Echo (Bleeding Hearts #1)(78)

“Shut the f*ck up!” Ryland growled.

“You have to finish this,” Brayden continued. “You know you do. Because if you don’t, I will. Just promise me that when you get home tonight, and give Brighton a kiss, you won’t rub it in her face. Let Norma break the news to her.”

I didn’t understand why Brayden was saying these things. But as the fragments of our earlier conversation replayed through my mind, it all started to make sense.

He’d been right all along. Ryland really did plan this. And he was here to kill Brayden. My flesh and blood. But Brayden was trying to protect me because they must not know I was in the car.

As I looked around me, I could understand why. I was crushed into a tiny pocket of metal, with no way out. And judging by the pain, I was in bad shape.

I couldn’t get to Brayden. I couldn’t stop Ryland from whatever he was about to do. A sob escaped from my chest as I tried to push the metal away. It groaned, but didn’t move.

“What was that?” another man’s voice spoke.

Brayden cursed, followed by the sound of sploshing beside me. We must have been partially submerged, but I wasn’t sure. I couldn’t see my feet, but I felt the water.

A knife tore through the airbag followed by the face of a man I didn’t recognize.

“There’s a girl in here,” he said in confusion. “Shit, and she’s bleeding all over the place.”

When I looked back down at my leg, I realized he was right. I clutched the wound and tried to stem the bleeding, but it wasn’t any use. There was too much, and I was too weak.

The last thing I heard before the darkness swallowed me again was the sound of Ryland shouting my name.



***



I woke to the steady drone of beeping, and the brightness of fluorescent lights above me.

The smell of disinfectant told me I was in a hospital. I had tubes and wires attached to my body, and I felt like I’d been flattened by a steam roller. But it wasn’t like the movies. I didn’t have the luxury of temporary amnesia or confusion. I remembered exactly why I was there.

So when I caught a glimpse of Ryland’s face beside me, the first thing I did was try to scream.

“Get out!”

It came out like dry sand, scratchy and indecipherable.

“Brighton?” he tried to clutch my hand, and I pulled it away, searching desperately for the call button.

“Get out!” I tried again.

This time it came with more force, and much to my relief, the more I repeated it the louder my voice became.

Ryland stepped back as though I had slapped him and held up his hands in defeat.

“I won’t touch you…” he said softly. “Please just calm down.”

The nurse showed up a moment later, giving me a concerned expression as she stepped inside of the room.

“Miss. Valentine, are you okay? Are you in pain?”

“I want him out of here.” I pointed a shaky finger in Ryland’s direction. “I don’t want to see his face.”

She looked confused for a moment but nodded and pointed towards the door.

“Sir, I’m going to have to ask you to leave.”

“I’m not going anywhere,” Ryland snapped. “She just woke up. She needs some time to come to terms…”

“I’ll call security,” the nurse threatened, reaching for the phone beside me.

Ryland clamped his jaw shut and gave me a pleading expression.

“Please, Brighton,” he begged. “Hear me out. Please… don’t kick me out. I need to be with you, to make sure you’re okay.”

I didn’t respond. The nurse looked at me for approval and I nodded before she started dialing.

Ryland sighed in defeat and walked towards the door slowly.

“I’ll be in the waiting room,” he declared. “I’m not going anywhere, Brighton. I’ll wait as long as it takes.”