Page 68 of For the Love of Layla

“Yeah, it hurts pretty bad, actually. Where’s Brandon? Has he called Liam’s lawyers?”

She stops fretting over the pillow behind me immediately, meeting my eyes for a second before heading towards the door. “I’ll get Brandon.”

“Ava, hang on, how did I get hurt?” I ask, my voice pitching up too high. Why does she look so uncomfortable? Why do I feel so uncomfortable? Like something is nagging at me, deep in my chest.

“You got burned, Lay. Only second degree they said you can go home, but we don’t… think that’s smart. Peaches is at my place already. Brandon pulled you out before it could get any worse. You scared him half to death.” She cringes at the last word, and it only unsettles me further. “I’ll just go get him now, okay? Don’t stand up on your own.” I nod, grabbing the scratchy hospital blanket closer to me. Clenching it tightly in my hand. Something is off. I feel like I’m missing things. I can remember Brandon carrying me to the ambulance after they arrested Liam. I didn’t go anywhere near the house, not near enough to be burned at least. Forcing my hands to unfurl, I notice how bad the action hurts. I glance down at my bright and angry palms. Guess they got burned too. I grit my teeth at the machine I’m hooked up to, it's beeping faster now. Pulling my arm up, I wince as I begin undoing the gauze wrap that binds it. Exposing the blistered flesh underneath, some of them already popped.

This fucking hurts.

“Layla, thank god you’re awake.” Brandon looks like shit. His black hair is pulled up, knotted around the tie that holds it, his white button down stained black and singed. His bloodshot and swollen eyes won’t meet mine. Panic rises from my gut into my chest.

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.

“Tell me where Liam is.” I demand as I kick off the covers, jerking the flimsy fabric of the hospital nightgown closer to me. My arm hurts even more now that it’s exposed to the air somehow. The sight of my angry red and blistered skin makes me sick to my stomach, so I don’t look.

I take a step forward, only to take one back again as a broken sound slips from the tall man’s throat, “Layla… Liam-”

“Stop.”

His eyes widen as he takes a small step towards me, his hands raised like I’m some caged animal.

Something is wrong.

“I’m leaving, I’ll go down to the police station myself. I know he’s in trouble, but he needs help. Actual help not to be sitting in a jail cell they can’t-”

“Layla, sit down.” He pleads but there’s a commanding note in his voice. I don’t care. He isn’t going to keep me from Liam. Nobody is. Ever. I continue to ignore his pleas, searching the room frantically for my clothes as Ava steps back in with a nurse. The look on my best friend's face sends coiled rage through me. Burning far worse than my stupid fucking arm.

They’re being stupid. All of them. Fucking idiots.

“Goddammit, Ava, stop looking at me like that and help me find my clothes.” I order her, tearing around the room more aggressively than I probably should. I hit the end of my line, what’s allowed by the frantically beeping machine. It feels like I’m bound for him again, and my heart flutters as I jerk it off my chest. The pole to the IV in my arm tugs at me too, and it’s the next to go. It hurts as I pry at the tape holding it in, trying to get the needle free from my good arm.

“Layla!” I flinch as Brandon yells. Backing up like the caged animal he’s making me out to be as he crosses the room wrapping me in his arms.

Stop it. Fucking stop, you’re stupid. None of you understand. Stop touching me. Liam hates that.

His large frame shakes as he buries my head in his chest, pinning me so tightly to him I can’t tell if he’s using me for support or restraining me, “He’s gone, Layla.”

What a sick fucking joke.

“Are you trying to be funny? The cops arrested him shortly after we got to the manor.” I spit out, seething. My hands shaking as I shove at his enormous chest, struggling against his hold. My burned arm scraping against him feels nearly as bad as my heart. He shushes me like you would a small child in the throes of a tantrum. “Please stop, just listen to me.” His voice breaks and I’ve had enough. He shouldn’t be touching me. Nobody fucking touches me. “Layla, I’m sorry… I’m sorry.”

No. No. No. No.

“Layla…” Ava’s hands find me and it’s too fucking much. She rubs them down my back. Each stoke fanning what’s building inside my chest, “Liam killed his mother. He set the house on fire. Please sit back down. You’re scaring me.”

“No shit, Ava. Let me go!” I yell as Brandon buries his face in my hair. He’s shaking with tears and I can hear the nurse trying to defuse the situation. It does the opposite. She’s not going to listen either and I can't think of anything outside of getting out of here. Getting to Liam. Some fucking friend you are, Brandon. I jerk as his grip tightens more making a small grunt leave my throat. The next thing out of his mouth doesn’t make sense, they are jumbled words and letters. Put together in an order my brain can’t decipher.

I need to get to Liam, he needs help.

“We need to ask Miss. Burke some questions.” Brandon reluctantly lets me go and I immediately get back to searching for my clothes more frantic than last time. Ignoring the two uniformed officers that just stepped into the crowded hospital room.

“Can’t you see this isn’t a good time?” Ava snaps, as the man I recognize as Officer Raymond steps closer to me, so close I can smell the cheap cologne. Brandon tenses, stepping closer too not paying any attention me trying to shove him away. Maybe you’ll finally be helpful, everyone has lost their fucking minds.

“Where is Liam being held?” I demand, standing up as tall as I can despite the violent tremors raging through my body. Officer Raymond takes a deep breath, his eyes cold and angry. It would be alarming in any other circumstance. “City morgue, your cop killer boyfriend burned to death in the fire he set. He started it in the attic, Miss. Burke, got disoriented in the smoke. Seems a fitting way to go.”

No.

My knees shake, giving out from underneath me. They knock against the hard floor, jerking the IV stand down as I go. I don’t so much as flinch when Brandon yells, his fist colliding with the side of Officer Raymond’s face as chaos erupts in the room. Ava’s panicked screeching and the shuffle of feet on tile fill my ears. Barely audible above the ringing.

---