My heart breaks at the fact these people who have known me for more than thirty years think I could do something like that to Cash. Standing to my full height, my shoulders back, I refuse to be shamed by this man.
“Now, watch how you speak to her. I’m not pleased with what you’re saying but I will not stand for you calling her names. And if you think I’m unhappy about it, you wait until Cash wakes up, anddarecall her a slut to his face.” My chest heaves with anger. “I dare you to say it again.” I level Cash’s dad with a look.
“Alright, alright.” I feel Sleepy’s hand on my chest, as he symbolically holds me back. I wouldn’t hit Mr. Colter but I’m almost mad enough to. “We don’t know anything about the situation but the way I see it, if Duke was two-timing behind Cash’s back, it seems unlikely he would choose the waiting room of the hospital to do it. Let’s just keep the focus where it belongs for now.”
“It’s not what you think,” Caroline says quietly beside me. I know she wants to hold onto me for support, but I also know she is probably afraid it will make things worse. I am not.
Wrapping my arm around her waist, I pull her against my body, lifting my chin. “Cash will explain, until then, keep your feelings to yourself.”
We sit in tense silence for a while before a nurse in light green scrubs comes into the waiting room and tells us thedoctor said we can go in now. Following her down the hallway, I clutch Caroline’s hand to mine.
Entering Cash’s hospital room is terrifying, and I almost fall to the floor again. I’ve held it together since my breakdown at the bar but seeing my best friend lying in the bed is too much to handle. There’s a tube coming from his throat, connected to a machine pushing air into his body. Wires and cords snake out from under his blanket. His blond hair falls over his brow, his eyes closed as if he’s simply asleep. His arm is wrapped and supported, with surgery scheduled for later today. Another tube winds out of the side of his gown, draining fluid from the site of his collapsed, punctured lung. I see Caroline run her fingers over her shirt, where I know she has a scar across her own ribs.
“It’s okay, Sunshine. You’ll have matching scars; it’ll be cute,” I murmur into her hair, and she lets out a small huff of laughter before the tears start again.
We all stand around and watch the machines monitoring his heart and his oxygen, the machine making ashoo-a shoo shoo-a shoosoundas air flows into his body.
“Is he on life support?” Caroline asks and Mrs. Colters nods affirmatively.
“The doctor says it’s just until they know the extent of his brain injury. He’s sedated. They are going to do a repeat CT scan later to see the progress, but it will likely be a day or two before they know how it’s healing.”
“Oh,” is her only reply as she walks closer to the bed, grabbing hold of his hand, being mindful of all the tubes and things. Leaning over, she kisses him softly on his forehead, brushing his hair away. She speaks softly in his ear, words we cannot hear. Lifting his hand, she brings it to her cheek, holding it there before her shoulders begin shaking. Gently putting his hand back on the bed, she returns to my side.
We all approach the bed in turn. When I get close, I kneel beside him and lay my head on his hand. “Brother,” I whisper against his clammy skin, my voice breaking. “Come back. We need you. Caroline and I need you. Tank and Snapper. Daisy. We can’t do this without you. Come back.” I stay there longer than I plan to, eventually feeling Caroline’s hand on my shoulder.
Standing, I wrap my arms around her, putting my chin on the top of her head, and just cry. Tears for so many things run down my cheeks. Taking her hand in mine, we walk from the room. Sitting back in the cold, plastic chairs we let his parents have some time alone.
“Where were you, Caroline?” I can’t wait anymore. I need to know.
“I got scared,” she whispers, her voice barely audible.
I twist my body to see her face. “Scared? Scared of what?”
“Of this. Of us. I saw something that wasn’t meant for me, and I got scared.”
What the hell could she have seen while I was at work?
“What was it, Caroline? I can’t help if you aren’t telling me things. You can’t run away.”
“I was in Cash’s room, being nosy. It was so stupid. I shouldn’t have even been in there, but he said—he said I could look around. I opened his bedside table and there was,” her voice breaks and tears fill her eyes, “photographs and underwear, other women, Duke. Beautiful women. Skinny, supermodel women.” Her confession sends a stab through my heart.
If he wasn’t already on his deathbed, I would kill him myself.
“Fucking idiot,” I say in response.
Her tears fall faster, and I realize a second too late that she thinks I’m talking about her.
“Not you, Sunshine. Dumbass Cash. Listen, this issomething you’re going to have to talk over with Cash, but I can tell you with certainty he forgot they were there. He should have thrown that shit out but what I can tell you, Caroline, is that Cash loves you more than anything I have ever seen. If I was a better man, I would have stepped away from you a long time ago. But I’m not.”
“You don’t think he...you know, is still doing anything or that he cares about them?”
Running footsteps interrupt our conversation and I look up to see multiple nurses pushing a cart and a doctor all rush through the door to Cash’s room. Standing, I go to the door just in time to see Sleepy and Mr. and Mrs. Colter ushered into the hallway as the door slams shut behind them.
Mrs. Colter collapses in a heap of hysterical crying on the floor with her husband kneeling beside her. His face is one of utter devastation.
“What is it? What happened?” I yell into the corridor.
“The machines just started beeping and a nurse came in and called a code blue on her phone. I think his heart stopped,” Sleepy tells me, his face haggard and worn, deeper lines marring his brow than the last time he was in the bar.
