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Without thinking, without care for anyone else, I lunge at the man, grabbing his shoulders to twist his body away.
“Get off of me!” He blindly swings with his right hand, cracking me in the jaw. I groan and drag him back and away from Scarlet’s small frame, but as I go to shove him further, forcing him back a step with my hand just below his throat, he grabs my T-shirt, then my waist.
A flash of pain radiates throughout my ribs, and I stagger. We crash into something at his back, taking it to the ground with us as we fall.
Crushing my leg in the process.
“Lance,” Scarlet shouts, and it’s all I can hear past the searing pain in my lower leg.
“Fuck.” Stars. I see fucking stars.
I hear the curtain that’s caught snag under the weight of whatever is on top of me, and then it tears from the railing, settling over me.
A commotion seems to happen then, people rushing the room, the guy beside me… my nostrils flare, and I turn, twisting my leg awkwardly but not caring. I grip his face, bringing it closer to mine and looking him dead in the eye. “Do not try me,” I whisper, deathly quiet. “You think you can touch her? You think you can fucking touch her?”
“Get it off of them!”
I grip his face harder, keeping my voice hushed. “Do not try me. Not when it comes to her.”
I feel the weight being lifted from my body, and then the curtain is dragged away, letting those glaring hospital lights blind me.
Scarlet kneels at my side, her hand resting above my knee. “He has a compound fracture in his lower leg. We need a bed, Jenny, can you please get us a bed?” she mutters to someone.
I finally let my mind focus on it—the pain, and it sucks the air right out of my lungs.
I feel the colour drain from my face.
“Get me a bowl,” Scarlet says in a panic, and then she has the cardboard bowl on the ground beside me. I turn my head just in time to be sick into it.
“Fuck,” I rasp, shifting my upper body as my face screws up. My vision blurs, the pain blinding. “Scar,” I grit out, feeling myself go lightheaded from the searing burn in my leg.
“I know.” She places a mask over my nose and mouth, her eyes glassy as everyone seems to rush around behind her. “Breathe.”
I feel someone insert something into my hand, the tip of a needle followed by a heaviness that seems to chase the pain away. I look up at Scarlet, my vision still distorted as I take her in.
She’s safe. She’s safe. She’s… I track the purpling marks on her throat, her torn tunic, and the cut on her jaw.The motherfucker. I force my hand up, reaching for the bruised skin. Everything fades at the feel of her beneath my fingertips. Everything. “Scarlet,” I try.
She shakes her head but doesn’t remove my hand, her gaze darting to my leg again. “Lance, what have you done?”
Scarlet
“They’ve pinned it,” I say on autopilot, staring at my brother’s chest, completely lost. “He’s looking at three to six months recovery and will need someone to stay with him while he heals. They said he’s awake and asking for me.”
“Scar.”
“You can go in and see him now. He won’t want to be alone.”
“Come here,” Mason mutters, pulling me in for a hug. I cave to the warmth and safety of his arms, sinking into him. “I’m sorry, Scar.”
“It was awful, Mase.”
“Shh. Don’t think about it. Think about Ave. About the lake and the trees and the meadow.”
I squeeze my brother’s back.
After a moment his mouth settles on my head, his voice a gentle whisper. “I’m taking some time off to stay at the house with him. We’ll get a physiotherapist. Whatever he needs to get back on his feet.”
“What about Nina and the kids?” I feel emotion building in the back of my throat and swallow it down.
