“You guys have done more than enough,” I tell them as they head for the door. “Thanks for the pizza. And the information.”
“You know we’ve always got your back, Cannon,” Jordan says. “No matter what.”
“Yeah.” I smile at them both. “I do.”
Every single bone in my body hurts.
Wait, maybe it’s my muscles that are causing so much pain. I’m not sure. All I do know is that I ache. Everywhere. My head. My neck. My shoulders.
My everything.
The nurse who was standing by my bedside when I woke up earlier in the morning informed me I have a broken arm and a couple of dislocated ribs. Some bruising on my face. Otherwise, I’ll be fine.
I don’t feel fine, though. I feel like that Mercedes actually ran over me.
A groan escapes at the thought of the car I was driving last night. Evie’s car.
Now destroyed.
Shit.
I don’t remember a lot of what happened last night after we left my parents’ house. The rain was coming down in sheets. The road was slick, and it was so bloody dark, and my glasses didn’t seem to help. No streetlights that far out in the country. I was driving an unfamiliar car, and that thing has the most powerful engine ever. I barely touched the gas with my foot and the car would leap forward like it was an impatient dog tugging at its leash while on a walk through a new neighborhood.
Priscilla expressed her worry a few times during the drive, but I reassured her I knew what I was doing.
Did I really know?
Apparently, no. One minute I was driving along the bendy country road, the next the car was spinning out of control until it landed on its side in a ditch. Thank God the ambulance came quickly, loading the both of us into it, but Priscilla barely had a scrape. I’m the one who took the brunt of it.
And now here I lay in a hospital room, in absolute agony, and I’m terrified my best friend is going to storm into my room at any minute and chew me out for destroying her beloved car.
Not that Evie would actually do that, but you never know…
A nurse enters the room, her steps whisper-quiet thanks to the shoes she’s wearing. “Good afternoon. Looks like you’re finally awake.”
“It’s the afternoon?” My voice sounds like I swallowed gravel.
God, did I?
I could’ve.
“Yes, you’ve been sleeping for quite a while, but they gave you a sedative, so no surprise.” She has a clipboard in her hands and she ticks off a few items with a flick of her pen. “How are you feeling?”
“Like I ran over my body with a car,” I complain, making her smile.
“I see your friend didn’t stay overnight, so he must be all right,” the nurse continues.
“He?” She couldn’t have mistaken Priscilla for a man, could she have? No. Priscilla is tall, but she has long hair and she’s beautiful.
“Well, yes, you arrived last night because of that car accident, right? And there was a man in the car with you?” She’s frowning, waiting for me to answer.
“I was driving my friend Priscilla home. Though you really can’t call us friends, since we only just met yesterday. You see, she’s my brother’s girlfriend, but it turns out she really wasn’t his girlfriend at all, and my brother is actually in love with my best friend—”
“I must’ve been wrong then, that you came with a man. It was rather confusing last night, lots of accidents because of the terrible weather,” the nurse says, interrupting me. “I’m glad to see you’re in better spirits. They might even release you later today, though I’m not sure. Do you have someone who can come pick you up?”
“Yes. No. I don’t know.” I pray they don’t release me to my parents. Unfortunately, their house is closer than my flat in the city, so that makes the most sense. And I have no clue where
George or Evie are.