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The guy pulled his girlfriend—or tried to. But he was too late. The girlfriend was already in Avery’s face, pushing her. Avery wobbled at first on her heels, her loose top catching in the wind.
When Avery tried to step back, the short wall at her back tripped her up.
Seconds later, she was tipping over it, head over heels.
The boy finally got ahold of Rachel, but it was too late. Avery had fallen.
When I got to the ledge and hopped over it, it was to find her laying haphazardly halfway down, staring straight up at the sky, head bent awkwardly.
The boy was at my side just as I was making it to my knees next to Avery.
“Don’t touch her!” I ordered the kid who was trying to apologize.
Seeing her neck bent so awkwardly had my breath stalling in my lungs.
She blinked up at me. Then opened her mouth, only for a sob to escape.
“I think God hates me.”
I bent down to look at her, my mouth only inches from her and did what I could.
“God doesn’t hate you,” I told her. “Does your neck hurt?”
She closed her eyes, and I saw a tear slip out from beneath her eyes. “I can’t feel my legs.”
***
It was almost four hours later that I was allowed to see her.
I walked into the room and my heart literally skipped a beat at the sight of her.
She was lying stiffly in the bed, her hands down by her sides, her eyes open, staring at the ceiling.
Around her head was a metal-like contraption.
“It’s called a halo,” the nurse, one of my good friends, Sierra, said. “It’s traction to allow her neck and spine to heal. It keeps them both moving as one. She had some trauma to her neck and spine where they meet when she fell. When her head hit the bottom, it caused the two to scrunch together when they most definitely shouldn’t. We want her to try to get up and walk in about an hour. Once the last bit of anesthesia wears off in her body.”
I swallowed hard and nodded once, circling around the bed and moving until I could stare down into Avery’s eyes.
“I have the worst luck,” she admitted. “First my mom dies. Then my dad. I get bullied at school for losing my parents. Have to get a restraining order against said girl. I lose my house and am forced to move into a duplex. Then, after finding out I could possibly have a baby brother or sister, and my parents had an open relationship, my bully and her boyfriend show up and I fall down a hill, hit my head, and nearly break my neck. Now I’m stuck in this contraption for six weeks… and I’m a side sleeper, Derek. A side sleeper. How the hell am I supposed to get any sleep, Derek?” She paused. “What are you doing here? I thought you had to work tonight.”
I shook my head. “I told them that I wasn’t going to come in when you got hurt.”
Honestly, it should’ve never gotten to the point where she not expected me to be here for her. But I’d been being bullheaded and sure of myself. Sure that staying away from her was the completely right thing to do.
But after seeing her nearly die right in front of me? Yeah, I wouldn’t be denying the obvious anymore. Avery Flynn was mine.
“Are you thirsty?” I asked.
She pointed at the cup.
“I can’t even reach it,” she said. “It’s too far away.”
It was at that.
I picked it up and moved the straw until it was where she needed it, then brought the straw to her face.
My thumb where I was holding the straw in place brushed against her lips, and Avery’s eyes widened. But she drank anyway.
Once she was done drinking—heavily, I might add—I placed the empty cup back onto the rolling tray and then moved until my hands were planted on either side of her head.
Leaning down, muscles bulging, I said, “Watching you nearly die today? That made my heart stop.”
Avery blinked, her eyes wide and scared.
I could see her pulse thumping away in her neck. Beating so rapidly that I knew if the monitors were being read at this point, they would be coming in soon to check and make sure that everything was okay with her.
“I’m done,” I rasped. “I’m not doing it anymore.”
Her eyes instantly shone with unshed tears.
But I didn’t stop long enough to let them fall over for what she was overthinking in her head.
“I’m done with trying to stay away from you,” I continued. “I’m done pretending that you’re too young. Hell, if we’re going by maturity levels, you’ve got years on me.” I paused when her eyes started to fill for an altogether different reason. “Avery Flynn, what I’m trying to tell you is that I’m not going to stay away from you any longer. You’re mine. I don’t care what kind of shit you catch at school for dating a mature man. I don’t care if I get teased about cradle robbing. I don’t care if fifty adult male officers will kick my ass the moment they find out that we’re together. I don’t care. Not about anything but you. Not anymore.”
