Page 120 of Gravity

“You left. You left the people you love when they needed you the most. You took the coward’s way out and ran as far away as you possibly could. So, don’t give me that shit about not being a man when you’re the one that hasn’t got the balls.”

Like invisible fire has just come out of his nose, his nostrils flare and he slams his glass down on the countertop of the bar, turning to me with a look of pure hatred and poison in his eyes. I’ve hit that nerve, the one I’ve been poking ever since I sat in the booth, and to be honest, I couldn’t give a fuck.

“Don’t you dare spout shit to me you know nothing about,” he barks, coming up close to my face and pointing his finger in my chest. “You. Know. Nothing.”

“I know you left them when they needed you. I know you chose to flee instead of standing up in your role of being son to a sick man who wanted nothing more than his family to be together. I know you left your baby sister—who you always promised to protect—to look after him and your mother while you drank the nights away. Your dad died, Asher, and you never came home. So, don’t you stand there and preach to me about me not being a man, when I was the one who stood by your family’s side when they lowered your father into the fucking ground.”

My back hits the wall before I can do anything. Chairs and stools scatter around us as voices of shock and horror fly around the bar. From the corner of my eye, I see Ryan jump over the bar counter and head over to us, but my eyes remain on Asher. Bloodshot and seething, his burn into me like I’m even worse than an enemy. All traces of my friend have now gone, and an alcohol-fueled male stands before me in a whirlwind of fury, pressing his fists into my throat and cutting off my breathing. My jaw is tight, and tense and my hands are wrapped around his wrists as I try to ease them off me to get air. The low unearthly rumble from his chest is one I’ve never heard before as he starts to foam at the mouth. His poisonous breath churns my stomach.

“I will finish you,” he growls.

“Do it,” I grunt, the blood now rushing to my head. My heart races double-time to pump what little oxygen I can take in around my body. “You won’t just finish me but your family, too. Who will respect you then?”

Like those words mean more to him than anything, a flicker of something casts over his eyes. The pressure in my throat is eased when I’m roughly released, not before the blow of his fist forces into my stomach.

“Fuck,” I hiss, leaning over to catch my breath as the throbbing of the previous hit to my ribs vibrates against my chest. Just as Ryan grips my shoulder to ask if I’m okay, I look around to find Asher, waiting for the impact of another hit. But he’s gone. Scanning my eyes around the bar, I get nothing, so I turn my attention to the window. When I see him staggering toward his car, my stomach drops.

“Fuck, no. Asher!”

My feet pound the ground as I head toward him, yelling at him to stop as the car reverses and turns. The window is down, and I lunge in, trying to grab his keys, running alongside the car to try and make him stop.

“Get the fuck off me.”

“Asher, you’re too drunk.”

“Get. Off.” The car swerves and his fist makes contact with my shoulder as I fight with him.

“Stop the damn car!”

“Fuck off!”

My head flies back from the impact of his fist, and I lose my grip on the car, plummeting to the ground hard. The burn in my shoulder rips through me as he speeds off.

“NO. NO. NO!” Ryan’s roar catches my attention, and I look up to where the car just headed.

Everything happens so fast.

Tires screech to a sharp halt, and the air around me goes deathly silent. Shopping bags and clothes fly through the air, and my eyes widen when I see Makenna standing frozen in place, right before a bloodcurdling scream leaves her lungs and my blood runs cold when I register the body on the ground.

Nora.

Chapter Thirty-Three

Grayson

I’ve not taken my eyes off her from the moment I was allowed in the room. The time I couldn’t be with her was the worst kind of torture I’ve ever experienced. Waiting to find out if she was okay, praying that I didn’t lose her and asking those from above to give me the hope I needed when I felt so lost.

The sound of the car tires, the deathly scream of Makenna, and the silence that followed rings in my ears like white noise. The flashes of seeing her body on the ground and everything that played out after still blinds me. My heart had raced so hard with pure panic that I couldn’t breathe. Seeing her laid so still, so broken, was something I never want to experience ever again in my lifetime. It had been worse than a nightmare, making me sick to the stomach. At that moment, I hadn’t known what to do first: care for my love, comfort a distraught Makenna, or beat the living hell out of Asher. People had raced to help, others were screaming to ring 9-1-1, and my world did a one-eighty as I hovered over her broken body while her brother just sat behind the wheel in complete shock.

Along with several lacerations and bruising to her face and arm, the impact of the hit was to her lower body and thankfully not her head. Her spleen was damaged and has had to be removed, her leg is badly broken, her shoulder is fractured, and they are keeping a close eye on her for any internal bleeding. The time she was in the surgery had been a living hell. Fiona had done nothing but cry, Makenna held onto her dad like her own life depended on it, and I paced the hospital floor as I found it hard to breathe. I’ve been in this place too many fucking times in the past couple years, and each time, I’ve never left with the outcome I wanted.

“How is she doing?” Fiona asks, coming to stand on the opposite side of Nora’s bed after entering the room.

“No change,” I whisper, stroking Nora’s hand.

“I’ve just spoken to the Doctor. They said she will wake once the anesthesia wears off, but they are happy with her progress and recovery.”

“Still doesn’t make it right that she’s been put here, though,” I growl, hating the way my words come out. None of this is due to Fiona, so I’ve no right to snap at her, but the longer I look at Nora, the more my mind wanders to what could have been a very different outcome today.