Page 225 of The Bonus

We stare at each other, an ocean of regret swimming between us.

“I need you to forgive me.”

I stare up at him as we sway to the music.

“Tell me how to fix this?” he says softly. “Tell me and I’ll do it.”

“I wish I knew…”

His lips drop to my temple as he holds me tight, we sway to the music, both lost to our own thoughts.

You were always on my mind.

Oh, this song…so sad and so relevant.

My favorite singer singing one of my favorite songs and I’m dancing with someone I previously thought was the love of my life.

But that was before he broke me. Before I turned cold and heartless.

This is too much. I hate who he turned me into. Tears well in my eyes and as the song ends, I need to get away from him. “I’m going to go and freshen up.”

“Grace.”

I march out of the hall and out into the cold air, the rain has stopped now.

“Grace,” I hear him call from behind me.

“Just leave it, Gabe.” I want to get away, I don’t trust myself to be with him right now. I go to go down to the quad, and as I tread onto the first step, my footing slips from underneath me.

I fall and hear the crack of my head hitting the concrete stairs on the way down. I roll and roll and tumble and fall down the entire flight of stairs.

Pain, blood…darkness…nothing.

26

Gabriel

Beep…beep…beep…beep.

Grace’s heartbeat monitor sounds softly through the darkened room, and I sit beside her with mine in my throat.

If they hooked me up to the machine, I’m not sure my heart would sound so steady.

She has a tube and pipes coming out of her and two black eyes, the lump on the front of her forehead so big and already purple.

Grace fell down twenty-two concrete steps tonight…running from me.

She has a badly broken wrist that needs surgery, perhaps also her ankle, although it’s too swollen to tell at this stage, but it’s her head that they’re worried about.

She was knocked out cold, the swelling on her brain so bad that they had to put her into an induced coma.

What if she has a critical brain injury and never recovers?

It’s 3 a.m., and intensive care is a lonely place where people are fighting to survive, not only the ones in the beds, the people sitting beside them are fighting too.

For me…it’s demons.

“Instead of you sticking my cock up my ass…I’m going to stick it up theirs, and they’ll moan on every fucking inch of it.”

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