Page 160 of Splintered Hearts

I blink my eyes open, my vision hazy. An acrid smell singes my nose. What’s happening? Why am I? Upside down. I am. What... I move my neck, my body protesting in pain.

The pain is bad, but what’s worse is the absence of it. I can’t feel my legs. Why can’t I feel my legs? It takes all my strength to come to the reality of what’s going on. Smoke. Blood. Glass.

No.

Fuck. “Madd—” I try but my voice is barely audible. I turn and scream. A piece of metal is lodged in my chest, my shirt soaked with blood. Swallowing thickly, I try to look to my side without moving too much.

That’s when I see her. “Lu—” Grabbing for my belt, my body screams with pain, as I forget the metal logded in my chest. I’m pinned. Unable to move. I blink, seeing lights beyond us.

Diamonds.

Not diamonds. Glass.

I hear a loud alarm. Lights start to seep into the mangled jeep. I vaguely see a truck a little way away on it’s side, the front smashed in.

Red. Blue. Red. Blue.

I’m losing consciousness. “Luci.”

She doesn’t stir. I can almost pretend she’s sleeping.

People don’t sleep with their eyes open, though.

“Over here!” I hear somewhere in the distance. “We got one.”

One.

I blink, my vision betraying me. I can barely take in the front of the jeep.

Ailee.

Maddox.

No. I have to... I have to get them out.

I have to . . . I have to . . .

Then everything goes black again.

Forty

Noah

“I woke up days later in the hospital, pinned in place by a piece of metal stuck in parts of my chest. I had severe nerve damage in my back and couldn’t walk right for months after. When I woke up they told me they were all dead. All of them.” He chokes back a sob. “They were all in that jeep because of me. If we had waited a little longer we wouldn’t have crossed paths with that asshole. If I had just dealt with everything for a few more minutes.”

I don’t have the strength to sit here and not do anything. I get up, sitting on the arm of the chair and rubbing his back. Yes, he hurt me, but watching him cry is breaking me. Mark looks away. Hunter looks like he’s about to cry. I understand now, why Hunter is so protective.

“I was away at hockey camp,” Hunter says softly. “I’ll never forget that phone call.”

Jamie has been beating himself up for five years, living inwhat-ifhell. “It’s all my fault,” I hear him whisper.

“What happened at the lake house?” Jamie needs a distraction as much as I needs answers. “What happened? Why did you shut down on me?”

“Ailee’s sister. I saw her. I took a walk while you slept. I just wanted to take a walk and see what had changed since I’d been there. I ran into Ari on the way. She said some shit to me, and it got under my skin. It’s like she took all my fears and wrapped them up, serving them to me with a pretty pink bow. I wassupposed to protect them and—”

“You weren't supposed to protect them. That’s a lot to put on your own shoulders. You tried. You wanted them home because Luci was losing consciousness and if a guy with a sick mind found her like that he would have taken advantage of her. You did the right thing. That asshole in the truck did the wrong thing.”

“They were in the jeep because of me.”

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