Page 88 of Born to Scar

Familiar arms wrap around me as Lain pulls back, and I sink into him, gripping his shirt. His comforting, familiar smell envelops me.

“Jay, I’m losing it,” I croak. He nods in the crook of my neck. He pulls away, but I jerk him back in. I can’t let go yet.

“Cam, I talked to the psychiatrist.” His voice muffled in my neck. That gets my attention. “She doesn’t want us here.” He blinks tears down his cheeks and looks at everyone standing around us. “Any of us.”

“Fuck that,” I spit.

“They aren’t going to let us back in her room.”

Mik shoves his way up to us. “She doesn’t push me away.”

“Mik, she doesn’t want anyone here. They won’t let you in. If you try to force yourself in, they’ll escort you out, and you won’t be allowed back in there at all, on the chance she changes her mind.”

“I’m not fucking leaving,” Mik grits out. Everyone nods in agreement.

“We’ll wait for her,” Lainy says with a shrug. “She’s going to need a ride anyway when she’s released. Do you know when they plan on releasing her?”

Jay shakes his head. “And they won’t give me any more information.”

“Then we wait, and we watch,” Bik whispers with nods from Lain and Ray.

“He’s awake,” Jay reveals. My head jerks to him in shock, and he nods.

“Damn, I was hoping I killed the motherfucker,” I huff. Ken’s eyebrow arches.

“He fucking leveled him, knocked him out cold. The asshole never saw it coming.”

I’ll never get that image of him out of my head. We’ll find out if he got to her. Nothing else can explain why he’d be in his boxers, unless we got there before he was able to do more than slice her apart.

In the waiting room, no more than two people leave at a time, and it’s never me or Jay. The nurses are being incredible, given the circumstances. We’ve been sitting out here for hours, and I hate this. I hate not knowing what’s happening to her. I hate being so close, but so far away. And I fucking hate that she doesn’t want to see us.

Micky is losing his mind but hasn’t said another word. I don’t think Indy has ever denied him access to her like this.

With my head in my hands, I see a pair of white sneakers appear in front of me. I lift my head, and my gaze meets a nurse’s before she looks around the room.

“I’m not supposed to tell you this, but she’s being moved to the Behavioral and Mental Health ward on the fourth floor. There’s a waiting room available if you’re still inclined to wait. She is exhibiting signs of severe trauma and duress, so we’re going to watch her. She will be here for another forty-eight hours, at best.” She looks around again and sighs. “I’m friends with the head nurse on that floor. She knows you will be up there shortly. She’ll give you what information she can.” With a nod, she walks away.

“Fuck,” Jay whispers, running his fingers through his hair. “Guys, she’s going to be here a while. I don’t think it’s practical for everyone to stay.” It’s like he just sucked the air out of the room. Everyone looks hurt. “I don’t mean that you have to leave. I’m just saying if you need to, we get it.”

It’s evident no one’s going anywhere as we all make our way to the stairs, climbing the four flights, and following the signs to the Behavioral unit. There aren’t any people in this waiting room. We’re completely alone, and no one is talking. I lean my head back against the wall, closing my eyes.

When my eyes open again, it’s dark. Everyone is lying on each other, asleep. I stretch out and stand to go find a drink machine and the restroom. I search around the floor in a daze, finally finding a restroom. I feel like a zombie. Aimlessly walking the fourth-floor halls, I continue my search for a drink machine.

I turn a corner, and Indy’s standing there, down the hall. Her silver hair is knotted, and she’s in a hospital gown. But I’d know her anywhere, anyway. I don’t say a word, only stare. She’s back—her stare isn’t hollow anymore. She’s interacting with the person who is escorting her, not smiling but talking. It’s something.

This is the hardest thing I’ve ever done. My entire soul is begging me to go to her, screaming at me to break the rules, to let her know we’re here and waiting. Waiting. I’ll wait forever for her. My heart stutters as she walks away from me. They turn into a room, and the door clicks shut. The hardest part is that she never saw me.

I sigh and turn, forgetting about my drink mission. I find the waiting room and sit back down, staring at the ceiling. Jay’s hand finds mine, intertwining our fingers. A moment of clarity hits me. My head’s still tilted back, but my eyes dart down to Jay’s. “She isn’t mad at us.”

His brows furrow with his frown. “I think she’s fucking furious, actually, Cam. We all told her that we wouldn’t allow this to happen, and we all watched willingly. We let her go.”

I shake my head. “Jay, she doesn’t blame us. She’s ashamed, embarrassed.” He shifts to bore his gaze into my soul. “Remember when he first came around, the night at the bridge, when she asked why we kept coming back? She said she would never be good, never enough, never clean.”

His eyes widen, jaw clenching. “…He did it,” he guesses. I nod once. We don’t need a test to tell us what he’s done. We only need those results for conviction. He jumps from the chair, rushing the desk. “I want to see her!” he screams into the window.

I sigh, pulling him back. “That isn’t going to work here, Jay.”

He struggles against me. “Please, she doesn’t need to go through this alone!” he screams again, his voice cracking with the hurt we all feel. “Please,” he pleads.