Page 231 of Did They Break You

Damn.

Van closes his eyes, his knuckles blanching as he tightens his fists, bowing his head over them for a second before he looks up at me again. “I was a little late to the bathroom party,” he says, no humor in his words. “But I’m told Chase had a knife, and you leapt over Cortland to stop him from getting hurt.”

The blood drains from my face. I feel dizzy again and lean back against the white bed.

“You were also drunk, had marijuana in your system, and because ofthat, and thestabbing, and…” Van looks away, the light streaming in from the windows illuminating his blue eyes. “And your fight with Cortland… you fainted.”

Everything is fuzzy in my head, but I’m slowly remembering.

“They gave you fluids,” he nods toward the IV stand beside my bed. I glance again at the bandaid on my wrist as he turns to look at me, his brow furrowed. “Sloane is on the way. I just called her.”

My body tenses, thinking of Sloane seeing me like this after all the help she’s been to me the past three weeks.

But it’s not Sloane I’m thinking about.

It’s Cortland.

And I know Van can see it in my gaze because he sighs and shakes his head. “You wanna know where he is?” he asks quietly.

I hold my breath, waiting. I don’t need to say it.He knows that’s what I want to know.

“He’s—”

“Here.”

I look up to find Cortland standing in the doorway, and adrenaline flushes through me, making me sit up taller, my nails curling into my palms.

I think about last night. That baseball bat. How he didn’t for one second believe Chase’s lies. But I’m thinking about the porch steps, too. How he pushed me away. Turned his back on me.

With that thought, and Cortland closing the door softly behind him, my gaze narrows.

Van’s jaw is clenched as he straightens in his chair, his gaze fixed on me, like he’s refusing to acknowledge Cortland at all.

“I’m here,” he says softly.

I don’t know what to say. So many questions on the tip of my tongue, I can’t ask a single one.

Cortland takes a step into the room.

What he’s wearing looks vaguely familiar. Dark pants, a black sweater over a collared white shirt. His hair is a mess, lines beneath his eyes. Like he hasn’t slept.

“He’s been here all night,” Van says through gritted teeth. “I can’t fucking get rid of him.”

Cortland’s gray eyes narrow as he looks to Van, but only for a second before his gaze is back on me, and he’s sliding his hands into his pockets.

“You saved my life,” Cortland says quietly.

Van rolls his eyes, turning to stare resolutely out the window, but he doesn’t get up. Like he doesn’t want me to be alone. Or maybe he just doesn’t want me to be alone with Cortland.

Cort takes a step toward me.

I realize I’m holding my breath, my hands fisting in the thin white sheet of the hospital bed.

He steps closer, until he’s at the foot of the bed, his lip ring between his teeth as he averts his eyes for a second, before they’re back on me.

“You know I don’t deserve you, right, Remi?”

Van snorts. “Finally, something we can agree on.”

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