Scorch (Black Inferno Book 4) (11 page)

As soon as I see Crystal’s bloody face, I feel a murderous rage soar within me. Cole and Mason have run after Troy because I can’t bear to leave Crystal’s side.

“Paige…” she coughs, “…you have to find Paige.”

Her eyes close and I feel my tears threaten to fall.

“What has that bastard done to her?” asks Tate.

“Ring an ambulance…” I order him, “…and the police need to be here.”

Nodding, he gets his phone out and rings them straight away. I hear shouting in the garden, but I don’t pay attention because all I can focus on is Crystal lying in my arms. Blood surrounds her face and drips down her neck. Looking at her terrifies me.

“They’re coming,” Tate announces as soon as he hangs up.

“We need to call the girls, let them know,” I add.

“What do you think she meant about Paige?” he asks.

I take out my cell, still clutching onto Crystal and call Lacey. “Hello?”

“Lace, is Paige with you?” I ask her.

“No, why?” she asks, and I tell her about Crystal. Straight away she begins to cry, and I fight to hold my own back. Once I know Crystal is safe, I’m going to fucking kill Troy. “Oh God,” Lacey whimpers, but then promises to get the girls together and look for Paige.

There’s a scuffle, and I look up to see Cole and Mason dragging in a beat up Troy. The fucker actually has the nerve to smile at us all. Tate jumps up and gives Troy a punch of his own.

“You fucker,” he shouts.

I wish I could jump up and knock the guy out, but I can’t move from Crystal as I hold onto her. The sounds of sirens beginning to come closer and Troy looks up.

“That’s right, fucker.” Cole pushes him to the floor.

My cell rings, it’s Lacey. “Booker…” she begins, “…we found her, and she’s not looking good,” Lacey cries. “Oh God there’s so much blood, and we can’t wake her up.”

“The police are here now, babe, just hang on,” I try to calm her, and when she hangs up, I turn to the guys and let them know what Lacey’s just told me. In reaction, Mason then kicks Troy, who’s now lying on the floor and Cole has to try and stop him as the police enter.

The beeping is giving me a headache, and I wish someone would put a stop to it. My body feels so sore as I try to wriggle around and open my eyes but I struggle to do both.

“Crystal?” I hear Booker, and when I open my eyes and feel how sensitive and sore they are, I begin to panic. “Hey, relax, you’re safe now.”

Safe?
All of a sudden flashbacks from the house come together piece by piece, and I take a better look at where I am. White walls, uncomfortable bed, and a strange sterile room—I’m in the hospital.

“Troy?” I ask and a dark cloud settles over his features.

“The police have him,” he answers. “Look, I’d better go tell the others you’re awake. You have everyone scared shitless, babe.” He leans down to give me a kiss, and as soon as he pops his head out the door, all my friends start pouring into the room making me smile until I notice that Paige isn’t with them.

“Paige?” I ask and their relieved faces drop—all of them. “What’s happened?”

Everyone looks at me like I’m so fragile any news will crumble me. I have to know if Paige is okay, and by the looks on their faces, she’s not, which means it’s all down to me. Troy did this, and therefore it’s my burden to carry.

“Don’t do this,” I manage to shout. “Tell me!”

“She’s not doing too good,” Tate finally answers, sitting in the space beside me. He holds my hand, trying to calm me. “The girls found her in time before her condition was too serious. She’s a couple of rooms down from you.”

“Just in time?” I ask. “What did he do to her?” I begin to cry.

“You should be resting, not worrying,” Roxie insists.

“No! I want to know if she’s okay…” I cry, “…this is my fucking fault. I want to know what’s happened.”

A nurse then barges in, demanding to know what’s wrong and to keep the noise down. “I’m afraid all of you cannot be in here. Three at a time is our maximum. I’ve told you this before.”

They begrudgingly leave, but not before giving me a gentle kiss, leaving Tate and Booker behind with me.

“Now tell me,” I demand from Tate.

“When they found her, she wasn’t conscious, and they couldn’t wake her,” Tate explains. “They said she was covered in blood, tied up, and gagged.”

I begin to feel sick and my tears quickly run down my face. “Oh God,” I sob. “This is all my fault.”

“No, don’t think like that,” insists Booker. “She will get better.”

“Has she said what he did?” I dread to ask and Booker and Tate share a look. “What?”

“She hasn’t woken up,” Booker replies and my body begins to shake.

My abusive ex has not only managed to hurt me, but he’s caused Paige so much more. She sounds in worse condition than me.

“I have to see her,” I announce, and both men look panicked.

“You can’t,” Tate orders.

“You have a broken rib and arm Crystal, you ain’t going anywhere,” Booker informs me.

To be honest, as much as I really want to see Paige I don’t think I can move. I have so many drugs pumping through my body, and paired with my injuries it’s just not possible, but I will go and see her when I can.

“What’s going to happen to Troy?” I ask them both.

“The police have him,” Tate replies, but he doesn’t sound too happy.

“What aren’t you telling me?” I ask him.

“I just wish we could have had him alone for longer,” Tate replies and then Booker agrees.

“I didn’t even get a chance to hit him.” He sulks.

“Hit him?” I ask.

“Of course,” he nods. “I wanted to fucking kill him after what he’s done,” Booker growls.

“At least, Cole and Mason got some punches in…” Tate laughs, “…and by the looks of Troy when they brought him in, they gave out some great payment.”

“None of you are doing anything,” I order. “I don’t want any of you in trouble. You hearing me?”

They both nod, but I have a suspicion that they’ll do whatever they want when it comes to Troy.

Later that day Lola comes by to pay me a visit, and I’m glad to see a new face around here.

“Her…” she peeks around the door, “…okay to come in?”

“Sure.” I try to sit up but the pain from my rib stops any movement, and I wince instead.

“Don’t get up.” Lola rushes to sit beside me on the chair Booker usually sits in. It’s brown and large and doesn’t look too comfy, but it’s his permanent spot. “How you doing?”

“Great.” I smile and Lola laughs.

“Here, I got you this.” She hands me
The Game of Thrones
disc with a portable DVD player and I look at her with wide eyes.

“Oh my God, thank you,” I scream.

Lola laughs. “That’s fine.”

“How’s your dad doing?” I ask her.

“He’s holding up, but from the results he’s gotten so far, it doesn’t look so good.” She frowns.

“Honey, I’m sorry.” I place my hand in hers.

“Stop worrying, you need to focus on yourself.” She places her gifts onto the table while scolding me.

“Don’t, you sound like the rest of them.” I roll my eyes and she laughs.

“Then they are right. Everyone loves you and they’re worried,” she answers. “When will you be out?”

I loudly sigh. “I don’t even know yet, but I doubt it will be soon. So thanks for the DVDs.”

We begin to laugh and then Tate walks in, his eyes land on Lola, and an intense look takes over his whole face.

“Tate?” I ask him, and he snaps his head to me.

“You need anything?” he asks me. “I’m going home to change. You want me to grab you a few things?”

“Tell one of the girls to bring what I need, they’ll know.” I smile to him. No question any one of the girls will know just what I need.

“Nice of you to come by.” Tate smiles at Lola.

“I had to,” she answers kindly, although I can feel a little nervousness creep into her voice. “Crystal’s a good friend.”

I watch as Tate smiles at her, gazing at her while we make small talk. I feel bad for him that he seems to really like Lola, but she doesn’t want anything to do with him. She can’t even try to be his friend because it’s clear he likes her more than that. Lola is very pretty, and of course, my brother wants to get close to her, but he’s going the wrong way about it. Poor Tate, he has no clue.

“I’ll see you later.” Tate kisses my forehead and waves bye to Lola. When he goes, I look to her with a broad smile.

“He really likes you,” I tease.

“Who?” she asks, and I roll my eyes. I’m not that stupid to not know she can tell my brother is hot for her. “I’m not interested in your brother.”

“I know that, and I’ve told him.” I giggle.

“I’m glad this is cheering you up.” Lola moans.

“He’s a good guy,” I assure her.

“I know that, but I will not date a musician. And especially not a rocker,” she insists.

“I know, besides he’s a player no matter how nice he is,” I point out and Lola nods.

“They all are. Well, not your lot,” Lola adds. “You seem to have found yourselves some good picks.”

“Yeah, I think so, too. But they were all the same, until they met us, of course.” I laugh. “We turned their worlds upside down.”

I begin to feel tired, and a big yawn escapes me.

“You should get some sleep.”

“I’m fine,” I lie, feeling my eyes becoming heavy.

I begin to hear voices and I snap my eyes open. Lacey and Cole are here, and Booker is in his usual chair.

“Hey…” Lacey greets me, “…I brought you some things.” She indicates to a bag at the bottom of the bed. I’m about to ask to have a look when there’s a tiny knock on the door.

It’s the doctor and he gives us all a warm smile. “Hello Crystal…” he approaches me, “…how are you feeling?”

“I’m okay.” I smile and the doctor tilts his head to the side.

“How are you really feeling?” he asks again.

“Well, my ribs hurt,” I admit, and he nods.

“Yes, fortunately, the X-ray revealed that you haven’t broken your left rib, it’s just badly bruised,” he delivers the information.

“That’s great news.” Booker grins at me.

“Yes, but you will still be in a lot of pain, Crystal. So take care when you breathe in, you may feel like you can only manage short and shallow breaths, but it’s quite important that you try and breathe as normally as you possibly can. You need to get as much air into your lungs to expand them correctly.” He then checks the area around my bruised rib to see just how sensitive is it. “Yes, I can understand why they initially thought it was broken, it’s very badly bruised and swollen.”

“Is that normal?” asks Lacey.

“Usually, there’s just the bruising and tenderness, but because her rib is very badly bruised there’s swelling which is to be expected,” he assures her. “Now Crystal, you’ll have to rest for around three to four weeks. And when I say rest, I really mean rest. I don’t even want you walking for the first week, it’s total bed rest for you.”

“I’ll make sure she doesn’t move an inch, Doc.” Booker smiles at me.

The doctor smiles at Booker, and then checks over the stitches to my face. Troy did a great job on my face, and of course, the rest of my body, but I’m guessing my face is a total mess. My mouth even feels puffy as I talk and my cheeks feel odd. If someone offered me a mirror, I wouldn’t want to look.

“Now would you like to know about your friend Paige?” the Doctor asks.

“Please,” I beg him, the worries about myself forgotten. “Has she woken up?”

With a large smile, he nods. “She was awake for about an hour, and that’s a good sign.”

“How is she?” I ask him.

He gives me a kind smile, before delivering the news. “As you know, Paige has a stab wound to the leg. Luckily the knife didn’t seem to do much damage to veins or nerves, but we are concerned about bacteria, so she’s on antibiotics to help fight any risk of infection. Now, she did lose a lot of blood, but she’s had three blood transfusions. Paige’s head injury isn’t too serious, and she should make a full recovery within a couple of days, but until then she needs plenty of rest and to have someone stay with her, just in case she develops any new symptoms. I understand you two have been through a terrible ordeal, but she cannot be stressed or aggravated until she’s fully recovered.”

“Oh God.” I begin to cry.

“Crys?” Booker asks.

“This is all because of me.” I sob. “Paige was innocent and Troy used her to get to me. She wouldn’t be in this position if it weren't for me, and I wouldn’t be surprised if she never talks to me again and –”

“Pardon me for saying…” the Doctor interrupts, “…but apart from her injuries, Paige is all but worried about you Crystal. Rest assured, you two will come through this stronger, and as soon as you’re both fit to do so, you can reunite.”

“Thank you, Doctor.” I manage a smile.

He gives us all a final nod before leaving. “I feel so bad.”

“Crystal, when are you going to understand this wasn’t your fault?” Lacey asks.

“That guy is insane, Crys. You couldn’t have done anything different,” Cole assures me.

“At least you both seem to be doing okay.” Booker grips onto my hand. “Although you both have serious injuries, you’ve been given the best outcomes.”

Booker is completely right. Troy could have killed us both, but here we are still fighting.

“Why didn’t you tell me Paige was stabbed?” I ask all three of them.

“You were so worried about her, and you need to try and rest as much as you can. We just didn’t want you to worry even more,” Booker tries to explain.

I’m not even angry because I already knew that would be the reason, but I just had to ask. He’s right, though, if they had told me Paige was stabbed, I would have acted worse than I did when I first discovered she was also in the hospital.

One week later, I get to see Paige and nothing could have prepared me for how emotional it was going to be. Seeing as Paige was the fitter out the two of us, and both of us nagging everyone around us, we finally got our own way.

Paige is wheeled into my room and as soon as I see her I smile, but tears stream down my face. Paige is pretty much the same, we’re both smiling messes.

“You still in bed you lazy shit?” Paige asks, and I burst out laughing, ignoring the pain in my chest.

“Says the girl being pushed around in a chair,” I point out and not only does Paige laugh but so does the nurse pushing her into the room.

It’s only when we’re alone that we become serious with one another.

“I’m so happy you’re okay,” I tell her. “When Troy said he used your cell to text me, I was so scared for you.”

“It was my fault for believing who he pretended to be.” Paige wipes under her eyes. “If it wasn’t for me, he might not have gotten to you.”

“He would have found a way, Paige,” I insist. “The blame is not with you.”

“You blame yourself…” she accuses, “…but it’s not true.”

“Look at us.” I giggle and after a little silence, both of us watching each other, I begin to cry again. “They said you looked dreadful.”

“Yeah…” Paige cries, “…I heard the same about you. I’ve been so worried, I was begging everyone to tell me everything about you.”