The Line That Binds Series Box Set (65 page)

“Congrats.” The breath of air that was forced from my chest made my voice squeak even more through my pinched nose.

She pulled her face back and looked at my nose. “You okay?”

“Yeah,” I said with a nod. “Not a problem.”

“Okay, good.”

After a moment enjoying the first hug I’d had in a week, I leaned back with a smile and held out the cash. “Here you go.”

She snatched the wad, jumped back over to Spaz, and waved it around to taunt him. I kept smiling. Her celebration was contagious and I was genuinely happy for her. She deserved the win. A beam of headlights flashed into my eyes as one of the last trucks left, obviously not sticking around for Izzy’s victory dance. Gavin walked over to Spaz and Izzy, attempting to snatch the cash while she continued to wave it in the air.

I didn’t have to look to know Ben’s eyes were still on me. I could feel their heat, their tortured ferocity holding me the way he couldn’t. Their pull was strong enough to turn me to him. My heart begged me to give in, to run into his arms.

“LJ,” Ryan’s voice came from behind me. I stared at Ben’s darkened figure, unable to see his features now that the trucks had taken the light away.

I shifted sideways to see Ryan, keeping Ben in view, then removed the tissue from my nose. “Yeah?” I answered, making sure I wasn’t still bleeding before shoving the tissue in my pocket.

He stepped closer, his features becoming clearer. One hand shuffled his truck keys while the other ran through his tousled hair. “I was wondering if you were interested in going to a party with me.”

“Tonight?”

“Yeah. It’s at Adam’s house. I told him I’d show up later. I didn’t tell him about the race because he can take things too far sometimes,” he muttered.

“That’s an understatement,” I said. Ryan chuckled, putting a gleam in his hazel eyes that was far too hopeful. “Look, Ryan, thanks for the offer, but—”

“But you’d rather meet me there?” he insisted, running a nervous hand over the back of his neck and flashing a crooked grin.

“No. I’d rather not.” I had to shut this down for good. As much as I didn’t want to admit it, Gavin was right. I didn’t need Ryan ignoring my messages.

“Look, LJ. I’m into you,” he said the last part lowly, knowing all the ears in the vicinity were probably listening. “I want you to come hang out. I’ve got a good hook-up. It might not be as good as some Vegas stuff, but it’s—”

I laughed, cutting off his loaded invite. “You don’t know too much about me,” I said to his stunned face. “I’m not a party girl.”

He studied me, running his teeth over his lower lip. “I heard differently, and that it was the reason you broke up with Benj, since he’s a prude. Well, aside from the beers.” He tossed a head tilt toward Ben while he kept his eyes on me. “It’s not an issue. Either way, you don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do at the party. Just come with me.”

I was pretty sure his wish at the Halloween party was to be honest with me. Maybe it was just to tell me it was him under the Darth Vader costume that night, or maybe he wasn’t used to telling girls that he was genuinely interested in them. It could be as simple as that. But that honesty doesn’t make him a good guy. It doesn’t make him completely sincere. “No, really, it isn’t my scene. Someone’s been giving you the wrong info.” Emily’s scheming face popped into my head.

“C’mon. I just want to hang out so I can
learn
the right info about you,” he prodded, adding a sexy pout that other girls probably went nuts for.

“Just shut the hell up already,” Ben said, striding over to us with a beer in hand. “She said
no
. The narrow minds you usually talk to might be easily manipulated, but I’ve got news for you, you can’t change her mind.”

I knew that comment was more for me than Ryan and it made me cringe. Did he think my decision was an easy one? I would have loved if he had been truthful all along because I had no doubt I’d be wrapped in his arms right now.

“Maybe from your experience, but I’m not you,” Ryan stated with a sideways glance at Ben.

“So what? You plan to wear her down until she gives up? That’s pathetic.” Ben laughed.

“I’m right here,” I interrupted their pissing contest bitterly. “I don’t need you talking about me like I’m some shiny freaking toy. Butt out, Ben,” I snapped, looking directly into his eyes because screw him for trying to protect me again. I could handle this myself. “And you,” I said, bringing my eyes back to Ryan and motioning between us. “This isn’t going to happen, so you should just go.”

“Damn. That burns,” Ben drawled in a smooth voice, then tipped back his bottle.

Ryan shook his head with a smirk and let out a breathy, aggravated laugh. His eyes flitted to the ground then back up to me. “You know, it’s kind of presumptuous to assume nothing will happen when you aren’t even giving me a chance.”

“Despite how nice you’ve been lately, I still remember what happened last month in the cafeteria. You sat back and watched, quite entertained by your friends attacking me,” I replied.

“Ah, well, that started off as fun. I admit it went too far.”

“We obviously have different definitions of fun.”

I was about to press on when a bike started behind us. All of us looked over in time to see Gavin tear off down the hill on Ben’s bike. The engine’s jagged screams rippled over the silent property.

“Shit!” Ben yelled and took off in a sprint.

“Gavin!” I screamed, running to the side of the slope that overlooked the track.

“What is he doing? That bike is way too big for him to handle!” Izzy ran up beside me as Spaz kick-started his own bike and took off.

“Oh my God! He’s heading toward the ramp. Has he even jumped that thing before?” I pointed toward the ramp Ben had gotten for his birthday. It was set up for tricks, alongside the track.

Izzy ran her hands to the side of her head, pulling her hair back tighter than it was already within its ponytail. “Shit,” she said nervously. “He’s jumped it a couple times on the smaller bike. I don’t think Ben’s ever let him ride his bike, though.”

I felt powerless. My hands shook as I watched the bike’s shadowed outline race toward the ramp. Everything was going so fast—Gavin on Ben’s bike, Ben running, Spaz’s bike closing the distance—yet everything slowed as though time chose to unfold my worst nightmare at half-speed as some cruel gift. Life clouded. I barely recognized Izzy’s ragged breaths in tune with my own, or Ryan stepping up beside me to watch the madness.

The bike hit the ramp, its engine’s noise settling some as he eased off the throttle. I gasped as it took air then held my breath, waiting for the landing. As soon as he hit, I knew it wasn’t good. The throttle backed off completely and Gavin’s outline split from the bike.

Panic took over. My feet worked for me, one after the other, bounding forward with no thoughts, just fear. My brain zeroed in on my target as his figure rolled onto the ground, letting out a single guttural scream.

“Gavin!” I shrieked.

“Shit, Gavin! What the hell?” Ben said as I took my last strides toward them. The words were harsh, but his voice was calm as he slid a hand under Gavin’s left arm, supporting his elbow.

I fell to my knees beside them. “Are you okay? Oh God, Gavin. Are you okay?”

He sat up, sucking air through his teeth. “I think I broke my arm.”

“Where?” Ben asked.

“Forearm. My shoulder’s fine. I put my hand down when I landed.”

“Are you sure nothing else is jacked up?” Ben said, standing up.

“Maybe your bike, man. I’m sorry. That was so stupid. I thought I could make it,” Gavin replied, letting Ben help him to his feet.

I stood with them. Izzy placed her hand on my shoulder while Spaz ran over to Ben’s bike and turned off the engine.

“Don’t worry about my bike. How’s everything else? Can you walk?”

“Yeah,” Gavin answered, testing his legs with small steps.

“What the hell were you thinking, Gavin?” I blurted out in a shaky voice, anger taking the place of fear now that I knew he was safe.

He opened his mouth, but Ben spoke first. “You need to get to the hospital to have this X-rayed.”

“I don’t have a car,” I uttered. Dad was at work.
Oh, God, what’s Dad going to think?

“You have mine,” Ben replied, looking at me, his eyes soft.

“Ben, you’ve been drinking, so no driving road vehicles,” Izzy said. “I can drive you, LJ,” she offered.

I didn’t want to burden them because I knew her and Spaz would insist on staying and I had no idea how long it would take. “I…”

“Take the Cuda, LJ,” Ben suggested, noticing my delay. “You’ll have your own ride if you run into any problems.” He kept his eyes on me as we all started to walk back toward his house. I nodded. I wasn’t surprised he knew what I wanted, but I was surprised he didn’t insist on coming.

Ben ran inside his house for the keys and Gavin got into the car. Izzy and Spaz were talking to Gavin when Ben came back outside. He placed the keys slowly into my palm. “I’m sure he’ll be fine. I’m sorry that it happened.”

“It’s not your fault,” I said, wanting it to mean so much more.

His eyes closed for a moment, possibly wanting the same. “Be careful with reverse. She sticks like she hates to move backward.”

I nodded.

After grabbing my wallet from the house and driving twelve stressful minutes, Gavin and I pulled into the emergency room parking lot. As soon as I laid eyes on the small hospital, I realized that I hadn’t driven as cautiously as I should have. The details stirred together in one big bucket of anxiety. Autopilot had taken over and it delivered us safely even though it’d been months since I’d driven a stick.

We stepped inside the ER, instantly assaulted by the megawatt fluorescents and the biting fumes from a recent disinfectant wipe-down. Gavin took a seat in one of the several vacant chairs as I walked to the glass window.

“Have a seat and fill this out. We’ll be with you in a minute,” a preoccupied nurse said, sliding a clipboard through the window’s lower partition while keeping her eyes on a computer screen.

“Thanks,” I replied, happy she hadn’t bothered with small talk. I slumped into the seat beside Gavin and started filling in the boxes. “Can you call Dad while I start this? He’ll have to finish the rest when he gets here.”

Gavin turned his head, staring at me with his brows drawn up. “I called him in the car, remember? He’ll be here soon.” He rested his injured forearm on his thigh and looked at the three other people in the waiting area—all statues watching a muted CNN with fake attention.

“Oh. Okay.” I pressed the pen to the paper, my hand trembling slightly.
I don’t remember the call
.

When I finished filling out Gavin’s basic information, I tapped the pen on the clipboard and stared outside for a while. Two EMTs chatted beside an ambulance out front, apparently taking a break on this uneventful night. I was extremely grateful Gavin’s arm was his only injury. It could have been so much worse. My thoughts rolled on as I dropped my gaze to the floor, wondering how Dad was going to react and admiring how kind Ben had been to Gavin despite Gavin wrecking his bike. Then I thought of Ryan and how quickly he’d disappeared. He was standing next to me when Gavin crashed. After that, he was gone. He obviously didn’t care enough to stick around.

I looked back to the door, locking eyes with the last person I’d expected, or wanted to see.
Mom.
Dropping the clipboard in the next seat, I jumped up and darted over to the sliding doors.

She shifted her weight back and forth as she stood outside, watching me stalk toward her. Her appearance was neater than last week. She wore a double-breasted wool coat with an ordinary pair of jeans and her chocolate hair was stacked in a clean knot above her head.

“What are you doing here?” I asked, keeping my voice as calm as possible as I stepped through the sliding doors. The EMTs were still talking behind the rear of the ambulance, in full view.

“How’s Gavin? Has he been seen yet?” she asked, looking through the doors behind me.

“How Gavin
is
stopped being your business the moment you chose a life of bumps and lines over bumps and bruises.” I walked farther away from the doors and shoved my hands into my jacket pockets, fidgeting with Ben’s keys and my wallet to expel some anger.

“I just wanted to make sure he was okay. That’s not asking too much, is it?” Her voice was calm, flashing me back to the times that same voice read gentle words at bedtime and soothed me when I’d had the flu.

“Yes, it is. You think can come back into our lives and everything you did is just going to wash away? Like water under the bridge? Well, the bridge is gone. You blew that bitch up when you walked out the front door.”

She pressed her lips together and shook her head. “I know what I did was wrong, Lila. I’m not going to pretend it wasn’t. I have a lot of regrets and if I could go back and change things I would, but—”

“You can’t,” I spat.

“But, I will do anything to change for the future. I’ve been clean for fifty-eight days,” she said, looking anywhere but at me. “I found a NA group close to town. I just got a job and a place out here, and—”