Page 190 of Fame & Chaos

People crowd around the gurney, blocking my view, but every instinct in my body suddenly starts screaming.

Kenzi steps closer to assess him, and the second she sees his face, her eyes widen in horror, then she looks straight at me.

My heart stops.

Everything suddenly clicks into place.

“No…” I whisper.

My feet move before my brain catches up. I shove forward through the crowd just as the paramedics step aside.

And there he is.

Caleb.

Broken, bloody, and barely conscious.

A strangled sound catches in my throat as my eyes rake frantically over him in automatic assessment mode. Laceration to his forehead. Cuts and abrasions everywhere. Bruising blooming violently beneath a tear in his shirt near his ribs. His jeans are shredded on the left leg. His face is twisted in pain beneath the oxygen mask while he writhes weakly on the gurney.

My hand flies to my mouth. “Oh my God,” I whisper shakily.

“Indi, get out of here,” Kenzi says sharply while examining his side.

The second she presses near his ribs, Caleb lets out a horrifying groan of pain, and I start shaking violently.

“Kenzi…” Tears blur my vision instantly while doctors and nurses rush around him, attaching monitors and shouting observations.

Kenzi looks up at me, her face softening. “I know, hun. I’ve got him. Just step back for me, okay?”

I nod.

But my feet refuse to move.

I’m frozen, watching the man I love lying there broken in front of me.

“We need to prep him for emergency surgery,” the doctor beside Kenzi says urgently. “Possible internal bleeding.”

Oh God.

Panic explodes through me, and before anyone can stop me, I shove past Rachel and rush to Caleb’s side. “C-Caleb!” My voice cracks as I grab his face gently between my shaking hands. “Caleb, can you h-hear me?”

“Indi, what are you doing?” Rachel asks in shock.

“Let her go,” Kenzi says quietly.

Caleb’s eyes remain squeezed shut while pain tears through him in waves.

“Caleb, please,” I sob, brushing my fingers over his cheek. “Please come back to me. I promise we can talk. We can talk as long as you want, okay? Just please make it through this.”

“Indi, we have to move,” Kenzi says urgently.

I nod frantically, and then, before they wheel him away, I do something completely reckless. I pull off his oxygen mask and lean down, pressing my trembling lips softly against his.

There’s no response.

But if he dies on that operating table and I never kiss him again, I’ll never survive it.

Pulling back, I see a single tear slip down the side of his face.