Pure Lust: The Complete Series Box Set (55 page)

I nodded woodenly and focused my gaze on the windshield as he started to drive again. A question rose to my lips and I swallowed it down. I didn’t want to go there, didn’t want to ask it, because if I gave it voice, it would mean I had to acknowledge it. And that would mean I’d need to deal instead of just pushing it aside.

But it kept coming back and when he swung a left near the park, I looked over at my friend. I hated putting him in this position, but he was the only person I could trust right now.

“Cody?”

“Yeah?”

“What if it’s—” My gaze strayed past him to the driver’s side window. Then moved back. Then I looked again, my mind processing what I’d seen even as my words died in my throat.

Lights.

Bright lights.

I opened my mouth to scream.

I think I might have managed it.

But I wasn’t able to say the
words
.

I couldn’t tell Cody to stop.

Not until it was too late.

The truck slammed into us.

Metal shrieked like a monster.

Glass broke.

There was pain, so much of it, I thought it would eat me alive.

And maybe it did, because after the pain…there was...nothing.

Chapter 16

…
stop!
...

I heard myself screaming the word over and over again.

Stop! Stop! Stop!

I don’t know what I was supposed to stop, but it was something important, I knew that. But when I tried to think, it
hurt…

“Her blood pressure’s spiking!”

That voice. Who was that?

“What’s going on?” There was a shout. Edward?

Pain exploded through every cell in my body and when the darkness reached for me, I gratefully sank back into it.

***

Stop!

I saw the truck this time.

I saw it, but not soon enough.

It smashed into us. Into Cody. I saw the blood, saw his body jerk. And I heard us both as we screamed.

I would have screamed again, louder, harder, longer, but I couldn’t speak. I couldn’t move. Was I paralyzed? The thought brought no panic, only detached interest. That frightened me more than the thought that I’d never move again.

“I can’t stand to see her like this.”

I knew that voice.

Kendra
…

I wanted to reach for her. She sounded like she was crying. I didn’t want her to cry. Why was she crying? I thought I should know, but all that came to mind was the truck and blood and pain. I couldn’t move. Was that why she was crying?

“Shhh…” Edward. It was Edward again. He was there. Wherever there was. “It’s okay, Kendra. The doctors put her in the coma so her brain could heal. They have to bring the swelling down.”

A coma? I was in a coma? It had to be me, right? Who else could
she
be?

“I know…I just…what if she doesn’t wake up? And Cody…”

Cody?

Oh, God. No. He’d been with me.

A flash of panic went through me and I waited for my body to respond, but it didn’t. I needed to see Cody.

“Don’t.”

I would have flinched if I could’ve moved. The sound of Edward’s voice was a slap.

“We can’t talk about it in here. She might hear us. Just…”

“I know.” Kendra sounded closer. I felt pressure on my hand.

So not paralyzed, right? I couldn’t be paralyzed if I could feel her touching my hand. But I still couldn’t move. Was that because of the coma? I had so many questions.

“Gabs? It’s me. I…I brought a book. It’s one of the romances I love to read. You always tease me about them. Well, now you’re going to get to listen while I read…”

Her voice cracked. Then she started to read.

I wanted to scream. I didn’t want to hear her read. I wanted to know what had happened. I wanted someone to fill in the blanks. Someone to tell me about Cody and why Edward had sounded so upset. I needed to know.

But I couldn’t ask. All I could do was lie here and listen as Kendra’s voice lulled me back into the darkness.

***

Somebody was reading again.

A hand brushed my cheek. I was so tired…

Darkness faded in and out. Sometimes there was light. Sometimes…there was just nothing.

I was trapped inside the prison of my own body and nothing I did seemed to change that. The one good thing was that my head didn’t hurt so much. Nothing hurt really, but I was glad for the dull, throbbing ache I could feel. It meant that I wasn’t dead, and it probably meant I wasn’t paralyzed either, no matter how much it felt like it.

The voice was new, I suddenly realized.

“My, my, my…Gabriella, I’m going to have to thank Kendra for bringing this book in.”

Mom
…

The sound of her voice finally penetrated the fog in my head. Her hand took mine and when she threaded our fingers together, I wanted to cry, but I didn’t even have that outlet for all the misery trapped inside. This was the most awful cage I could imagine. I didn’t know how much longer I could stand it without going crazy.

A faint sniffling sound came to my ears, breaking my heart.
No, Mama…don’t cry
.

“Okay, enough of that. Let’s see what this chick Vaughnne is up to. She’s…well, pardon my French, but she’s a bit of a bad-ass, isn’t she?”

Pardon my French
. I tried to laugh, but nothing happened.

She read for a few minutes and I got lost in the sound of her voice, so lost that I never realized I was drifting away again. At least not until a furious voice snapped me back.

“Get your high and mighty ass out of my daughter’s room or so help me, I will drag
you out!”

I had no doubt about who she was speaking to, but just what pissed my mother off so bad? She never talked like that. Not unless…

“It’s her fault!”

Claire.

Edward’s mother.

An icy hand gripped my heart. What was my fault?

Suddenly, I saw the lights of a car. Maybe a truck. I saw Cody, the blood, his body wrenching, only to be held in place by the seat belt. The blood…
the blood
…

What happened? I wanted to scream at someone to tell me what I’d done.

“If you want to blame somebody, you miserable bitch, you go blame the asshole who ran the red light.” My mother’s voice was low. Low and furious. “Now get out. I won’t warn you again.”

“How dare you speak to me like that? You ignorant, backwoods—”

The sound of a cracking slap filled the room, followed by a screech.

Despondent, I slid back into the darkness. Even the sounds of my mom going toe-to-toe with Claire couldn’t keep me there.

Something was my fault…and I had the worst feeling it had to do with Cody.

If something bad had happened to him, I’d never forgive myself. Because no matter what my mother said, it was my fault. I remembered enough to know that.

***

“Come on, Gabs…”

I was too groggy to care about the voices anymore.

It was easier to stay in the darkness. Easier not to have to think about what had happened. About Cody. No one talked about him. They all kept talking to me and I didn’t want them to.

But she wouldn’t shut up. None of them would.

“Gabriella, they took you off the meds two days ago. You can wake up now. So do it already.”

No…I think I like it here
.

Retreating deeper into the warm gray haze, I ignored the voice. I could barely tell who it was anyway.

***

“That’s it.”

A hard voice. Hard, flat, almost angry.

“Gabs, it’s Jackson and if you don’t get out of that bed soon, I’m going to kick your ass, coma or no.”

Jackson
. My mind conjured up a scrawny boy, taller than me already, with a wide, bright grin and eyes almost exactly like mine. Jackson. My baby brother. The baby brother who was going to get married.

A rough hand gripped mine and squeezed. Then there was a voice, pressed close to my ear. “Did you hear me? Wake the hell up. You’re scaring Mom. You’re scaring Dad. You’re scaring all of us. I get why you’re wanting to hide, but stop it.”

You don’t get anything
!

I wanted to scream at him.

I couldn’t.

I couldn’t do anything.

No…I don’t
want
to do anything…

“It’s not your fault,” Jackson said, his voice softer now. “I heard what that stupid cow said. Mom and Dad told me. And that’s when you started to get worse. Your heart-rate slowed, your blood pressure dropped. Everything got worse. It doesn’t take a doctor to put two and two together. Well, fuck that. Are you really going to let her keep you trapped like a corpse in that bed?”

Her…
Claire
. My mind summoned up an image.

Claire. She’d said it was my fault. Something…

Cody
.

The truck. The crash. The blood.

I wanted to cry. I
needed
to cry.

But I couldn’t.

Not while I was trapped.

“Come on, Gabs,” Jackson murmured. “Don’t do this to us.”

I tried to speak, to ask him about Cody. I tried and failed.

But as he stayed there talking, I kept on trying. He was right, I couldn’t give up. I had to wake up so I could see my friend again. I couldn’t let Claire win.

Chapter 17

“Can you hear me, sweetheart?”

Edward’s hand stroked my cheek.

It felt…different.

Lights blinded my eyes, almost painful, despite the fact that I still couldn’t lift my lids. His sigh was a gentle puff against my forehead as he brushed his lips against my skin. I could feel the weight of his arm over my head. He was leaning down, all but surrounding me. I was aware of all of it. More aware than I’d been in a long time.

“Any change?”

Kendra
!

As he moved away, I tried yet again to open my eyes. Eyelids shouldn’t be this heavy.

“Some. Her heart rate and blood pressure are more stable. The doctor thinks…”

His voice became background noise as I struggled harder to open my eyes, to do
something
.

“Her family is talking about wanting to have her transferred.”

“They can’t do that!” Kendra’s voice rose.

“I know. But they want to be near her as well and they can’t afford…”
He sounded so defeated. Resigned that he was going to lose me.

Mama, Daddy, you can’t…

I managed to lift my lids a tiny slit. The light was piercingly bright. With a gasp, I closed my eyes again. Too much, way too much. Darkness washed back up. This time, I didn’t want to go, but I was too tired and I couldn’t stop it.

“Did…Edward, did you hear that?”

***

The next time, I managed to open my eyes all the way.

A rat’s nest of auburn hair rested on the edge of my bed next to my hand. There was an IV in the back of it. I looked at it for a moment, my groggy brain processing. I looked at the hair. It looked like mine.

Jennifer.

I tried to lift my hand to touch her, but it was even heavier than my eyelids had been. I only managed to get it up about an inch, but it was movement enough to wake her.

Her head jerked up and she froze, staring at me with those dark brown eyes that looked so much like Mom’s. Like mine.

Suddenly, she screamed. “You’re awake!”

Moaning at the pain that resounded at the shrill noise, I mumbled, “Do that again and I’ll wish I wasn’t.” My voice sounded funny and I wondered how long it had been since I’d spoken last.

The room was full before I even realized what was going on.

There were nurses and I was being looked over and poked and prodded, but all I wanted was to be with my family. They gathered in the door until the medical staff pushed them out. But finally, the nurses were done, warning us the doctor would be in soon to check me out, and they let my family in.

Edward and Kendra gathered on one side, Jackson on Kendra’s other side, while my parents and Jennifer took up the head of the bed opposite them. My older brother and both older sisters were missing. Again, I wondered how long I’d been out of it. They would’ve had to go back home if it had been more than a couple days. I shifted uncomfortably as everyone stared at me like I’d risen from the dead. Just how bad had it been?

“What…” The words trailed away as all the memories that flickered through my head while I lay trapped in this bed surged to the fore. “A wreck. A truck…it hit us, right?”