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Except that Ian wasn’t the only person I’d told.
“Oh, my God. Liss,” I gasped, remembering what Coach Jefferson had said when I first came to. “They said something about Eric taking care of Liss.”
“She’s okay,” he said quickly. “You don’t remember telling Kyra before you passed out?”
I shook my head. “No. Honestly, after Max cut me, it’s all kind of a blur.”
He gave me a sad smile. “Well, you told her about what they said, and she sent officers to check on Melissa. Eric worked her over pretty good, and they arrested him for assault, but she’ll be fine. She’s actually out in the waiting room. So’s Braden, and my dad and Maya and Iz and Hill.”
“Thank God,” I sighed in relief. “But I’m still so tired.”
“It’s probably the anesthesia and painkillers. They said you’d still be drowsy when you woke up.”
“If it’s painkillers, they’re not doing a whole lot. My head hurts and my arm feels like it’s on fire.”
“Yeah, your doctor said you’d have some pain for a while. They had to call in a hand surgeon to fix some damage to the tendons and nerves in your wrist. You’ll be in a sling for a while, and you won’t be able to use it much.”
Well, that explained why it hurt so much. But given how deep that cut had been and how much blood I’d lost, I knew I was lucky to even be alive.
“I love you, Ian,” I murmured. “So much. I was so scared I’d never get to say that to you again.”
“I love you too, baby,” he sighed, kissing my hand again. “I think I’ve aged ten years in the past six hours.”
“Kiss me.”
He gave me a weak smile as he stood up and brushed his lips over mine in a feather-light kiss. But it wasn’t nearly enough. I needed so much more than that.
“I’m sedated, not dead, Ian,” I pouted. “Kiss me.”
That earned me a weak snort as his lips found mine again, and this time, his tongue lightly traced the curve of my bottom lip. I happily opened for him, letting my tongue slip out and stroke against his. And for just a moment in time, we were the only two people in the whole world, and the only thing that mattered was that we were together again.
“Oh, my God, you two,” came Braden’s voice. “You’re in the damn hospital, and you’restillmaking out?”
Ian chuckled as he backed up and turned to Braden. “Ever hear of knocking, man?”
“The door was open,” he protested, then came to stand next to me. “Ky, do me a solid andneverscare me like that again, okay?”
I smiled weakly. “I’ll try not to.”
“Good,” Melissa said as she walked into the room. “Because I about had a heart attack.”
Braden backed up so she could come closer, and I let out a horrified gasp when I saw her. One of her eyes was swollen half-shut, she had a huge cut on her upper lip and butterfly bandages over a couple of other cuts on her head, and her right arm was in a sling and a splint.
“Oh, my God, Liss,” I whispered as she bent down to give me a hug.
She smiled, but then winced as she stood back up. “I’ll be okay, Ky. Thanks to you. The police knew to come looking for me because of you.”
A knock sounded on the doorframe of my room, and then Gary, Maya, Izzie, and Hillary peeked their heads in.
“You have no idea how good it is to see you awake, Kyler,” Gary said. “You up for some more company?”
“Of course,” I said with a weak smile.
“How are you feeling?” he asked.
“Tired. Hurting. I just want to go home.”
“Doctor said you should be able to come home tonight,” he told me. “I thought you’d want to know what the police found. They searched Walter Jefferson’s home and found videos of over fifty assaults of teenage girls on his computer. It looks like he’s been conspiring with his students to do this for years.”
