There’s nothing worse for a man than the state of ‘wait’. The situation is dire; you need to keep moving, to do something.
You know it’s the only way to get results, but you’re stuck. You have no moves because you haven’t the first clue where to begin.
You don’t know what to feel, think...in fact you can’t feel... at least I can’t. My body is numb from head to toe. There’s a buzzing in my ear and I know I’m holding onto my sanity by a thread.
“Son calm down.” I felt dad’s arms come around me and had no idea what was going on until mom rushed over and took my hands in hers.
They were bleeding, and the wall was smashed in. Shit, now I could feel, but the pain wasn’t in my hand, it was in my chest, centered on my heart.
The rage remained trapped inside as I assured my parents that I was okay. Mom went to get me something to drink while dad stayed back with me after waving off the Claibornes.
“Somebody’s going to fucking bleed dad, I don’t care what happens to me, whoever did this is going down hard.”
“That kind of talk isn’t going to help her son. You gotta keep a cool head, the cops are all over this thing, let them do their job. I’ve got my guys on it too. Somebody’s gonna find something, then we’ll see what we see.”
I nodded my head to get him to stop worrying, but I’m pretty sure that dad knew that that shit was dead.
“You should have that hand looked at.”
“I’ve had worse dad, don’t sweat it.” Like I gave a shit.
The doctor came back out then and headed for her parents, who waited until I got there.
“It’s very touch and go, but we’re doing all we can. She’s lost a lot of blood, but her vitals are looking a little better. If she makes it through the next few hours, she should be in the clear.”
“Can you tell us what was done to her?” Her father hugged her mother closer after asking the question, and I realized his mind had gone somewhere that I hadn’t even contemplated.
“NO.” This time it was Mr. Claiborne who held me back.
“She was stabbed twice in the back and once in the head. The head wound isn’t that worrying. It’s the two in the back. They came pretty close to her spine, but she lucked out there, there doesn’t seem to be any nerve damage.”
“Was she...?” her mom couldn’t say the words but the doctor knew what she was asking all the same.
“No, from the condition of her clothes it appears there might’ve been an attempt made, but there’s no evidence that the perpetrator was successful. We already did a test and it appears that she hasn’t been raped.”
“When can we see her?” That was my only concern right now. I needed to see for myself that she was really okay.
“She’s still in a coma but you can see her now, one at a time please.”
It took all my willpower to wait for her parents to decide and when her father nodded at me to go first, I felt relief as well as a strong urge to fix that shit as soon as possible.
Inside the room, she was hooked up to a whole lot of shit. She looked small and pale and so fucking hurt.
The alley had been dark, so I’d missed the bruising around her neck and the cuts to her hands.
There was a bandage around her head and her hair had been shaved where some asshole had cut her in the back of her fucking head.
I tampered down the rage and made my way over to the bed. Being as careful as possible, I sat on the edge of the bed and just looked down at her.
She was going to live; a little beat up, but alive. “I know you can hear me baby. I want you to take as much time as you need to heal but no more.
I can’t do this shit without you and I don’t like not being able to see your eyes.
I don’t want you to worry about anything, between your dad, mine and me we’ve got everything covered. I’m sorry I wasn’t there.”
I had to stop because my throat started closing up on me again.
“I promise you that you’re safe, you’ll always be safe from now on.”
I slipped the chain with the temporary tracker that I’d asked dad to get, around her neck. The other one should be ready soon and nothing like this shit will ever happen to her again.
I stayed with her, talking and kissing her, letting her know that she was still alive until it was her mother’s turn.
I kept the rage well contained, so that not even my father picked up on it anymore. I wasn’t about to leave the hospital yet though, so whatever was going to be done will have to wait.
I saw Jared approaching out the side of my eye. He had shown up with his family and the rest of our friends had trickled in one by one as the news spread and had stayed.
He came to a stop next to me as I looked out the bank of windows at the nightlights of the city.
“Whatever you’re planning, I want in.” I turned to look at him, “you sure?”
“That’s my fucking sister.”
“We’ve gotta plan then. The cops and dad’s security team are going to be digging. Until she wakes up, we won’t know who or why, but we’ll both keep our ears and eyes open. I have my theories but if I’m right, they had help.”
“So you don’t think this was a random act?”
“No the fuck I don’t.”
Eden High Book 6
By
Jordan Silver
Chapter 1
MANDY
Friday Night
“Faster, harder, that’s it.” I held my legs open wide as they flopped around in the air. We’d been at it for hours now, when usually, I only tolerate him to get what I want out of him.
But knowing that things are about to change for me has made me so hot I might have to call up another one of my lovers when this one is done.