Page 112 of The Last Dance You Saved
I tried to move away, to give her space to talk to her parents, but Fallon only gripped me harder with her free hand, so I stilled and then pulled her into me once more.
My gaze met my brother’s over her head and saw them assessing me closely. I knew what he was waiting for. He was waiting for me to break. To fall. To stumble. But I didn’t feel anything anymore except exhaustion. The short spat of tears had dried up. The fear was gone. Regret was somewhere in there, but I wasn’t sure where. I was so damn drained and numb.
“Okay. Okay,” Fallon said. “I’ll see you soon. I’m okay. I’m with Sadie. She saved me. I’m okay. I love you.”
Fallon hung up and handed the phone back to Ryder. He pocketed it and then wrapped both of us in his arms. I clung to him and let the void of nothing swamp me.
? ? ?
Maddox and McKenna met us at the hospital. While they talked to me, I tried to follow what they were saying, but everything felt hazy and scattered. I felt like I was outside myself, watching an old-fashioned movie reel where part of the film had been destroyed. In and out. Glimpses of action. Glimpses of words.
When my brother strode off to arrest Adam before he went into surgery and arrange for a twenty-four-hour guard, I insisted McKenna examine Fallon. The teen was sitting with me on the ER bed, arm still wrapped around my waist with her head on my shoulder.
“I just have a bump,” Fallon said, even though her skin was raw from where the tape had been pulled off her wrists. “Sadie took the brunt of it.”
“Does she have a concussion?” I asked, and I had to focus extra hard on McK’s mouth to ensure I heard the answer as I fought off the flickering film.
“No. Her eyes are clear.” She turned back to the teen. “It’s going to hurt for a few days, Fallon. And if the headache gets worse, you need to let us know immediately.”
Fallon grabbed my hand and squeezed. “You have to check out Sadie. He hit her several times. And kicked her too.”
My sister-in-law’s thick brows furrowed as she took in the cheek I could feel swelling, and she swung her light in my eyes. For a moment, everything disappeared. It was almost a relief. Then, she pressed her hands in places that made me wince, frowning when I hissed at the pressure she placed on my ribs and my wrist.
“I think you’re just bruised, but I don’t want to take any chances that you have internal bleeding. You need an X-ray and an ultrasound, at a minimum, and I’ll need a blood and urine sample. Let me go order the tests.”
I’d do whatever they needed me to do in order to get out of the hospital, to escape before the memories of the smells and sounds ripped back my numbness and made me feel the fear I’d had the last time I’d stayed here.
While McKenna went out to the nurses’ station, Fallon dropped her head to my shoulder again, whispering, “Thank you. Thank you for saving me.”
The world in front of me flashed again. White. Black. I hadn’t saved her. She’d saved herself.
Before I could respond, McKenna was back. She handed ice packs to both of us and gave Fallon some pain pills, apologizing that I couldn’t have any yet until they were sure I didn’t have any internal bleeding.
I didn’t think I had anything seriously wrong with my body. I hurt. I could feel every place his hands and feet had touched me, could even feel the heat of his breath on my ear. But it was my emotions I was wondering about. Where had they gone? I didn’t feel sad or mad or happy or relieved. I didn’t feel anything. But then again, I wasn’t sure I wanted to.
Mama and Daddy showed up, bursting into the room and surrounding us both with love. Fallon burst into tears, just like she had when she’d heard her father’s voice. And for a moment, I clung to my dad before backing away as the room swam.
When I came back from radiology, Maddox was there, talking through what had happened with Fallon. I tried to follow what she was saying, but I still couldn’t track all the words. After he’d finished getting her statement, he had our parents take her to the cafeteria. Once they’d left, he pulled me to him and hugged me for several long seconds before dragging a chair up next to the bed, making me sit back down and asking me to take him through what had happened.
I tried to tell him, tried to go through it in chronological order, the way I knew he needed for his paperwork, but I just couldn’t seem to pull it all together. It was fading away so fast, blending in with what had happened with Chainsaw and Mila. I couldn’t separate the two events, and I knew I had told him the wrong thing several times, told him things about that day at the creek instead of today at the bar.
He squeezed my hands and told me he’d give me a minute to gather my thoughts while he talked to McKenna.
He stepped out beyond the curtain, but the two of them were close enough that I heard her quiet response to his worried question. “It’s the shock, Maddox. She’s in shock. You’ll likely get a clearer story from her tomorrow than today.”
He came back and draped an arm over my shoulder. “I’m going to head over to the bar and make sure the crime scene techs have everything they need.”
Oh damn…the bar…Jesus. I hadn’t even thought about it. “Can you call Ted? Tell him not to come in? I’m sure the gossip has already spread like wildfire, but I want to make sure he doesn’t make the trip into town when he doesn’t need to.”
“I’ll handle it while I’m there.”
He kissed me on the top of my head and headed for the door. He looked back and said, “Hey, Sassypants?”
I nodded.
“Good job giving the assholes hell.”
But I hadn’t, had I?
