Page 130 of Wild Side
CHAPTER 44
TABITHA
The TV cutsto a commercial break—one that lastsfartoo long—and I’m left staring at the screen, slack-jawed. An invisible fist clenches around my throat and won’t let go. To the average viewer, this is your average commercial break.
But the way Will rolled to his knees over Rhys and dropped his head low to talk to him was… not for show.
I reach for my phone and pull up our messages. HisI love you toohits me like a ton of bricks, and I force myself to suck in a deep breath. He’s fine. Probably concussed or something. I feel myself slipping into a familiar mode—survival mode—where I convince myself that everything is not as bad as it seems.
A call from Erika in the middle of the night? Most likely a butt dial. But I’d still get out of bed and search for her around town.
That eerie sense of calm settles over me. It’s a defense mechanism, but it hasn’t failed me yet. Except to make me a completely unemotional automaton who gets shit done.
I fire off a text.
Tabby:
Checking on you.
Then I wait. Ten minutes pass, and I stare at my phone the entire time. I tell myself it hasn’t been that long. He could be showering. One of their medical staff could be checking him out. Then I give in to the brewing panic.
Tabby:
Can you drop me a line when you get a sec? I would settle for an eye roll emoji.
Ten minutes turn into twenty, and I stand. Twenty turns into thirty, and I pace. And then the forty-minute mark hits, and a growing sense of nausea takes over. I clutch my phone in one hand and keep the other slapped over my mouth.
Finally, the phone rings, and a photo I snapped of him wearing only a towel lights up the screen. His head is tilted, and he looks irritated, but the subtle tilt of his lips tells another story.
I answer in a heavy rush of breath. “You scared the shit out of me.”
The line is silent, and I pull it away from my ear to check that there’s still a connection.
“Rhys?”
Then I hear a voice. But it isn’t Rhys.
“Tabitha? This is Will.”
Everything in me goes cold. Iknowin my bones that something is wrong, but I ask anyway. “Will? Why?”
“Rhys—” His voice breaks, and all the cocky surety I see in the ring isn’t here right now. He sounds young and terrified. “I think you should get to Anaheim. He’s on his way to the hospital. I’m going to follow. I’ll keep his phone on me.”
Everything feels numb, but I move anyway.
“What’s wrong?” I ask simply, as I march up the stairs.
“I…” He sighs, and his voice shakes. “I don’t know. He… he said he couldn’t move his legs.”
I freeze on the steps and feel as though I’ve been sucker punched in the stomach. Winded. “So I don’t know. They strapped him down right away. All he kept saying to me wasCall Tabby.”
Fuck me. This poor guy sounds like he’s crying. I spring into action, hustling up the stairs and rifling through my closet.
“Okay, Will. You did good.” I toss clothes into a backpack, wondering if I should pack for Milo and then wake him up too. “I will be there. Can you please text me which hospital?”
“Yeah. Okay…” He trails off, sounding distraught.
“Hey! Will!” I snap at him. “Zone in. Okay? I can’t be there right away, so I need you to be. Rhys likes you?—”
