Despite being cleared, Clara perches next to me in the ambulance, trying her best to stay out of the way, the drugs they gave me for the pain making her beautiful face fade into a blur of colors the longer we wait.
The rest of the guys crowd around the back of the wagon, having already been in the house to get shoes and coats and shit. Not that we have much in the way of clothes. Damn fire.
“Clara?” I ask, needing her close, a sudden lurch of a hole in my chest only able to be filled by her love.
“I’m right here,” she says, scooting closer, grasping my hand as the EMTs get everything locked down for transport.
I cling to her, then wave my hand around, some part of me recognizing that the drugs are hitting me hard. “Guys?”
The back end dips, and then Trips of all people holds my other hand, his grim face coming into focus. “You’re okay, Walker. You’re going to be fine.”
“I’ve never had surgery before.”
“Do you want us to call your parents?” Jansen asks, the weight of his hand on my good ankle telling me where he is, even if I can’t see that far right now.
“Yeah,” I say, my head too heavy to move anymore.
“I’ve got it,” RJ says.
Walkies click and mumble as the EMTs try to get the guys out of the ambulance. I don’t want them to go. If they could come into surgery with me, I’d be giddy. I might be giddy. It’s probably a bad idea to ask if Emma could do my surgery, since she did such a good job on Jansen.
I’m glad the cops aren’t around right now.
At least, I don’t think they are.
“Shit, Mattie, calm down,” Trips’ voice says, his anger soothing in a way his sincerity wasn’t. “I’m on my way.”
Clara’s voice is close, and I wish I could open my eyes to see her. “I’m going with Walker.”
“I don’t want you alone in the waiting room, beautiful,” Jansen says.
“Then I’m coming with you, Trips,” RJ says.
My tongue feels like Jello. “Bryce is dead. Do we still need buddies?”
There are lips on my cheek, and I smile, enjoying the feeling. “Nobody should be alone. Even with Bryce gone. Not after everything that’s happened.”
The doors to the ambulance close in a clatter, and then we’re slipping our way to the hospital, the sensation of the wheels spinning on the ice before they catch with a jolt making the horrible pain that lives in a pillow outside of my mind tunnel through to my brain, and I groan.
But Clara’s with me the whole way. And that’s all I need to know.
My girl’s holding my hand, her stalker is dead, and maybe, just maybe, we’ll finally get to start her happily ever after.
Chapter 87
Trips
I’m shaky from adrenaline and exhaustion when we enter the same hospital we visited yesterday. Yesterday feels a lifetime ago at this point. And because nothing is ever convenient, Walker’s heading to a different hospital across town.
I remind myself to be fucking grateful. We’re all alive; I can’t complain.
RJ follows me down the hallway to my father’s room, my promise never to see him again ringing in my ears. But I’m not here for him; I’m here for Mattie.
My sister rushes out when she sees me through the door, dragging me farther from where I can hear Trevor, Jessica, and Father speaking with a doctor. “Thank God you’re here. I don’t know what to do.”
“What’s going on? You said Father’s getting surgery, but I don’t know why I’m here. I’m not going to kumbaya around the man, for fuck’s sake.”
She spits out a panicked laugh, her copper hair piled in an unruly bundle on the top of her head, making her look more like Clara than my typically poised little sister. “It’s an emergency surgery. They think they’ve found a liver for him.”
