Page 64 of You Belong With Me

I’m soaked with blood, my hands, my clothes—and now Ash is soaked too—but he doesn’t seem to notice or care. He holds me tightly, murmuring words of comfort that don’t comfort me at all. All I can hear is Lucas’ voice on repeat inside my head.

I’d give my fucking life to protect you, Wyn. Please tell me you know that.

Well, now I know. I just pray the price of that lesson isn’t Lucas’ life, because, honestly, I don’t want to live in a world where he doesn’t exist…

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

Wyn

A groupof us have been in the hospital waiting room for hours, and for most of that time, I’ve been staring numbly out the window. I’m still wearing the same blood-soaked clothes, and I haven’t even washed my hands. Truth be told, I’m afraid to. I know it’s crazy, but Lucas’ blood on my hands feels like my last, very tenuous connection to him—and I can’t bear the thought of washing that down the drain.

Tears roll down my face as I watch cars pull in and out of the parking lot. It’s so weird—people just going on with their lives, totally unaware that this catastrophic thing has happened. It feels like the Earth should have stopped rotating the second that knife sank into Lucas’ chest. But it didn’t. How strange.

I guess it was just my world that stopped rotating.

“Here,” Lux says, pushing a paper cup into my line of vision. “I got us some coffee. It’s a latte. I mean, allegedly. It's from one of those vending machines, so who knows.”

Everyone is here—Lux, Roman, and the rest of the guys. Turns out, Jackson and Ash weren’t badly hurt. Christian had a deep knife wound on his arm that needed stitches. Gabriel isdead, and Lucas is hanging on, but in critical condition. They rolled him into surgery about an hour ago.

I accept the latte, but I don’t drink it.

“Maybe we should get you home, so you can get some rest,” Lux offers gently. “The doctor said Lucas would be in surgery for a couple more hours, at least.”

I shake my head. “No, I can’t—” Emotion rises in my throat like bile. “—I won’t leave.”

“Right, totally,” Lux says. “I get it.”

I turn to look at her, gesturing helplessly with my free hand. “He just…threw himself in harm's way to save me.”

I keep replaying that moment, over and over, in my head, wondering if I could have done something different. If only I’d gone into the house when Lucas told me to…

Lux rubs my back. “I know, babe. He’s going to be okay.”

There’s no way she could know that. Jackson’s uncle called in a team of world-class surgeons, and they don’t even know if Lucas will make it.

I glance around the room. Jackson is sitting in a chair, staring off into space. Ash is on the phone, and Christian is pacing on the far side of the room, talking to Roman.

“Are Lucas’ parents coming?” I ask Lux, worried for Christian. He looks rough, and Christianneverlooks rough. He usually has a chill, relaxed vibe that’s completely gone now. I wonder if it’ll ever come back.

“Um, apparently, they’re in the Bahamas right now,” Lux says.

“But they’re getting the first flight out, right?”

Lux pushes out a breath. “They asked Roman to keep them updated, but they don’t have plans to leave until tomorrow morning. Something about a financial meeting their dad can’t miss…”

I blink at her. “Are you serious? Their son could be dying, but fuck that, because they havea meeting?”

“Yeah,” Lux says, pulling air through her teeth. “I know. It’s, uh…yeah.”

Wow, Lucas wasn’t lying when he said his parents don’t give a fuck about him or his brother. The fucking cunts. My parents are pretty checked out, too, but I’d like to think they’d cancel a fucking meeting if I were knocking on death’s door.

Jezus.

Anger burns in my chest for Lucas, but I try my hardest to put his shitty parents out of my mind, because, in the end, they don’t fucking matter. What matters is Lucas living past the next few hours.

God, bile rises in my throat just thinking about that.

“Do you know who those guys were?” I’m finally brave enough to ask Lux. “I’m guessing they’re another secret society? I heard them call themselves Shadow and Ash.”

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