I’m going to rebuild it around Riley.
Chapter Sixty-Three
RILEY
The medics call an ambulance and allow me to ride with Nat to the hospital.
Watching him clasp his leg in pain and writhing on the stretcher shreds my heart completely. He looks like someone in the throes of agony.
Teeth gritted.
Face turning a bright shade of red.
He’s struggling not to scream, but I can tell every time his nostrils flare and his mouth tightens that he’s getting closer to letting one loose.
“Can’t you do something?” I snap at the paramedic. “He’s in so much pain.”
“I’m… okay.”
I sob. “Liar.”
Nat’s face is so contorted in pain that it’s impossible not to cry. If I could, I’d trade places with him in a heartbeat. I would endure a thousand years of pain than watch him helplessly like this.
We arrive at the hospital and Nat is rushed to the emergency room.
“Ma’am, please wait in the hallway,” a nurse directs me.
A few minutes later, I hear footsteps pounding.
April, May and Rebel appear, followed closely by Renthrow, Kinsey, McLanely and Max.
The moment I see my friends, I lose it.
Tears start streaming down my face.
May, Rebel, and April enclose me in a hug, soothing my back and stroking my hair. It brings little comfort.
Guilt attacks me from all sides.
I should have tried harder to get Nat to the hospital. I should have told someone. Done something. Maybe then he would have been spared this suffering.
“It’s not your fault,” Cordelia says from the phone screen that Renthrow holds up to me. “It’s not your fault, Riley.”
“It’s Theilan’s,” McLanely growls. His voice is thick with disgust.
“I have no idea what got into that kid,” Renthrow grumbles. “He was always mischievous, but I didn’t think he’d go this low. And what did Campbell ever do to him?”
“He replaced him,” Max says. “Campbell took Theilan’s place on the ice and rather than come after me, the man responsible for all this, he took it out on someone innocent.”
The hallway falls into tense silence.
Chance McLanely is flicking his fidget spinner anxiously.
Kinsey is pacing up and down.
Renthrow is massaging his head.
Max is staring at the ceiling as if he’s rethinking all his life’s choices.
