and they fell to his sides. “What the f*ck did you do?”

Sighing, she disposed of the syringe and wrote something down in his chart. “I gave you something to calm you down,” she murmured. “I know it’s not easy losing the ones you love, especially when she was—”