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“If you hadn’t of phoned them, things might have turned out differently. The door in the room we were in was locked. And you gave me hope. I knew the phone call had connected; I knew you would be listening and get help. You saved us.”
Jordan wipes under her eyes and Rosie wraps her arm around her waist, comforting her.
“How are you doing?” Cole asks, his eyes not focusing on one thing, but scanning everywhere. I know I look a mess. I have a bandage on my shoulder from my stab wound, and my face looks like Edward Scissorhands attacked it.
“A little banged up, but I’ll get some cool scars after,” I tell him lightly.
He tries to force a smile, but I can see my friend is worried and concerned for me. “Yeah, but Allie’s immune to your ways, so you can’t charm her with stories on how you got them,” he teases, his jaw tensing.
My chuckle turns into a wince when it jars my shoulder. “She’ll listen anyway, ‘cause she loves me.”
“I do,” she whispers.
“Are you okay? How did you figure out it was Alex?” Willow asks.
I’ve been asking myself that same question. She’s told me bits, but I think because she was in so much shock, she muddled everything up. She seems to be doing a lot better now, though, more with it.
“Tina called me from the library to say Alex had walked out of work. I went to check on him because I was worried something had happened to his nan. When I got there, I had to get his nan some tablets. I found a box of the ones the doctor mentioned caused my miscarriage. Then there were the photos; they were the same as the ones me and Jordan found when we were researching the murders and learned about the murder that happened fifteen years ago. That’s when it all got too much for me and I went outside to get some fresh air and saw the building at the bottom of the garden. From there, it’s all a blur.”
“I was so worried. Jordan had stolen her sister’s phone to call the police, and because she had to stay on the line with both of you, she ran all the way to ours. I was so scared for you. We heard everything—what he did. I’m so sorry this happened to you,” Willow says, wiping her cheeks.
Allie stiffens next me. “It still doesn’t feel real. I trusted him. He took so much from so many people, and for nothing.”
Willow leans over to hug her. “Ah, where’s mine. I’m the one who got stabbed.”
When Willow glances up from hugging Allie, her eyes are filled with tears. “Thank you for being there for her.”
I rear back, puzzled. “Um, kind of didn’t have a choice. He hit me over the back of the head,” I tell her dryly.
She chuckles, wiping her eyes. “But you saved her. We might not have been there in person, but we heard you. He attacked her.”
She has no idea.
I gaze down at Allie, my lips pulling into the first real smile since everything happened. “She’s the one who saved me,” I whisper.
A new nurse walks in with her chart, her focus on whatever she’s reading. “Charles-Jay, it’s time for your next dose of pain medication.”
Everyone in the room stops what they’re doing. Even the waterworks and sniffles come to an end.
I groan inwardly, wishing they would sedate me so I don’t have to subject myself to what is to come.
Slowly, so slowly, everyone’s stunned faces turn to me, glancing at me with slack jaws.
Allie is the first to speak. “Your name is Charles-Jay?”
I glare at the nurse as she measures out what dosage to put in my tubes, before turning to answer Allie. “I didn’t get a say in what my name would be. My mum was going through a tough time. She’d just delivered the world’s most perfect baby.”
“Charles?” Willow asks, still open-mouthed.
I close my eyes, groaning. “Yes, now can we move on to how great I am?”
“Charles?” Allie repeats, before bursting into a fit of laughter. The others follow, laughing uproariously.
Cole slaps me on the leg, smiling. “They were gonna find out sooner or later.”
“Yeah, when it was printed on my gravestone,” I mutter.
He chuckles. “At least they aren’t crying now.”
