Page 15 of Keep Me Still
He slams my head against the hardwood floor twice before someone pulls him off me.
I’m yanked swiftly to my feet and wrapped from behind by someone towing me toward the door.
“Dude, you okay? That’s a lot of fucking blood.” Cam releases me roughly once we reach my truck.
“I’m fine.” I spit the blood out of my mouth and wipe it with the back of my shirtsleeve.
“I don’t know what the hell is wrong with you, man, but remind me not to get on your bad side.”
“You’re already on it,” I inform him.
“Yeah? Well that sucks because I actually like you. Even though you are obviously majorly fucked up. Guess you and Freaky Flaherty deserve each other.”
Well, so much for going home.
When they finally pull me off of Cam, we’re both bloody and spent. And I’m under arrest.
“Layla,sweetie?” I open my eyes to see my aunt standing over me. Her hair is a mess, which is so unlike her it’s startling.
I’m so grateful to be home in my own bed instead of in that hospital that I never want to get up. I was discharged early this morning and I’ve already slept through lunch. I should probably eat something but the thought of food sends a wave of nausea rolling hard and fast over me. “I’m getting up,” I tell her, using all my might to swing my legs over the edge of the bed. The room tilts slightly and I take as many slow, deep breathes as I can manage.
“Um, you might want to stay put a sec,” she says, lowering herself on the mattress next to me.
“What’s going on?” I know they ran a ton of tests at the hospital like they always do, but surely I don’t have life-threatening results back this quickly.
“It’s Landen,” she answers quietly, stroking my hair.
“Oh God.” I can already hear the rest of her statement.He’s been in an accident, he’s paralyzed, he’s dead. He was gunned down by muggers when he left the hospital.I shrink into myself and try to steel my nerves for whatever’s coming.
“He’s been arrested.”
Well. That’s…unexpected.
“Arrested?” My mind conjures images of what I’ve seen onCops. Him cuffed and being shoved into a police car. My sweet, hurt Landen whose heart I shattered into a million pieces last night. Because mine was.
“Apparently he had an…altercation with the boy from the dance. And then a different boy who was trying to break it up.”
“Where is he now?” I ask, picturing him alone in a filthy jail cell, trapped behind bars.
“His parents picked him up. But I have a friend who works as a bailiff and does some corrections stuff, and he said Landen’s dad was livid, almost to a point where he had to be restrained himself.”
Guilt washes over me, and a cold, hard lump constricts my airway. If I’d just sucked it up and let him stay at the hospital last night, none of this would’ve happened. I must look as awful as I feel because Aunt Kate scoots closer. Her next words don’t make any sense.
“Lay, does Landen ever talk much about his dad?”
“Um, no,” I answer, scanning my mind for anything Landen has said about his dad. “Just that he’s a Colonel in the Army and pretty much forces him to play football. He never comes to any of Landen’s soccer games, but that might be because he has to work.”
I’ve been to every one of Landen’s games. I’ve met his mom, a petite, attractive woman with dark hair like her son, but his dad is never there. I’ve only seen Colonel O’Brien at the few home football games I’ve been to. But Landen didn’t introduce us. I squeeze my eyes shut, as if that’s going to help me think. It kind of does.
“I don’t think they get along too well. Landen tenses up every time he’s mentioned.”
“Hmm.” Aunt Kate uses her gaze to put distance between us and my empty stomach twists tightly.
“Why? What’s going on?”
“Oh, nothing. Just curious about their situation.” She strokes my hair once more and stands, smoothing her pale blue oxford button-up. “Listen, I’ve made you some oatmeal and toast, and there’s juice in the fridge. Get some rest and we’ll see how you’re feeling tomorrow. I think school is out for this week.”
“No,” I say, forcing my weak body to stand. “I’m going to school tomorrow. If I start doing this, letting this keep me from school, you know what will happen. It’s happened before.”
