Page 7 of Dare To Take

“Arabella, look at me.”

I pinch my eyes shut.

“Look at me,” she demands again, her voice shaky. “What happened is not your fault.”

“Yes, it is,” I reply.

“No, it’s mine. Eli hates me for marrying his dad, and he aimed that anger at you. We didn’t know he’d been bullying you until we learned about the video. The school found a phone that belonged to you in his locker. He released the video—”

The rest of Elena’s words don’t register.

Eli released it, not Sin. He had my phone.

Tears swim in my eyes, and something tight inside me eases a fraction.

“How could you let someone take photographs of you like that? Videos?” she continues. “I thought you were smarter than that.”

“I can’t go back. Please don’t make me go back.” A strangled sob breaks free.

Elena sighs. “This place isn’t your home anymore, sweetheart. You have to come back.”

Gulping for air, I shake in my seat, sobbing hysterically. “Mom, please—” The fact I call her Mom should tell her how badly I don’t want to go back.

“I should have been there for you. I’m sorry—” Her words are cut short as the sound of her ringtone fills the car. She reaches for it, then frowns at the caller ID before answering.

“Hello? Mrs. Travers speaking.”

Her face pales as she listens to the voice on the other end of the call.

Dread creeps up my spine, when she drops the phone onto her lap and stares out of the window.

“What’s the matter?”

“Elliot’s had a heart attack.” Elena’s eyes are two blue wells of pain when she turns toward me.

I almost don’t catch her whispered words. “W-what?”

Chapter 5

Eli

I summon up a tired smile when the nurse walks past me.

“You should go home and rest.” Her voice is pitched low, so my father isn’t disturbed. “He’s stable now. He’s sleeping normally and has done so for the past forty-eight hours. You don’t need to be here.”

“No. I’ll stay. He might need me when he wakes.”

The truth is if I go home and find my bed, there’s a chance I won’t leave it for the next two days. It’s my fault he’s here. If I hadn’t fought with him, if I hadn’t fucked up so many times, he wouldn’t be lying in a hospital bed.

“You’re not going to be any good to him if you make yourself sick with exhaustion and end up in the bed beside him.”

“I said I’m staying.”

I haven’t left the hospital for three days, riding here in the ambulance with him and taking up residence in the chair in his private room once they got him stabilized.

“Eli?” His whisper brings me out of my seat, and I cross to his bed. He reaches out a hand to grip mine. “Son.”

“I’m sorry.” I bow my head to his, and his other hand comes up to palm my cheek.

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