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“Well, we’ll check you out in the ambulance.”
“No – I’m seriously okay. I should go with the other guy, the one who was cut. Can I ride with him to the hospital?”
“That ambulance will have already left. Come on. You need to sit down. You might be going into shock. Come with me. It’s over now. It’s all over.”
My mom refused to let me out of the house for a week.
The day after the holdup, I’d had to sneak out as soon as she went to work to go and get Plan B. Thoughts of protection had gone out the window in the heat of the moment the night before.
When my mom picked me up from the police station, she’d cried and hugged me and nearly made herself ill with worry. I layin bed, physically fine. My mind was another story. Lily visited every day, and my brother had made it his mission to call as much as five times a day. It was all too much. I felt suffocated.
What I really wanted was to get out of the house and go and see Beckett. I had no idea how he was doing. I’d asked Asher, and his response had been short. I was scared to ask Asher for his number, in case he suspected what had happened between us. Asher saw into my head in that special way that only a twin could. I couldn’t risk it.
“Fine. He’s got the best doctors in the state working on him. Worry about yourself, Evie.”
“But I’m fine. I keep telling Mom that, but she doesn’t hear me.”
“She’s worried, you get that. I am, too. If I had any fucking money to spare, I’d fly home to see both you and Beckett.”
“Don’t on my account,” I forced out. I’d love to see my twin, but I didn’t want him using money he didn’t have yet to come and see me. Besides, the things Beckett and I had done in the dark, when we were both scared and our guards were down, weighed heavily on my mind. I was certain Asher would be able to tell as soon as he looked at me. All those years of being overprotected, and as soon as my brother’s back was turned, I jumped on his best friend. What would Asher think of me?
Maybe I was being mean to myself, but I couldn’t help it. It was my go-to move.
“I’m fine. Just call Beckett. The training camp is important, and then school starts.” I knew Asher didn’t need the reminder of all his obligations, but I suspected it would dispel his thoughts of flying across the country.
My brother was currently in an elite Colorado-based hockey camp and would go straight from there into the Denver college that had headhunted him.
Asher sighed, and I knew I’d convinced him. “A call doesn’t feel like enough,” he said.
I sat up in bed, my mind racing. “How about I go and see Beckett? I’ll let him know that you can’t get away, but you’re thinking of him. Then you call him every day to check in on him. Even if he doesn’t answer, call every day.”He’s so lonely. I didn’t say the last part. It wasn’t my secret to share. The things that had passed between me and Beckett in the dark had to stay there.
“Okay, sounds good. I’ll be home over winter break anyway.”
“I can’t wait.”
The hospital in Hade Harbor was one of the best in the state. I headed for the reception desk as soon as I got in and asked for Beckett Anderson’s room.
The staff member behind the desk typed into her computer for a minute before shaking her head at me. “I’m afraid I don’t have any information about a patient with that name.”
“You don’t? I’m sure he’s here.”
“I can’t help you, dear. Maybe call him yourself and check.” With that, the receptionist focused on the person behind me, making it evident that she was done answering my questions.
But I don’t have his number. My protest fluttered away, unspoken.
I stepped away and peered around the large, white lower floor. Beckett wasn’t here? Or was his location just confidential, given how high profile he was?
As I considered the options, a familiar blonde stepped out of the elevator.
Colette Anderson. I might have recognized her from her signature white dress and killer heels alone. She strode across the foyer, slipping on dark sunglasses and looking impossibly glamorous and terrifying. Fear of Colette was bred into me, considering she was my mom’s employer, and a prickly one at that. Still, she’d know where Beckett was.
I found myself approaching her before I could lose my nerve. “Mrs. Anderson?”
Colette paused and glanced at me. “Yes?”
“Um – I was just here to visit Beckett?—”
“Don’t I know you?” Colette interrupted. “Don’t you work for me?”
