AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Abby? What the fuck did she do?” I growled as I got to my feet and pulled my blazer from the back of my chair.
“She didn’t touch Blake, but she was spewing some real venom. I ended up having to restrain her,” Luca explained. I cursed loudly as I once again questioned myself on why on earth I had ever involved myself with that poisonous harpy.
“Where’s Blake now?” I asked as I grabbed my bag and stormed from the classroom. Thank Christ I had brought my damned car that morning, despite my dad’s protests.
“She locked herself in her bathroom. I tried to check on her, but she just told me she was taking a bath. That was over an hour ago and she hasn’t stopped crying since. I can hear her through the door and I….well, I’m worried. I can pick the lock, but if I go in there, it could make things a lot worse,” Luca explained.
“Yeah, don’t do that, but be ready to let me in when I get there. I’m in my car and I’ll be there in a few minutes,” I told him, then I hung up and threw my cell into the passenger seat of my SUV, thankful that I had taken the position at a school so close to our home.
I was rebuking myself for leaving her alone that morning, the whole drive home. I had known she wasn’t ready to be completely alone, but I had wanted to respect her wishes when she asked us all to at least let her try. I was fucking regretting it as I sped all of the way home, worried sick about her.
I completely understood the need she seemed to have to not become reliant on all of us, and to stay strong on her own. She had been alone for the entire twenty-five years of her life so far– never having anyone she could turn to or rely on, and as a result she had this need to be fiercely independent. From everything I knew about her before she was shot, I knew she had done amazingly well at taking care of herself too – finding herself a place to live, steady work, and a safe little life. She managed to build herself some peace even after the chaos her upbringing had been. So I got that she just wanted that back – wanted to feel that strength she had survived for so long with – come back after everything she had been through. We all got it and we were trying hard to respect her wishes when she tried to push us back and stand alone, even though we hated it.
But maybe we needed to not step back quite so far. I knew Blake was strong. She had to be, to survive all that she had and come out of the other end, but maybe what she really needed from me – from all of us – was for us to show her that it was okay to turn to others sometimes. We needed to prove to her that yes, she could still be strong and stand alone when she needed to, but also, that we could be trusted to be there for her when it became too much. That she could lean on us. That we would never, ever let her fall.
By the time I sped through the gates, barely giving them the time they needed to roll open, I was imagining every worst case scenario I could find when I got to Blake.
“Thank fuck! She’s still crying, but it’s gotten a lot quieter in the last few minutes. She’s really worrying me. I was about to open the damned door regardless,” Luca explained as soon as I walked through the door. I threw my bag on the floor and hobbled after him as fast as my boot clad leg would allow.
As soon as I got to the closed and locked door of Blake’s en suite bathroom, I pressed my ear to it, listening hard, but all I could hear was the trickling of running water, and that terrified me. Luca said she was crying. Why couldn’t I hear her now?
“Blake?” I called through the door. I knocked and tried calling for her again, but there was nothing in reply.
“She answered me the first time, then when I came back a while later and called for her, there was nothing. Just crying,” Luca explained.
“Open it,” I told him, nodding to the screwdriver he was holding in his hand. I was glad he was there, since I’d have no idea how to get the lock open and likely would have had to smash through the door to get in without him.
In a matter of moments Luca had unscrewed the knob and pulled it completely away, nodding to me as he backed up to allow me near the door.
“Blake? I’m coming in now, so scream quick if you’re not decent,” I warned. I gave her a second, just in case she really was just in the tub, but when no response came, I peered around the door.
What I saw, both broke my heart and fucking terrified me. Blake was laid in the bathtub, fully clothed still , but submerged in the water that was still being, very slowly, pumped in. It was overflowing out and over the edge, but Blake hadn’t noticed. She was laid in the water, only her face above it, her eyes blank and staring blindly at the ceiling. Her body was practically convulsing with shivers and her lips looked blue. Her skin was so pale and her body so still, that if she weren’t shivering as violently as she was, I’d have thought I was too late and she was fucking gone.
“Blake!” I yelled as I threw the door open and ran towards her, slipping on the wet tiled floor and only just catching myself before I went down.
I stumbled to the tub and shut off the faucet, then reached in and grabbed Blake, terrified she would slip under the deep water. She was so small that she could have easily been drowned in the huge tub. I winced as my arms dove deeply into the ice cold water. It was freezing and I realized Blake had only set the cold faucet running. No wonder she was so damned cold!
“Fuck! Luca, go to the closet in the hall and get me towels, as many as you can!” I ordered as I lifted Blake up and pressed her against my body tightly. She was ice cold to the touch and shaking so hard it terrified me. She let out the tiniest squeak, sounding as though she was in pain and I cradled her even closer as I lowered my face down, close to hers.
“I’m here, short stack. I’ve got you. Everything is going to be okay. I’ve got you now,” I tried to soothe her.
“Trent?” Luca appeared in the doorway, his arms filled with a stack of towels.
“Her lips are fucking blue!” I yelled. “What do I do?”
“She’s shivering, which is good. Means her body is still trying to warm itself. We need to speed the process up before hypothermia sets in,” he explained. “Bring her through to the bed.”
I hurried after him with Blake in my arms, then laid her out on the towels Luca had hurriedly covered an area of her bed with.
“Help me get her wet clothes off,” I said as I set to work pulling off the long t-shirt she wore. Luca pulled off her socks, then her soaked leggings. Once she was down to her underwear and a camisole, I rolled her to her side and Luca pulled out the wet towels from beneath her, then we wrapped her tightly in her comforter.
Throughout all of it, Blake didn’t move or make a sound. She just lay stiff and silent, the odd tear trickling down her cheek.
“What the fuck happened?” I growled as I settled her against her pillows.
“Later. Right now you need to lie with her, see if you can bring her back. If not, we may need to get her to the ER and have her checked out by a doctor. She shouldn’t be unresponsive like this,” Luca explained.
“You think it’s to do with her injury? Should I just get her to the ER right away?” I panicked.
