“He’s okay,” Marissa said quickly. “You need to focus on your recovery.”
I tried to shake my head. Maybe I did. The tears wouldn’t stop running down my face. I couldn’t see him anymore. It didn’t matter where he went. As long as I was around, he’d be in danger. The realization caused a sharp pain in my chest that no amount of morphine could numb. I’d found what people search for their entire lives and lost it in an instant. They let me cry until I ran out of tears. The nurses came in, messed with the IV, and asked questions that I answered numbly. By the time it was just us again, I could form shaky and hoarse words they could understand.
“Pres, I can’t see him anymore.” A sob formed in the center of my chest, but I fought it.
He ran both hands down his face. “Lyles, he’s not just going to let you walk away. He’s already been asking about you.”
That set me off crying again. When I took soft, shaky breaths, I looked at my friend again.
“I need to leave.” I swallowed. It hurt. Everything hurt, but most of all the words leaving my mouth. “I don’t know what it’ll take. Change my identity. Move somewhere he wouldn’t think to go to. I don’t care. I can’t. . .” I took another shaky breath, as tears filled my eyes. “I can’t see him again.”
“Lyles,” Marissa whispered, running her hand over my head. “We need to figure out a way to tell the police. Even if it’s over the phone when we’re someplace safe, he can’t keep doing this.”
I nodded. “I’ll call when I’m untraceable, and he won’t go after me.”
“Rest,” Prescott said. “I’ll be back later.”
“Are you going to see him?” I asked. Fuck, it hurt to ask.
“Yeah.”
“Can you do something for me? Can you try to get black roses?”
“Sure. I’m not sure anyone sells goth roses, but I can try.”
That made me smile a bit, but the smile quickly turned into a full-on sob.
“I need to write something for him.”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Marissa said.
“If you want to disappear, I’m sure I can make it happen, but I don’t think writing him something will help matters,” Pres said.
“I need to. I need to do this.”
“Okay. I’ll be back before I go visit him then.” He walked to the door.
“Pres.”
He stopped and turned around, waiting.
“I love you.” I started sobbing again. “You’re the best support system I could ever ask for.”
He walked back. The three of us hugged. When we pulled back, all of us were wiping our faces.
“I’ll be back,” he said and walked out.
“You’re going to be okay, honey.” Marissa sat on the bed. She said that but cried each time she looked at my face. She wiped her face. “We need to take pictures. We need to have some kind of proof that he did this.”
“I agree.”
I let her take pictures. I couldn’t recognize myself in them. My thoughts returned to Lachlan. The same questions continued to run through my head — what did he do to him? What does his face look like? My mouth quivered whenever I pictured him lying on a hospital bed because of me. My light was gone. I promised myself that as soon as I was far enough, I’d call the police. I just hoped they’d listen to me.
CHAPTER21
LACHLAN
I wokeup in a hospital bed surrounded by people. What the fuck? I tried to move and my head felt like it might explode, so I immediately stopped. Did something happen during the game? I tried to think about it, but my mind was blank. I remembered getting to the arena and calling Lyla. I remembered sending her a text telling her to let me know when she arrived. Then, I got out, and then. . .nothing.
