One Hot Summer - Page 71

“Drew,” my best friend’s voice said softly, pulling me from my thoughts.

She didn’t turn on the lights, bless her. I still had the small overhead one on.

“Come in. I’m awake,” I said, my voice sounding like I’d swallowed a mouthful of glass.

I hadn’t looked in a mirror yet, but I didn’t have to. I could see how bad it was on everyone else’s face. Emersyn was no exception. It was evident that she found it painful to look at me.

She entered the room looking frail and nervous.

“What? Am I having a bad hair day?” I teased.

She moved closer to me. “You’re making jokes right now? Seriously?”

I threw my hands up, regretting it immediately when the lightning pains struck my ribs. “What else am I supposed to do? Cry? Sit here and feel sorry for myself?”

Her eyes went round. “Drew…”

I sighed. She was the last person I wanted to be an asshole to. “Sorry. I’m having a shit day in case you hadn’t heard.”

She sat on the side of my bed. “Who did this to you? Your mom said you won’t say, but I don’t understand why you’d protect someone who hurt you like this.”

I swallowed the thick lump in my throat. “Can you hand me that water?”

When she lifted the cup from my bedside tray to my mouth, I took a sip from the straw. She waited patiently for me to finish.

“It doesn’t matter who did it. I don’t want to press charges. I just want to move on.” Her forehead creased. “Don’t frown, gorgeous. You’ll get premature wrinkles.”

S

he tilted her head at me like a wounded puppy.

“Stop looking at me like that. Come here.”

I pulled her into my arms, letting her lie alongside me even though it hurt like hell. “So how was your night? My sister said there was a man here with you earlier.” I waggled my eyebrows at her. “Did you fall in love with a carnie after all?”

She huffed out a breath but said nothing.

“I got my ass kicked and I’m in the hospital, Em. Give me something to live for.”

She looked up at me and her eyes clouded over. “It feels wrong to be gushing over some guy while you’re like this.”

I rolled my eyes. “Stop. I’ll be fine, the doctors said most of my injuries are superficial. I don’t even need surgery.”

“They don’t look superficial to me. Are you in a lot of pain?”

“I said superficial, not artificial. The shit hurts, yeah. And a morphine drip only goes so far. So, help take my mind off it.”

She laid her head on my chest and sighed. “Camille ditched me for Derek at the carnival.”

“Shocker,” I broke in. Derek was Camille’s kryptonite.

“He was with some other girl and she lost her mind. Ethan was late meeting me at the gate and my phone died. I ran into this…guy. From my art history class at Southeastern.”

I could tell by the weight of her words; he wasn’t just some guy.

“A hot guy?”

She waited a beat. “Yeah, you could say that. A hot, smart, thoughtful, too sexy for his own good guy.”

Tags: Heidi McLaughlin Romance
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