Page 8 of Accidentally Forever
“Don’t kill him,” I whispered. And without thinking I put my hand on Crew’s shoulder. I didn’t even hide the flinch as he turned to me, his gaze dark.
Horror crossed his face as he realized I had been afraid he would hit me in that moment. Even though I knew deep down that he would never lay a hand on me—not like there had been beneath Travis’s motivations. Crew might hate me in this moment. Hate me for who we were to each other, but he would never hurt me. At least not physically.
After all, I was the one who hurt him.
“You’re bleeding,” Crew growled.
I put my hand on my face, my fingers shaking as I realized that the corner of my lip had a tiny cut.
“Just don’t kill him.”
I wanted to tell him that it wasn’t that I loved Travis. I didn’t want Crew to kill him because I didn’t want Crew to end up in prison for life. But I couldn’t say those words. Everything tightened in my chest, and I tried to suck in air but nothing would come.
Crew looked like he wanted to help, but then Travis lunged, not coming for him, but for me. So Crew tilted to the side, took the punch, and went back at it.
I needed to stop this, needed for everything to goback to normal. Only I didn’t know what normal was, and the lights hurt my eyes, and I was seeing double.
Did I have a concussion? Was that why I needed to throw up?
Before I could even formulate my thoughts, red and blue flashing lights filled my vision, making me even more nauseous. I couldn’t track the events, my line of sight going blurry. And then I couldn’t focus as I was on my hands and knees, heaving the contents of my stomach on the floor.
Crew moved toward me, but then he was face down on the ground, his arms handcuffed behind him.
It wasn’t him.
Crew saved me.
But I couldn’t say the words, my vision going dark.
And as I passed out, my gaze on Crew’s, I couldn’t read his face.
This was the man who I knew should hate me.
And the cops were taking him away.
And it was all my fault.
“You should be at home resting,”Sebastian growled, my twin’s fists tight at his sides. My brother wasalways so good about keeping his emotions intact. He had been forced to because of so much loss at an early age, and because he’d been forced to raise his daughter alone for so long. But now he wasn’t hiding anything.
“I will rest after we get him out of jail.”
“Travis isn’t pressing charges. Not that he had a leg to stand on. Crew didn’t even get fully booked. Lex said he would go pick him up and take him home. We don’t need to be there.”
Translation: Crew didn’t want me there.
“He had to spend the night in a holding cell because of me.” I rubbed my throat, ignoring the burn that came from the bruises. “I just want to make sure he gets out fully.”
“It wasn’t your fault.” Sebastian let out a breath. “He was in a holding cell because the cops couldn’t figure out what was going on, and they took them both in until they found answers.”
I flinched at his tone, hating myself for doing so. I was not weak. I had a loving family, and people cared about me. All I had done was try to show Travis how much I cared. To try to keep him safe.
And I had failed so dramatically that I was hurting everybody in my life.
“Aria. Let me just take you home.”
I shook my head, and then winced. “No. I don’t want to go home.”
“Then let’s go to my home. We won’t go to Mom and Dad’s. But you know they’re going to find out soon. You need to tell them what happened.”
