AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He drops down beside me and grabs my face in his hands. Unadulterated fear fills his eyes as he tries to get my attention.
“Tessa? Tessa! Answer me!”
He slaps my cheeks lightly but I can barely feel it. Everything is going numb—tingling. Flashes of everyone I love flicker in the distance. Lennon, Colby, Asher, Delaney. They won’t have to worry about me anymore. They’ll be able to live their lives, free of the burden of me. I’ll watch over them and keep them safe. They’ll be okay.
“Shit! Zayn!”
I start to slip into the darkness. I’m going to be free.
27
ASHER
I slam the car into drive and peel out of the parking garage. The street lights and lack of traffic remind me how early it is, but I don’t care. I grab my phone and press the number I need to call, listening to the sound of ringing fill the car.
“Hello?” Blaire answers tiredly, though I’d expect nothing less at damn near four in the morning.
“I need you to cancel that interview for this morning. I’m not going to make it.”
She sighs. “Uh, do I even want to ask why?”
“Tessa is in the hospital,” I tell her. “Some kind of overdose. I don’t know any more than that.”
I pull up on the emergency brake and quickly spin the wheel, drifting around the turn. No part of me cares that the light is red, or that I cut off what was probably the only other car on the road. All I know is I need to get there, and now.
“Asher,” Blaire says hesitantly. “Where are you?”
A dry laugh leaves my mouth. “That’s a stupid fucking question. Where you do you think I am?”
She groans. “If you go to that hospital, you’re risking everything.”
“No!” I roar. “My everything is in that hospital! Don’t you get it? I’m not risking it by going. I’m risking it by staying away.”
My tone must tell her that no part of this is up for debate because she goes completely silent for a moment. I’m almost pulling up to North Haven Medical Center when she speaks.
“Okay. Just try to stay out of sight. If the press finds out you’re there, they’ll have a field day.”
“Yep. Thanks.”
I press end without hearing anything else she has to say. If I stayed on the phone with her, I’d risk way too much time and energy that should be spent on Tessa. Doesn’t she realize that my entire world is crashing down around me? I don’t care if the media finds out everything at this point. All that matters is her.
I whip my car into a parking space and jump out, running in through the front doors. The security guard is sitting with the receptionist, and they both eye me suspiciously. I pull my license out and hand it to them so they can scan me in.
“I’m here to see Tessa Callahan. She was brought in by ambulance.”
The receptionist hits a few buttons on the computer and the sympathy that flashes across her face scares the shit out of me. She fills out the pass and hands it to me.
“She’s in the ICU, dear. Do you know where to go?”
I instantly feel like I’m going to throw up. My mouth seem
s to forget how to form words, so I simply shake my head. She tells me to get in the elevator, take it to the third floor, make a left and then a right at the end of the hall, and they will buzz me in. I’m not sure how, but I manage to absorb the words while taking back my license.
The walls of this place are as bleak as I feel. Pictures of happy and satisfied patients do nothing to stop my mind from thinking the absolute worst. If you ask me, they’re a little insensitive, for all the people who have to leave this place without their loved ones. Having to walk through a hallway of smiling faces must feel like a punch in the gut.
As I reach the doors to the ICU, I hit the button and hold up my visitors pass. The lock clicks and they open automatically. I walk through and up to the front desk.
“Tessa Callahan?” I ask.
