“We thought it was a surface wound. Head wounds tend to bleed a lot,” the uniform said in defense.
“Ignorant,” the paramedic said. “You better hope she makes it, or it is on you for waiting too long for her to get examined.” Josh poked the officer’s chest before he climbed in the ambulance and slammed the doors. He sat beside me and hooked me up to a bunch of medical equipment. “I need you to do everything you can to stay awake. Can you do that for me?”
My eyelids were fluttering. I wanted to sleep. I couldn’t stay awake. I shook my head. “Tired,” I mumbled.
“I know, but I really need you to talk to me. I overheard you say you were going to school? What for?”
“I don’t know,” I said, and panic started to press against my chest, heavy like a boulder or a three-ton weight. “I don’t know. Why don’t I know? I need to know. Where am I? Why am I here?” The monitor beeped furiously as my heart rate rose and climbed higher with every second that passed by.
The paramedic, I couldn’t remember his name, his hands pressed against my shoulders to stop me from thrashing. “You’ve been in an incident. You have a head injury. It is common to have confusion and memory loss with this, okay? The doctors will fix you up in no time.”
Hot tears hit the apples of my cheeks, and I clutched onto his hand, smearing blood on his flawless gloves. “I’m scared.”
“It’s okay to be scared. It means you want to be alive, and I need you to need that right now. I need you to fight to live. You can do that for me, right?”
I nodded, but dark shadows crept along the edges of my vision. “Something bad happened,” I slurred, and the monitors started to race again. “Something—”
“She’s coding!” he shouted. “Come on, Abigail. Don’t let him win.”
Him.
Was he something bad?
I didn’t know. I couldn’t remember.
Chapter One
Logan
Everyone expected Maria and me to be together. It would make sense, considering how jealous I was when she started dating O
fficer Cortez. She wanted me too, and to be honest, I was still a little jealous at the cop for dating the girl I wanted.
Or thought I wanted.
I couldn’t say exactly what happened, but something changed. Maria was feisty and different, unique, and fearless. It was what drew me to her, still did. She was happy with Cortez though, and I knew why she decided to be with him, and it was because I couldn’t get off my ass and ask her out.
Something held me back.
My sister, the one person I had taken care of most of my life, was married and off having a family and being happy. She had someone to take care of her now, and I think that was the root of my problem. I wanted someone to need me. Lucy didn’t need me anymore, and Maria didn’t need me, she never really did. She’s independent, and while some men liked that sort of thing, it wasn’t something I was fond of.
Not that being an independent woman was a bad thing. It wasn’t. Go women for doing their thing; I loved that. I couldn’t help what I wanted though.
I wanted someone to need me, to depend on me, to be taken care of. Maria didn’t need me for that. She could take care of herself, but that still didn’t stop the small string of attraction or this weird connection we had.
Like right now, she had her head on my shoulder, and she smelled like cotton, fresh and clean. She liked to be close to me, but it wasn’t right. If I was Cortez, I wouldn’t be a happy man. So I did what I always did, I pulled away, got up, and sat on the big red chair to the side.
“You have to stop doing that,” I said, reclining the chair in Lucy’s living room. We all live under the same roof, except for Maria. “You’re with Cortez now.”
“I was just laying my head on your shoulder. Friends do that. I wasn’t trying to have sex with you.”
No. She wasn’t, but I knew she wanted me, and she hated that she did. She wanted Cortez more though. She didn’t look at me that way she looked at him, all stars and hearts in her eyes.
“Regardless, he wouldn’t like it.” I knew that because I wouldn’t like it. It wasn’t smart for Maria and I to be in the same room because if she kissed me, I’d kiss her back.
And then we would regret it because she isn’t meant to be with me, as much as that hurt a month ago, I realized that now.
She rolled her eyes and checked her watch on her dainty wrist. “I need to go to work; maybe when I get back, you’ll realize every time I touch you, it isn’t to make a move on you.”