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I returned to the room, closing and locking the door behind me, deadbolt and all. If only our room had twenty locks—I’d use them to keep whoever it was out, and Ash in. Yes, right now I was more than okay with locking Ash in here with me. It was the only way I could know for a fact she was safe. When she wasn’t in the same room as me, when she wasn’t here, less than ten feet away from me, I wouldn’t be able to focus. Coursework would become a joke until this was figured out.
Everything could fall to the wayside and disappear, but as long as I had Ash, I’d survive.
I’d survived worse.
Chapter Fourteen – Will
The first thing that greeted me from my most recent one-on-one with unconsciousness was the beeping of machines around me. My eyes struggled to open, and I found myself in an unfamiliar room. A hospital room, by the look of it. Private, because it was spacious and I had the space all to myself. I wore nothing but a hospital gown, tubes connected to my wrists, pumping me full of some kind of fluid. If I had to guess, I’d say they were some kind of pain-killers, mixed with water.
I was attacked, stabbed. Who knew how long I’d been out, and being unconscious, I couldn’t exactly eat or drink.
I breathed in deeply, wincing when I felt the bandage on my gut. I was a bit numb still, but I knew that was probably best. How badly were my insides scrambled? And how the hell did I even make it to the hospital? I’d fallen to the floor, and that was the last thing I remembered. I couldn’t see the guy’s face, couldn’t see much of anything. It was dark, and I was drowning in fresh agony.
It wasn’t long before a nurse came to check on me. I supposed I could’ve called using the emergency buttons sitting on the side of the hospital bed, but I needed some time to myself. I needed to gather my thoughts. Things were…a mess, and that was putting it lightly.
This wasn’t just a mess. This was a disaster of epic proportions.
Once the nurse saw I was awake, it became a parade in my room. Doctors and nurses all asking me how I felt and discussing my injuries with me. I might’ve tapped out sometime during it, zoning out while still looking like I was listening. I could feel my toes and move them, and besides a couple organs inside that needed to be sewn together, I was okay. I wasn’t dead, and I wasn’t paralyzed. I was alive, which meant whoever had attacked me had left me alive on purpose. Things didn’t happen accidentally around here, especially not with both Declan and I being attacked.
No, someone had purposefully come after us, wanting to inflict pain but not wanting to kill us. A psychopath, someone who didn’t know right from wrong—or who just didn’t care. I didn’t know who did it, but I knew one thing: whoever was the culprit didn’t deserve to be walking around, free from bars. No, he deserved prison…or a stabbing of his own.
But maybe that was just my vengeful side coming out. After all, it was one thing when you went after my brother, but another thing coming after me. The both of us? Someone had it out for the Briggs family. A pity, because there was just the two of us now, other than our dad.
It wasn’t long before daddy dearest showed up, wearing a suit, obviously having come straight from work. He refrained from hugging me, standing a good distance away as he studied me, motionless in the bed. He looked haggard, tired to the extreme. I did this to him, although I could tell I was not the reason I was here.
No, my Dad was not here to check on my well-being.
“I’m glad you’re finally awake and alert,” Dad spoke, staring at me with an expression I didn’t particularly like. “You had some moments yesterday, but they weren’t lucid.”
I couldn’t remember waking up before this, so I forced myself to give him a smile and say, “Well, I’m awake now, thankfully.” Me, comforting my father, even though I was the one in the hospital bed, not him. The man was a winner, through and through.
Me and Dad didn’t like each other much. We were family, but sometimes having shared blood wasn’t enough. I loved Declan, but did I love him? I…I didn’t know if I would go that far. Growing up with him wasn’t easy, that’s for sure. It was why I wanted to stay away from Hillcrest, and yet, now—after meeting Ash and falling hard for her instantly—I was going to transfer there next semester.
Things were definitely about to get interesting.
“You spoke a lot of gibberish yesterday,” Dad went on, his eyes hard on me. “A good thing that the nurses knew you were high on pain meds.” The door to the room was closed behind him, so it was just me and him. It was the only reason why he must’ve felt comfortable enough to go right out and say it.
Leave it to my dad to make me feel like shit. Like worse shit. As if being attacked in my own apartment wasn’t enough; he had to go add insult to injury, as if I’d suddenly forgotten what happened.
He moved to the chair beside the bed. I spotted a slew of flowers arranged around the room, most of them probably from my dad’s rich buddies. Friends who weren’t really friends who’d heard about what happened to me. Wouldn’t have happened if he would’ve gone to Hillcrest, I was certain they said. Normally I’d say fuck Hillcrest back, but with everything happening involving Declan, I couldn’t.
Plus, someone had to keep an eye on Ash, too. If there was anyone who’d do anything to protect her, it was me.
“Two detectives told the doctor to contact them the moment you’re up and alert,” Dad went on, running a hand down his slender face. His brown goatee was shrouded in stubble. He needed a good shave. Well, now that I was officially up—though I knew I wouldn’t be for too long, thanks to how shitty I felt—he could rest easy. The Briggs name would not be tarnished because of me. “They’ll be coming soon, I bet.”
I would’ve shrugged, but even breathing kind of hurt. “Okay. I’ll be ready for them.”
My dad stared holes through me, as if he thought I’d made this whole thing up for attention. “What happened, Will?”
“I was stabbed in my own apartment,” I bluntly said, refusing to roll my eyes even though I really wanted to. “It wasn’t like I was throwing a party or doing anything fun. I just fell asleep on the couch, woke up and went to bed. Or I would’ve, if the window wasn’t open and someone didn’t stab me out of nowhere—”
“And you didn’t see his face? Or even what skin color he had?”
Okay, at that I rolled my eyes. “No. I didn’t see anything. Before I knew it, I was on the floor, bleeding out, and he was gone.”
“So he came in through the window?” Dad asked, rubbing his goatee again. “I wonder how long fingerprints last…”
Anyone worth their weight in blood would know to wear gloves when committing a heinous act like that, I knew. Not a single part of me believed there would be any fingerprints to find, and yet I knew the police would go searching, if they hadn’t already. My apartment was a crime scene, and I wondered if they already tore the place apart looking for evidence.
