Page 63 of I Wish I Would've Warned You

“My boyfriend—I mean, my stepbrother is having a seizure. He’s?—”

“Cole is having a seizure?” Matt swings the door open and rushes past me.

He runs to his room and I follow.

I push my crumpled panties under the bed with my foot as he presses Cole’s chest.

“Miss? Are you there?” the operator asks. “Miss?”

“Keep him on his side,” Matt says. “I’m going to get his dad.”

Cole shakes under my hands, and his eyes roll backward. My chest aches seeing him like this.

“No, Dad…” he mutters harshly. “Dad, please…”

“Miss, your location is showing as the Dawson Estate,” the operator says. “Is that correct?”

“Goddammit.” Aidan is suddenly pushing me out of the way, sliding a hand under Cole to position him slightly off the bed.

His seizing slows, and then his eyes shut as he stops.

My mom grabs my shoulders from behind, and I lean against her, still in shock. Her arms wrap around me, gentle and warm, but my shoulders stay stiff. I don’t lean in. I don’t move. If I do, I might crack open entirely.

“Is 9-1-1 still there?” Aidan reaches for my phone, his face ghostly white.

“Yes, please send them here.” He speaks to the operator. “I’m not sure if—” He pauses as the bed shakes once more. “Hurry the fuck up. He’s seizing again.”

He tosses my phone to Matt. “Stay on the line with them, please…”

Through the chaos, I hang on to the bits and pieces said, the way Aidan looks more ashamed than concerned.

Like he’s embarrassed…

The medics rush in and place Cole on a stretcher, hooking him up to various tubes, and then they rush him down to the ambulance.

“We’ll follow,” his dad says to my mom, but it comes off like an order to all of us.

“Who discovered Cole seizing?” an officer asks. “I just need to know for my report.”

“I did,” I say.

“How?”

“I just… I heard it.”

“From where?” He clicks his pen. “Were you here with him or just happened to be in the hallway?”

“No, I…” my cheeks flush red. “It wasn’t that. I just… I just heard him.”

It feels like the lie is sitting on my tongue like a hot stone. One wrong word and it all crumbles.

“It’s okay, Emily.” Aidan looks at me. “It’s a lingering effect from—” He cuts off his own sentence. “He has these occasionally, and they’re actually getting better than they were before.”

“So, where were you?” The officer steers us back on track. “Miss?”

I was lying in his arms after he fucked me… “I was on my balcony,” I say. “His balcony is next to mine.”

He walks toward the doors, glancing outside. “And you heard him seizing from in here, out there?”

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