Page 244 of Collided

This is all my fault.

“Hope?” He looks down at me. “Look at me. I need to see you.”

He. Got. Stabbed.

I’m the reason.

There was blood.

“Rose, listen to me!” He shakes me a little until I break free from my thoughts and face him.

His blue eyes hold anger as he says, “Don’t get lost in your head.”

My lips wobble. “You got hurt because of me. There was blood—”

“It isn’t your fucking fault,” he hisses.

No. He’s not thinking right. He has feelings for me that’s why he doesn’t want me to feel responsible but that doesn’t erase the truth. I got him hurt.

Before I can argue with him, he pulls away and says, “Stay here until I come back.”

I panic. “What?”

Heath points to the bed. “Sit.”

I shake my head.

“I need to take care of him,” he says.

My eyes bulge out in apprehension. “What? No! You—”

With a sigh, he limps out of the room, and I follow him. “Heath, you—”

“Shh…”

Before leaving I grab a thick book, it’s the closest weapon I can find. It can do serious damage if I throw it with enough force.

Heath gives it a bemused look and then moves down the stairs with caution. I stay right behind him instead of walking ahead of him like a shield.

God. How pathetic I am.

We hear Dad speaking to someone in the living room.

The moment we join him, he gets off the phone and looks at us with amusement in his brown eyes that I inherited from him. I wish I didn’t. I wish I didn’t look like him or resemble him in any way. I wish we weren’t connected at all.

“So, this is your boy toy.” His smile is sick and evil. With the blood on his face, he looks truly wicked.

I keep my mouth shut and stay behind Heath who’s glaring at Dad with zero ounce of fear.

Dad wipes off the blood from his busted lip. “She isn’t worth it. You’re stupid if you think she is. Like her mother, she’s useless.”

Heath goes rigid. His body vibrates with tension. “She’s worth it. You asshole!” Heath snaps.

Dad breaks out into laughter and the sound makes me reach for Heath’s T-shirt.

Heath takes a step toward him and lashes out at him, “You beat your daughter. How fucking sick are you?”

Dad glares at him. “Now you’re going to teach me how to treat my daughter?”

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