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A fucking concussion. My best friend was dead, my girlfriend was lying here—her dream of dancing gone—and all I had to show for it were some bruises and a damn concussion. Where was the fairness in that?
Beep.
Beep.
Beep.
I laced my fingers with hers on her uninjured wrist. I leaned over and brushed my lips against her knuckles, where the skin was torn and discolored with bruises.
“Come on, baby, I need you to wake up. I can’t do this without you. I already lost Tanner. I can’t lose you, too.” I rested my head on top of our hands, careful not to disturb the wires attached to the top of her hand. “I love you to the stars and back, Riles.”
I couldn’t let that be the last thing I said to her just moments before the accident.
“Coop?” I heard the softest angelic voice say. It was so soft that if the room hadn’t been so quiet, I might not have heard it.
My head perked up, and the most beautiful brown eyes I had ever seen met mine.
“Riley.” I blinked a few times to confirm that she’d actually said my name and it wasn’t just my mind playing tricks on me.Please don’t let this all be a dream.
“Cooper,” she said again.
I was out of my chair with such force it knocked backward. Mindful of all the wires and tubes, I sat partially on the bed. I pressed my lips to hers before gently placing my forehead against hers.
“What—what happened? Where am I?” Her voice was raspy, and I imagined her throat sore from the tube that was recently pulled out.
“Let me run and get the doctor and your parents.” I pushed to stand, but she stopped me.
Her soft grip on my hand stopped me from moving. Unshed tears filled her eyes as she took in her surroundings and noticed the cast on her wrist and brace on her leg.
As the tears spilled over, I swallowed her in my arms, slowly stroking her hair. She wrapped her arms around as tightly as she could without pulling the wires and IV free.
Everyone else could wait. Right now, I just needed to hold my girl and have her hold me back.
“I’m so sorry, baby,” I whispered in her hair over and over and pressed soft kisses to her temple. Her world was crumbling at the realization of her crushed dreams, and I was about to obliterate the rest of the pieces after I told her Tanner was gone.
Her shoulders trembled less, and I realized I was running out of time before the doctors came in and she found out from someone other than me.
“Riles.” I slightly turned her chin so she was now facing me. “I have something I need—” The tears fell down my own cheeks, and her eyes darkened. She knew something was up. I had to bite the emotion that threatened to pull me under. “The night of the championship, we were on Highway 15. Do you remember that?”
Her brows slightly furrowed before she hesitantly nodded.
“There was a—” Fuck, how did I do this? How did I face the reality that my best friend was gone?
Riley looked around the room. “Where’s Tanner? Was he in another room? Can I go see him? Hopefully, he doesn’t draw a penis on my cast like you guys did with Austin.”
My shoulders sank. Not even the mention of the memory of drawing dicks all over Tanner’s brother’s cast when we were younger could relieve the ache in my chest. I rested my head against the bed and closed my eyes, letting the tears take over.
I just needed to rip the Band-Aid off.
In one breath, I gave her the news. The gut-wrenching scream that came out of my girl broke me into a million pieces. She clung to me as she lost it.
We lay in the hospital bed, holding each other, mourning our losses.
“I love you so much,” she whimpered. Her voice was broken as she drifted off to sleep, exhausted from this pain—both physically and emotionally. Our worlds would never be the same.Wewould never be the same.
“I love you to the stars and back, Riley—always have, always will.”
I shifted to go back to my chair when she startled, clutching my shirt in her sleep.
