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LANDON
Everything fucking hurt.
I grunted softly, opened my eyes, and clutched my waist, where the pain seemed to radiate from. Light flooded in from the windows. The curtain and door of the hospital room were both closed. After glancing around for Imani and not finding her, I pushed myself to a seated position and rested my head against the headboard, eyeing the bandages on my stomach.
While I didn’t believe in any sort of god, I thanked the world that my parents weren’t here. And I prayed that they wouldn’t show up here either. I didn’t want to see either of them ever again, and I really didn’t want Imani to get messed up in their shit.
But, fuck, I didn’t know where I would go. I couldn’t go back home with them. And how was I going to pay for any of this? As soon as I had turned eighteen, Mom had taken me off their insurance, not that it would cover hospital bills like this, anyway.
The monitor beeped steadily beside me, the annoying sound not stopping once. I ripped the IV, or whatever the fuck kind of cord it was, off me, and the noise stopped. Someone hurried down the hallway toward my room and opened the door, and the nurse blew out a relieved breath.
“Please, keep this in,” she said to me, hooking me back up to the stupid monitor. “You haven’t been discharged yet.”
“Is there anyone waiting here for me?” I asked.
She glanced up at me once she finished. “A couple of boys and a girl, who refused to go home, even after visiting hours were over. I’ll let them know you’re awake, but only if you feel up to seeing them.”
“I’ll tell them,” Imani’s mother said, standing at the door and crossing her arms, giving me the most pointed look, which she had probably given Imani plenty of times before. “Go back to the front desk, Aanya.”
Aanya scurried out of the room and left me with Imani’s mother. I swallowed hard and stared back at her, knowing that this was my only chance to really make an impression on her, whether it be a good or bad one. By the look in her eye, I already knew that she didn’t like me.
“My daughter cares about you,” she said.
I pressed my lips together. “I care about her.”
She took a threatening step closer to me. “She begged me to find a doctor to save your life.”
My lips curled into a small smile, and I looked at my lap. Not because I was threatened by her, but because I couldn’t fathom how much Imani cared about me. Nobody cared about me like she did, not even my own damn mother and father. They had shot me and … didn’t even come to see if I was okay, not that I wanted them to.
“If you hurt my daughter, I will personally make sure that you and your little crew don’t live to see another day outside of Redwood’s prison. Do you understand me?” she asked, pressing her full lips together and glaring at me.
“I won’t hurt her,” I whispered, aching to tell her that she was the only person who hurt Imani. She wouldn’t believe me or wouldn’t let me see her daughter if I did. As much as it pained me, I bit back the snarky reply and gave her the best forced smile that I could.
After eyeing me for a couple more moments, she turned on her heel, opened the door, and plastered a fake smile on her face. “Imani!” she called down the hallway, her heels clacking against the ground, probably headed toward the waiting room.
There were some murmurs in the hallway, and then three sets of footsteps hurried toward my room. When Imani appeared at the door, I found myself sitting up even further and smiling at her, again thanking someone who didn’t exist that she was okay.
I wouldn’t put it past my parents to try to hurt her too.
Kai and João followed her into the room.
João leaned against the wall and stared out the window. “Surprised you didn’t die.”
“Fuck you,” I said back to him.
João curled his lips up slightly. “Glad you’re all right.”
Imani moved closer to me, eyeing the bandages. “Does it hurt?”
“Yeah,” I said, brushing my fingers over my ribs and wincing. “I just … don’t ever get in the middle of something like that, Imani. If it had been you, my father would have shot you and not my mom and me.”
Imani frowned at me and sat on the chair beside me.
“Don’t worry about them,” Kai said. “They’ve skipped town. You have the house to yourself. Nothing is fucked with down in the basement. And we’ll take care of your parents. Don’t fucking worry about that. I put a tracker on their car—for whenever you’re better.”
“Can I have a second with Imani?” I asked, glancing from João to Kai.
After they disappeared into the hallway, Imani shut the door and hurried over to my bedside with tears in her eyes. She pulled up the chair beside me, but I wasn’t having it. I ignored the stabbing pain in my side, picked her up, and placed her on the bed beside me.
“But won’t it … hurt?”
“We need to talk,” I whispered, pushing some of her black hair out of her face. “I …”
“I love you, too.”
My lips parted in surprise as Imani stared at me with wide eyes.
“You what?” I asked so quietly that I almost didn’t hear myself. “You love me?”
“I love you.” She pushed her lips against mine. “I love you so much.”
