Page 61 of Whatever Happens

“Fuck you, Carter. You don’t know anything about me,” Cody retorts. He rushes toward me, his hand shoving into my shoulders and knocking me to the floor.

“Fuck,” I scream out in pain.

My parents call after Cody as Lexie rushes to my side.

Still holding my shoulder, I tell her, “Something popped.”

“It’s going to be okay,” Lexie says. “We’ll fix this. We just need to go to the hospital to get some x-rays done and see what’s going on in there.”

“We’ll come with you,” my dad says.

“No.” I shake my head. “Take care of Cody. I’ve got Lexie.”

As we sit in the exam room, my gaze is on the floor. Spending the day with Lexie had been amazing. Making a decision to find a way to make things work between us had been freeing.

And then Cody.

Again.

Aside from the physical pain, the hardest thing to swallow is the emotional pain. The accident was bad. It hurt me that he would risk our lives for the drugs. It hurt but didn’t surprise me. To a degree, I had come to expect that kind of shit from Cody. Angry as I was, the addiction made him do it.

That video, though? Selling it to the press to destroy me?

That wasn’t a drug-induced decision. That was just fucking evil, and the pain it’s causing is fucking unbearable.

If all that wasn’t enough, now I’m sitting here waiting for the results of the MRI. The only bright spot? Having Lexie by my side, her head resting on my shoulder, finger interlaced with mine.

“Quite the day, huh?” she says, breaking the silence.

“You can say that again.” I press my lips to her forehead.

Another twenty minutes go by.

“What the hell is taking so long?”

Immediately after I ask the question, the door opens, and the doctor enters. My eyes drift to Lexie as I stare at her, fearful of what the doctor might tell me. She takes my hand in hers and squeezes it.

“What’s the verdict, doc?”

“You’re one lucky kid. Your shoulder did not sustain any additional damage.”

“Seriously?” I’m filled with an overwhelming sense of relief. “Thanks, Doc.”

“Keep doing whatever it is you’ve been doing. You’ll be back at it before you know it,” the doctor says before leaving the room.

I turn to Lexie. “It’s all you, princess.”

“Told you I’m good.”

“Don’t I know it.”

My phone rings. “It’s Landon,” I tell Lexie. “Hey, man, what’s up?”

“Are you fucking crazy?” he shouts into the phone.

“Maybe a little,” I joke.

“You don’t know, do you?”

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