AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The only thing I can hear is the sound of her ribs cracking while I press down and try to restart her heart.
The only thing I can smell is the iron or copper in her blood.
The only thing I can feel is the absence of a heartbeat in her chest, and the slick sensation of my hand connecting with her blood as it sticks to my skin.
Nothing else in the world exists but Casper’s pain.
I don’t even notice we’re moving.
I don’t remember washing my hands.
I don’t remember getting to the hospital, and I don’t realize we aren’t alone. Not until I look up and see my cousin’s face looking down at me.
He has tears in his eyes, and he’s uncharacteristically pale. Afraid.
I can’t blame him. I saw Laurence covered in blood and I assumed the worst. I can’t imagine what he felt as a father.
“She saved my kid, Cole. She kept him safe. He told us that she saved him. She wouldn’t let that bastard hurt him.”
Sori is right there behind him, holding Laurence in her arms like he is going to be torn from them any moment.
He’s clean, asleep, and holding his mother the way I’ve seen him do so many times before.
He’s safe.
She saved him, at the cost of herself.
Now I just need the doctors to save her. I need Casper to live. Because if she dies, I don’t know what I’ll have left.
Six months ago, I never would have imagined that I needed anyone in my life the way I need her.
Six days ago, I was planning on how I could win her back with the truth.
Six hours ago, I was boarding a plane.
Six minutes ago, I was trying to revive her.
I glance at Remy, who is watching the same waiting room door that I’ve had my eyes glued on.
His other sister, Kennedy, is at his side, and I was right. She is an older version Casper. But if I didn’t know she was older from the pictures, I’d think she was the same age. Holding her is their mother, who truly looks like an older sister instead of a parent. She’s crying, clutching Kennedy’s hand while staring at the waiting room doors. On her other side has to be Remy’s father. He looks exactly like what I picture Remy like in thirty years.
Getting to my feet, I’m standing in front of them, ready to do what I have to. What I need to. For her.
“Do you know where he’d go?”
I don’t bother introducing myself. There is no reason to. They know who I am, who I am to Casper.
“I do.” Kennedy wipes a tear from her eye and meets my gaze head-on. “Cassie told me Joel wanted to build a house with her. It’s on his family’s land. That might be where he’d be.”
Remy stands up with a grimace. “I know where it is. Let’s go.”
“No,” Casper’s mother snaps. “No. He’s not going to take any more of my children from me.” She locks her eyes on me, and in that moment, I see all the pain and devastation she’s gone through burn through her soul. Then she catches me off guard by pushing all of that aside and offering me a smile. “You call me Mona or Mom.”
Remy pauses, and I know he’ll stay. She almost lost him once; I won’t let her lose him again.
“Give me directions.” I’ll do it. Alone.
“No.” Her voice cuts through my decision. I look at her rage, fierce and strong, and know that Casper gets her strength from her mother. She is truly frightening. “You’re family, Cole Morgan. I don’t care where you’ve been or what you think you did. But you love my daughter, and that makes you family. So sit your ass down and shut up. We’re waiting for news. All of us, together. And if you don’t like it, you can suck a rotten potato.”
