“Are you going to tell us what happened?” Ethan asks, pulling out his phone and typing a quick message before his eyes rise to mine.
I let out a heavy sigh as Char looks over my temple and I explain what happened.
“He was just so angry. I’ve never seen him like that. He just switched.”
Ethan is pacing, rubbing his jaw. “Fuck, Vi, I’m so sorry. You know he would never hurt you on purpose, right?”
Char turns to look at Ethan, and I can see how tense she is. “But he did hurt her, Ethan.”
He nods and looks down at the floor, and I grab hold of her wrist for her to face me again.
“No, Char, I fell.” I hold up my palm. “And yes, I know how cliché that sounds, but it was an accident. I grabbed his shoulder; it was a reaction, not a conscious action.”
Ethan looks up, and I swear his eyes glass over.
“This is going to destroy him. You know that, right?”
I nod, and I can’t help the tears that break free.
“What are you not telling me?” Char asks softly, looking between the two of us.
“Does she need to go to hospital?” Ethan asks, nodding his head towards me.
“Yeah, she does.”
I want to argue, refuse to go, but the way Char is looking at me with so much concern, her free hand moving to her stomach, I don’t want to stress her out.
“Let's go,” he says.
“Okay, and you’ll fill me in on what I’m missing?”
Ethan nods, and Char holds onto my arm as I climb off the stool.
In the car, Char holds my hand as Ethan pulls away.
“Spill,” she says.
Ethan looks at me in the rear-view mirror and gives a slight nod.
“When Nathan was fourteen, his biological sperm donor beat him so badly he ended up in hospital.” The thought of younger Nathan being subjected to that makes my chest hurt.
She brings her free hand to her mouth, her eyes going wide.
“We thought our uncle was great,” Ethan continues. “If anything, Henry and I envied him. His dad was present, while ours was absent. Not that my mum wasn’t amazing, but still.” His eyes keep flicking from the road to the rear-view mirror. “Anyway, behind closed doors, he was an arsehole, to put it mildly. Cheated on our aunt, used to get abusive with her and my cousins.” His fists grip the steering wheel enough to make his knuckles white.
“Poor Nathan.” Her hold on my hand tightens, and I close my eyes, the pounding in my head relentless.
“Char, do you have any painkillers?”
“You need to wait and see what triage says first, okay?”
* * *
“I can’t believe they shaved my head,” I say, looking in the mirror at the stitches.
Charlotte comes over and stares back at my reflection. “It’s only a tiny section. It could have been worse. You’re staying at ours tonight,” she says, washing her hands.
I go to shake my head but stop when the throbbing hits.
