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Then waking up to a nightmare that I still couldn’t wrap my head around.
Another woman in my bed, even though I’d never considered touching anyone else after Harper had come into my life. Harper finding us there. Leaving with Brandon so she could escape what was right in front of her.
And then leavingme.
After waiting for her for so long—after watching her with my best friend—I finally had her. I finally got to hold her and love her. And Ilosther.
Harper, I’m sorry.
I’m so fucking sorry.
I was so lost in the memories playing on a loop, fueling my need to fix what I’d unintentionally ruined, that I couldn’t focus on what the people in the room were saying to each other.
I was so weighed down by my grief and my need to see Harper that when lips pressed to my forehead and that same hand slipped into mine again, my movements were delayed when I tried pulling away.
“Need—” I rasped, my head slanting slightly and sending another shock of pain. “Need to see her. Harper.”
The man hummed in understanding. “Is Harper your girlfriend?” When a weak grunt left me, he said, “She’s notifying your family that you’re awake and giving us time to run some tests. I’ve dimmed the lights so they won’t be too hard on your eyes when you open them, but I need you to try to open them. Until then, can you tell me your full name?”
“Chase.” I stumbled over my name and tried to swallow. But my throat felt raw. Like I’d scrubbed it with steel wool. “Chase Austin Grayson,” I finally managed.
“Good,” the man said. “Do you know what day your accident was?”
“Saturday,” I said confidently. “I—fuck,” I rasped as my dry, scratchy eyelids finally opened. “Graduation...I graduate tomorrow.”
My bleary gaze narrowed on the doctor beside me in time to see him glance at me before writing something down.
“Let’s check those eyes now that they’re open,” he said instead of responding and pulled out a pen that ended up being a flashlight.
I tried looking around the room once he was done with his tests, but only the two of us were in there. “Did I miss graduation?”
“Graduate from where, Mr. Grayson?”
Something about the way he phrased the question had my stomach twisting and my heart beating a little harder. But each beat had that physical pain pulsing and growing.
I ground my jaw against it and asked, “Where’s Harper?” instead.
“Harper’s your girlfriend...correct?” he asked curiously, then lowered his clipboard to study me before repeating his earlier words. “She just left to notify your family and give us time for these tests.”
My eyebrows drew close as I tried to remember the girl’s voice. But it had been completely unfamiliar.
“San Diego State,” I finally answered, voice somehow hoarser than before. “That’s where I’m graduating from.”
Affirmation sounded in his chest as he wrote. “Congratulations, Mr. Grayson.” But when he focused on me, his careful expression had that twisting in my stomach coming to an all-time high. “Can you tell me when your birthday is?”
And that’s how it went. On and on.
Asking mundane things and repeating them as two other nurses came and went until I felt like I was going to lose my damn mind.
“Do you know—”
“When can I go?” I rasped over the doctor, then hurried to apologize. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry, but I can’t be here. I need...”
I needed to see Harper. I needed to fix things with her.
“Mr. Grayson, you were incredibly lucky,” he began with a heavy sigh. “The accident you were involved in...most people wouldn’t make it out alive. But you’re here, you have full use of your body, and you didn’t have any internal bleeding.”
He was giving good news. I understood that.
