Page 40 of Echoes of Us

“I think you should have stayed gone, Owen,” Sean says and steps closer, too.

Owen smirks, takes another swig, smiles at him again, “Is that what you think, boy?”

“Yeah, I do,” Sean replies, stiffing.

Owen laughs and shakes his head, taking another swig. Then, all hell breaks loose. Owen slams the bottle to the ground and grabs Sean by the front of his shirt. He lifts him in the air and screams, “This is my house you little faggot!” I rush over and jump on Owen’s back to make him drop Sean. Owen tries to throw me off, but he can’t.

He begins to slam Sean into the storage shelf behind him. Brody jumps in and tries to get between them. He shoves Owen back, causing Owen to trip over one of the guitar cords. Owen falls backward onto me. He rolls off, and I crawl backward to get out of his reach. Brody starts helping me up when something crashes into the side of my face. Everything goes black.

The next thing I know, my head is throbbing and there’s a piercing pain on the left side of my face. I open my eyes to see Brody unconscious next to me, his cheek bleeding badly. I turn my head, looking up to see Owen standing over me, his foot lifted over my face.

Before he can bring his foot down, Sean and the other guys tackle him. I try to stand when two arms tuck under mine, lifting me up. I see long blonde hair draped over my shoulder. I blink rapidly and look over my shoulder slowly to see Emmaline looking at me petrified. She grabs my chin and examines me, her eyes welling with tears.

It looks like she is speaking, but I can’t hear anything. I look over to see that the three guys have Owen on the ground, with their knees in his back while he thrashes around trying to knock them off. I look down to see Brody, still unconscious and bleeding. I start to bend toward him, but I am pulled back by Emmaline. She shakes her head, bending down to check on him herself. She is checking his head where he is bleeding when Sean drops to her side. He looks up at me, then to Emmaline. My ears finally start to work again.

“Get her out of here NOW Emmaline!” Sean screams.

As she drags me out of the garage, I hear Zeke screaming to Sean to come back and help them.

I stare out the window, reliving everything that just happened. My face is burning, and my head is pounding. I touch my cheek and feel a huge knot is forming, causing me to wince. I look down to see Emmaline’s hand holding mine. She looks over at me and squeezes. I should pull my hand away. I’m still upset with her. Unfortunately, I don’t have the strength to do anything, so I stare back out the window.

We pull into the garage, and she leans over to lift my chin toward her. I look up, meeting her eyes.

“Wait here. Let me make sure my parents aren’t in the kitchen, then I’ll get you upstairs,” she says softly. I nod. She squeezes my hand again before releasing it.

I have no idea how much time passes, but the car door opens, and Emmaline helps me out. She leads me through the house and slowly we climb the stairs. She takes me into my room, then slowly guides me onto the bed.

She looks at me with such sadness. “I’ll be right back. Don’t fall asleep yet,” she says, then turns to leave. She comes back a few minutes later, with her hands full of ice bags, towels, and medicine. She places everything on the bed next to me, then stares at it blankly, clearly not knowing what to do or where to begin.

Angry or not, she’s cute when she’s frantic.

Chapter 44

Emmaline

I turn on the bedside lamp so I can get a better look at her injuries. Her left cheek, eye, and eyebrow are swollen and a deep red. The white of her eye is stained red from ruptured vessels. Her face is streaked with dirt and grease from the cluttered garage floor.

As I clean her face, I replay the scene over and over. I had begun to walk toward the garage to get her out of there when I saw the man disappear around Sean’s truck. I was standing at the mouth of the garage when he turned and hit her, then the other boy, knocking them both to the ground. I stood there for a moment in shock before I sprinting toward her. I should have gone in sooner to protect her. I will never forgive myself for, once again, being a coward.

She still hasn’t said a word. My mind races with questions that cause my stomach to sink even further. Can she not talk because she hit her head? Should I get my parents? Does she need a doctor? Does she even want my help? My head is spinning, and I don’t know what to do. I grab an ice bag and wrap it in a towel. “I’m going to put this on your face, okay?” I tell her. She nods.

Fifteen minutes pass as I hold the ice to her cheek; my mind never stops racing. I feel her hand settle onto mine. My eyes shoot to hers, meeting her gaze.

“Why did you come into the garage instead of staying in your car?” she asks in a whisper.

My face contorts in confusion, “What do you mean? I saw some creeper go into the garage and then I saw he was attacking Sean and I… I didn’t want you to get hurt so I ran in.” I pause for a moment, “Wait, stay in my car? How did you know I was outside in my car?”

She smiles softly, “You’re really bad at following someone without being seen. We saw you before we left our neighborhood.” She pauses wincing, then continues, “You’ve gone from a bitch to stalker in one day. Impressive, princess.” She smiles again.

I roll my eyes. “Well, if you’d have talked to me I wouldn’t’t have had to stalk you.”

She pulls my hand away from her face. “Thank you for stalking me,” she says sincerely. “I’m glad you were there to help me.” My chest flutters. I look away, my cheeks heating.

“I put meds and water on your bedside table to help with swelling and for the headache you will definitely have. I’ll leave our bathroom doors open in case you need me.” I grab the ice and towels as I stand to leave.

She grabs my hand, stopping me. “Don’t leave, please.” She pauses. “At least until I fall asleep,” she says in a whisper.

“You… you aren’t still mad at me?” I ask.

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