Page 6 of Puck Blocked
Nope, not going there. Luke is not here. He can’t be here. He wouldn’t be here.
“Tanna, you’re okay. It’s going to be okay.” He touches my hand and I freeze. There’s that voice again, that spark of electricity that zaps through my hand as his skin makes contact with mine. It’s him.
“Luke?” I question quietly before peering up at him. “Am I dreaming?”
“Do you dream about me often, Tanna?” He chuckles, and I try to move again. “Fuck, you really need to stop trying to get out of that bed or you’re going to hurt yourself,” he says, his tone a little harsher now.
I stop while doing my best to sink into the mattress. “Sorry… I… Why are you here, Luke?”
“The better question is why didn’t you call me the first time this happened to you, Tanna?” He sounds pissed off, and I try to take my hand out of his, which only seems to have him holding on tighter.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I was in a car accident.” I refuse to meet his glare, choosing to stare out the window instead. “You didn’t have to come. If I wanted you here, I would have called you.” I know I’m being a bitch, but I need him to leave. I can’t have him here. I don’t want him to see me like this.
“I don’t care if you want me here or not. I’m not leaving without you.”
I still don’t look at him. Maybe if I ignore him, he’ll go away. What if Andrew does come by? What if he sees Luke? If that happens, things will only get worse for me. Luke doesn’t get it. No one does. My heart starts beating faster, the beeping of the machine next to me just as frantic sounding.
“Tanna, what’s wrong?” Luke asks.
“You can’t be here.” This time, I turn my head to look at him. “I can’t… You have to leave.”
“Who did this to you, Montana? You want me to leave? Fine, I’ll leave. But I’m gonna need a name first.”
The door opens and Mrs. Jameson walks in. “Montana, how are you feeling?”
“I don’t want visitors.” I plead with my eyes. Someone needs to listen to me. Needs to hear what I’m trying to tell them.
“Oh, well, um…” She glances between me and her son.
“It’s okay, Mom. I’ve got this,” Luke tells her as he pushes up from the little hospital chair. “I’m gonna go talk to one of the docs about releasing you. Then I’m taking you back to Vancouver with me.”
“Why?” I ask, instead of insisting that I’m not going with him.
I can’t go to Vancouver. I really can’t.
“Because Sean would kick my ass if he knew I let this happen to you,” Luke says, knocking the wind out of me. He’s here because of his loyalty to my brother. It has nothing to do with me.
“Sean’s dead, Luke. He’s not coming back, and if he cared what happened to me, he wouldn’t have died,” I grind out. I’m angry. At everyone. Including my brother.
“Sean fucking loved you more than anything else, Montana. Don’t you ever think or say otherwise. Especially today.” Luke turns and storms out of the room.
“I’m sorry,” Mrs. Jameson whispers as she watches the door slam closed. “He means well. He just… Today’s hard for him.”
Yeah, it’s not a picnic for me either.
“I know,” I say while keeping my thoughts to myself.
Today is the anniversary of my brother’s death. The day he left me behind. Sometimes I think that maybe selfishness is just in our blood.
“Let him help you, Montana.”
“I… I was in a car accident. I don’t need help,” I insist. Because if I say it enough times, it becomes the truth.
“Okay. But just… go home with him, at least until you’re healed up.” She smiles and pats my leg in that motherly way she has.
I could go home with him. No one would know. Then I can come back. Things can return to normal. Andrew won’t look for me for a few weeks. He never does. After we have an… incident, he disappears before he pops up again as if nothing happened.
I can spend a few weeks in Vancouver. Let Luke get his need to help me, for the sake of my brother, out of his system and then return home. No one has to know. Andrew doesn’t have to know.
