Pieces of Summer (A stand-alone novel)(68)

He nods absently, shifting his gaze toward the hospital. His eyes widen, and he mutters, “Fuck.”

Just as I turn my head to look over my shoulder, something hard collides with my face with enough force to knock me off the tailgate I’m on. I hit the ground so hard that my breath is forced out of my lungs, and I spin over just in time to dodge a heavy boot that was aimed at the back of my head.

“Aidan, don’t!” Hunter yells just as I get to my feet, wiping blood from my mouth as Hunter struggles to hold back a seething Aidan.

His eyes are reddened from tears, his mouth is twisted in anguish, and he’s frantically shoving at Hunter to get him out of the way.

“This is his fault! Let me the f*ck go!” Aidan roars, as Blake goes to help Hunter hold him back.

“He didn’t know, man. He had no clue. You can’t blame—”

“I can blame him! He always f*cking breaks her. I told him to stay away!”

His words end on a choked sound, as his struggles turn ragged, and he stumbles back, landing against the side of a car as though he needs it for support. The fight leaves him as he clutches his face.

“Is she okay?” I ask, which draws his hands away as fury sinks into his features again.

“Fuck you. Get out of here. I don’t want you around when she wakes up. She’s had her break, so she’ll be fine as long as you’re not around.”

My jaw grinds, and Blake immediately darts out to put his hands on my chest like he’s worried I’m about to destroy Aidan.

“I’m not going anywhere.”

“Is she okay?” Hunter asks him, since Aidan refused to give me a direct answer.

“Yeah. She’s fine. Stitches all over her stomach like she’s Frankenstein’s toy again, but she’s fine,” he says bitterly.

I sway on my feet, feeling relief hit me, along with a flurry of other emotions that all seem to clash against each other.

“He’s been with her since we left!” Aidan grinds out, glaring over at Hunter. “Three f*cking weeks.”

Hunter nods. “They’re… more than just friends. A little over two weeks have had intimacy.”

Aidan’s jaw clenches, and that murderous look flings back to me.

“Two weeks? It’s amazing she hasn’t snapped before now. What if we hadn’t been here?” he yells.

My neck cracks to the side as I work hard to rein in my temper.

“Hunter told me what’s going on. I didn’t f*cking know. Now I do. It won’t happen again,” I say calmly, trying to remember that killing him would be a bad way to stay on Mika’s good side, and I want to be here when she wakes up without her kicking me out.

“You don’t get it, do you?” he asks, stepping forward. Hunter puts a hand on his chest again, as though he’s prepared to restrain him. “You are her biggest damn weakness. You’re the reason she came back. That motherf*cking bowling alley is bullshit. She just wanted to relive her best days, and I don’t give a damn what she says. That’s the real truth. You! All because of you.”

I swallow against the knot in my throat as tears fill up in his eyes. He looks exhausted and drained, as though the world is suddenly collapsing on his shoulders.

“I failed her once. Never again. I’ll never let this happen again,” he says on a choked sob, then clears his throat.

“It wasn’t your fault,” Hunter groans.

Aidan cuts his eyes to him. “Yes it was. I told Mika to deal with Mom. I wanted to move out as badly as she did, but it was too much f*cking drama for me. I was always letting Mika do the dirty work while I sat back and chilled. I’m the one who told her to tell Mom we were leaving that night. I knew there’d be a fight. I knew it would be ugly. I just… I never f*cking expected…” His words trail off, and he seals his lips when the strain of the guilt makes him fight to keep his tone.

He clears his throat again and wipes at his eyes. No one says a word.

Finally, he looks over at the hospital, staring vacantly at the busy entrance of the ER before speaking again.

“I failed her more than once. I sent her to that f*cking sadistic son of a bitch. He pushed her limits daily, intentionally hit her triggers. It was psychological torture disguised as therapy. And Mika wouldn’t leave because she didn’t want to be a burden on me. Three years. She stayed in there for three f*cking years, endured all that pain daily just to keep me from having to be saddled with her.”

He drops back and slides down the car as his tears start falling, and I watch as he sobs into his hands. I’ve never seen someone break down so thoroughly, and I end up having to sit back down as I watch, feeling nothing but guilty.

I lost Mika because I gave her up. I pushed her away to make her life better. And she went through this alone. I only wanted her life to be free and happy. I never… I never thought her life would be worse.

“They had to sedate her and restrain her to the bed all the time because she’d lose it,” he whispers through the strain. “They’d push her limits, and she’d lose it. She stayed in hell because I put her there, and she didn’t want to be a problem for me.”

Everything… This all feels like my f*cking fault.

“She’d have never been able to be with you,” Hunter tells me randomly, causing me to snap my head up. I feel something wet slide down my face, and I realize it’s a stray tear.