Haley runs a hand covered in dried blood through her hair. She’s frantic as she paces and each time I step forward, she shoots me a glare and holds her hand up.
″Can you tell me what happened?” I ask.
″I stabbed him in the neck. What do you think happened, Callum?”
″Well. What led to the stabbing, Haley? Did he rape you?”
She stops and stares at me with an empty look, then says, “I need Griff.”
My heart cracks. She needs her friend. A friend she hasn’t seen since I’ve entered her life because we’ve been so stuck on each other. She chooses a friend overme.
I don’t push it and only nod my head as I grab my phone. “I’ll have Paddy get him.”
She nods, and starts walking back and forth again, holding her elbow with her other hand.
Nothing I say or do is enough. She tenses whenever I step toward her. She starts pacing whenever I try to console her with words.
Paddy is here within the hour. Never mind the body in the kitchen, Griffin comes upstairs with him.
″Savi.” Griffin steps toward her, wrapping his arms around her shoulders. “Are you hurt?”
Haley grips his chest, her fingers digging into the material of his shirt. “I need you to take me to the hospital,” she whispers. It’s low enough to be clear that she doesn’t want Paddy or me to hear.
″Okay,” Griffin says soothingly as he rubs her back. “I’ll take you.”
Chapter thirty-one
Griffhelpsmeoutof the back of his sedan when we get to the hospital. My ribs burn with each breath I take, which makes the ride here excruciating. Lena hurries out the back door of the hospital.
She wraps her hand around my shoulder, lightly pressing me to her. My head buries into her neck as I let out a sob. I’ve never been close with her. She’s my favorite nurse, sure, but that’s because she’s a hard worker, not because we grab drinks together. I know she doesn’t give in to gossip, so my secret as to what happened will be safe with her.
Not that I even know what my secret is. All I have now is a few flashbacks. My hand clenching the knife. The blood, the fight. It’s all bits and pieces, and I don’t think they’re in sequential order.
I need to remember.
″What happened, Haley?” Lena whispers. She helps get us through the back door without anyone seeing.
″Lena,” I gasp, ignoring her question and clutch her scrubs as she helps me onto the examination bed.
″You need an X-ray.”
″No. That isn’t why I’m here.”
″Haley, you look like you were mugged. You’ve got at least a fractured rib, your face is swollen.”
″I need—” I cough and a stabbing pain surges through my lungs. If I didn’t know that was the feeling of a broken rib, I’d wonder if I stabbed myself after becoming a murderer. “I need a SANE kit. That’s it. I’ll…I’ll deal with the rib pain.”
I’m an alcoholic. I don’t need to abuse narcotics like my shithead mother.
Lena freezes, her hand pushing on my side. “Fuck. Haley. Who did this?”
″I don’t know,” I lie. It was Drake. Fuck, but I can’t remember what he did. Why can’t I remember damnit? “I blacked out. I’m… I’m not even sure if it happened. I just want to be sure, okay?”
She dips her head, darting her eyes away from me. “Lie back. I’ll go get a kit.”
I nod and she guides me onto my back. My head pounds again, and for a second, I’m almost hopeful. Hopeful that if he did rape me, he didn’t use a condom and there’s enough proof to have a strong self-defense case.
Callum may be the king of the underworld, but he’s not invincible. I stabbed a cop in the neck and there’s no way he can bury that body without consequence. I’m going to have to report this. I’m going to have to admit to someone what I did. And I’ll spend my life in jail for being a cop killer.