Page 103 of Worth the Trouble

“Yeah, and the fucker has the cops in his back pocket. They laughed when I tried to tell them he was the one who hurt her.”

He shakes his head. “Why didn’t she?”

“I don’t know.” I rub the heels of my hands over my eyes. “Maybe she did. It all happened really fast once they arrived. I wasn’t around her long enough to know what she did or didn’t say. But Adrian—she was in so much fucking pain.”

My stomach is trying to claw itself out of my body at the thought. I want to scream or puke or break something.

“We’ll get to her.”

Adrian is a man on a mission. We might have been at odds many times over the years he’s managed the band, but right now, we’re on the same page. And I’m thankful for him in ways I can’t find the words to express.

It feels like it takes hours to get to the hospital, even if it’s probably thirty minutes max. Every stoplight. Every car in the way. I want to push them aside and tell them to fuck off.

By the time we pull up, Adrian barely has time to park before I’m getting out of the car.

“Rome, wait.” He jogs up to my side. “Let me do the talking. We don’t know what’s gone down after he had you locked up.”

As much as I hate it, Adrian’s right. Vaughn had the nerve to get me locked up for a fight he started, so I don’t know what I’m walking into. It takes all my strength to compose myself as we walk into the hospital.

And the second we do, I realize what a shit show this is going to be because Vaughn is standing in the waiting area with three guys who look just like him—assholes with power.

“Shit,” I say under my breath.

Adrian’s eyes follow my line of sight. “Let me guess. Dick who likes to hit women?”

I nod, and I feel Adrian tense. I might be the one who needs to be kept on a leash to make sure I don’t go straight back to jail, but I get the feeling Adrian isn’t far behind me if something goes down.

Vaughn watches us walk up to the desk, and he looks almost amused, but he doesn’t approach us, which only adds to my unease. He’s not even trying to stop me, like he already feels like he’s won and is enjoying watching me figure out the reason.

We get to the desk and Adrian asks what room Lili’s in. I wait to be turned down and am surprised when the nurse tells us.

Vaughn’s eyes don’t leave us as the nurse points down the hall and offers directions. Somehow, the fact that we aren’t being turned away from seeing her is unsettling.

As I follow Adrian, Vaughn finally turns away, moving back into whatever conversation the group around him is having.

I try to ignore the sinking feeling in my gut. The same one that used to tell me when Dad was on a bender, and I was about to have a really bad day. I try to ignore the mouth of hell opening beneath me as Adrian leads the way down the hall. I try to ignore Lili’s mom’s eyes as they connect with mine when she steps out of the room. I try to ignore her unflinching expression as she passes me like I’m nothing to her.

I’ve always known I don’t belong in Lili’s world but never felt it more than in this moment. It’s how they’re acting with utter disinterest. Like they don’t even need to bother. A reminder of how unimportant a guy like me is to the people in Lili’s life.

Adrian turns, pausing at the door to her room and planting a hand on my arm. “I’ll wait here, okay?”

I nod.

“Let me know if you need anything.” He looks me over. “And Rome, this right here, is about her. Just be there.”

I swallow, feeling like my soul is stuck in my throat as Adrian steps aside and Lili’s face comes into view through the glass door that leads to her room. She’s looking out the window with an unreadable expression on her face. It reminds me of the one I was used to seeing on her in the beginning—numb.

Adrian steps aside, and I walk up to the door, taking a breath before grabbing the handle and pulling it open. I step inside and it’s quiet, apart from the machines beeping.

She doesn’t immediately turn to face me, and when she does, I wait for her expression to change.

It doesn’t.

Her eyes are distant, and her lips don’t so much as part or lift. Nothing shifts. She’s cold like the girl I met, who I wanted to read more than anything. The girl I was in bed with this morning is almost entirely gone.

Lili’s leg is in a cast and hung up on a sling to elevate it.

She watches me cross the room, and I sink into the chair beside the bed. I want to reach out and grab her hand, but something about her demeanor stops me from doing it. I can’t tell if she even wants me here, and it reminds me of the look on Vaughn’s face when I walked into the hospital.

---