Page 104 of Racing Hearts

“Tommy, Tommy, wake up,” I beg, leaning into him. “Please, please wake up. You’re my best friend, my brother, please, please don’t leave me. I have no other family, please wake up. It’s not funny anymore.”

“Oh god!” Lally screams, dropping to her knees at my other side. “Tommy!”

“Tommy, please, I can’t do this without you,” I whisper, but he doesn’t reply.

He can’t.

He’s dead.

He died protecting me.

Turning away, I crumple into Lally’s arms as we both sob, Tommy’s blood covering us as we stare at him.

Our best friend.

Our third.

Our brother.

FORTY-NINE

“Thanks, I will.” I nod at the paramedic after he finishes patching me up in the back of the ambulance, the back door open to show the school filled with police and parked ambulances Sky and the others flagged down.

Too fucking late.

They were too fucking late.

The older man sighs. “I mean it, kid, you need to go to the hospital.”

Sitting up, I grunt in understanding and grab my ruined shirt, sliding it on over the wound before I climb from the back. I’ll go later. Right now, I need my boy, and he needs me.

I find him sitting in the ambulance opposite me, a blanket over his shoulders. His blond hair is stained with blood, and he sits with his hands on his knees, palms up, staring at the crimson staining his skin. His wounds have already been treated, but he looks so lost and forlorn.

Alice and Lally hurry my way, and I kiss Alice’s head, wrapping her in a hug. “Are you okay?” I ask.

“I’m okay.” She sobs against my side, and I hold her, my eyes on Evan. He doesn’t move, not even when an officer tries to talk to him.

They caught the bastard, and he’s already been taken away in a police car in handcuffs, but it doesn’t change what happened or who we lost.

Tugging Alice and Lally with me, leaving Bones and Sky to talk to the cops, I lay my hand on Evan’s cheek. His head jerks up, his eyes finding mine, and his lower lip starts to tremble.

“I’m here, pretty boy,” I murmur, tugging him into the shelter of my arms. “Shh, it’s okay, I’m right here.”

That’s all I can offer. Nothing I say will make it better. Tonight was one big nightmare.

He cuddles into my side as I hold him and my sister.

There’s a banging sound from the school and the squeak of a gurney being pushed.

I lift my head, Evan does as well, and our eyes track the gurney with the black bag on it as they move toward the third ambulance. Tommy is inside.

Lally bursts into tears, burying her face in Alice’s neck, and my sister strokes her back. I glance down at Evan, tears sliding silently down his cheeks. He cries without a word, no doubt blaming himself.

I know it was because of me.

If I had been awake, if I had been faster and stronger, I could have saved us.

“We’ll take you all to the station,” a cop tells us softly.

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