“Oh, sweetheart, don’t worry about that right now. All that’s important is that you rest and get better.”
“There’s our girl.” James breezes into the room, coming over to Mom and dropping a kiss on her head. “It’s nice to see you awake.”
My brows pinch, sending a ripple of pain through my head. I wince.
“The doctor said it will hurt for a while.”
“Is anyone going to tell me what the hell happened, or are you just going to both keep standing there, looking at me like that?”
Mom gasps and James rubs her shoulder. They look like someone died. But I didn’t die, I’m alive.
I’m right here.
So the what the fuck happened?
“You were hurt, sweetheart.” Mom swallows, tears still glossing her eyes. I notice the lines on her face, the dark shadows.
“Mom?” My voice cracks. Whatever happened is bad.
I know it is.
Dread snakes through me, making my stomach turn.
“Can you remember anything, baby? Anything at all?”
I close my eyes, searching the recesses of my mind, desperately trying to avoid the painful memories of Ace’s betrayal. “We got mani-pedis at La Dolce Vita. James treated us.” My eyes open and land on his. He smiles, but it doesn’t reach his eyes.
“I think we drove back to the house and...” Hadley’s face flickers on the edge of my mind. “Hadley was there.”
“Good, sweetheart. That’s good.” Mom covers my hand with hers, squeezing. There’s an IV disappearing into my right hand and I’m hooked up to various machines, but I can feel all my limbs.
“I’m okay, right?”
“We threw you a party, a birthday party at James’ house. It was a surprise.” She says the words, but there’s nothing, not even a flicker of recognition. “There was some trouble—”
“Trouble?” Another bolt of pain shoots through my skull.
“We should wait, Sarah, until she’s had some time.”
“Don’t do that,” I bite. The two of them pale. “I woke up in the hospital with no memory of how
I got here. I think I deserve to know what happened.”
A machine starts to beep, and a nurse rushes into the room. “It’s good to see you awake, Remi. Let’s see what’s happening here, shall we?” She shoos my mom and James out of the way before fiddling with the machine. “Your blood pressure is a little elevated. You need to try and rest.” She flicks her eyes to my mom. “She needs to remain as calm as possible.”
“Yes, of course, sorry.”
The nurse checks my IV, tweaking something, and I start to feel drowsy.
“Will you tell me what happened?” I ask. She stills, her warm smile settling something inside me.
“You sustained a serious head injury, Remi. There was swelling in your brain, so the doctors placed you into a medically-induced coma to give your brain a chance to heal.”
“A coma?”
“It’s not as scary as it sounds, I promise.”
“H-how long was I...”