Page 55 of Healer’s Betrayal

He frowns and immediately pulls out his phone and puts it up to his ear. “Are you close?” he asks and then listens a moment. “Raechel’s throwing up in the bathroom.” He hangs up a second later. “He’s on his way.”

“I’ll check on her,” Ava says, but Bryce stops her.

“Sherese is trying to get ahold of you.”

She stops and looks down at her phone. “Oh, I missed her call.”

"You take that,” I say, nodding at her phone. “I’ll check on Raechel.”

She gives me a grateful look. “Thank you; tell her Max is on his way.”

I nod and slip out of the room and walk down the hallway to the entrance to the hotel. They have a small shop, and I enter. I scan the wall of snacks and find what I’m looking for.

“Would you like to pay for these or add them to your room?” the guy at the front desk ask.

I’m thankful I have my phone on me. “I’ll pay for them now.” I tap my phone and make the purchase and head back to the huge bathroom. “Raechel?” I ask softly.

A groan meets my ears. “Just kill me.”

Chapter 22

Kayla

I grab a few paper towels and wet them and push the door to the stall open carefully. “I’ve got a wet paper towel I’m going to put on the back of your neck, okay?”

She doesn’t lift her head as I place them on her neck and then go back for more. I take her a few more. “Here, for your mouth.” She doesn’t lift her head, but I push the towels into her hand. Then I open the pack of Jolly Ranchers I just bought and pull out a cherry one. “Here, put this in your mouth and suck on it. It helps; I promise.” She just groans, and I unwrap it and hand it to her. “Open up.” She doesn’t fight me, and I can’t imagine how awful she’s feeling right now. She drops her head back down to her arms. “How far along are you?” I ask softly.

“Suuuuper early. I haven’t even told anyone yet.”

I put a hand on her back and rub her back, trying to give what little comfort I can. “That’s amazing, Raechel. Congratulations.”

“Doesn’t feel so amazing right now,” she groans. She sucks on the Jolly Rancher so hard, I can hear it.

“Does that help at all?”

“Surprisingly, it does.”

“Good. My mom used to swear by cherry Jolly Ranchers when she was pregnant with my brother,” I tell her. “She—” I don’t get to finish my thought before the door to the bathroom flies open, crashing into the wall with a bang. I jump to my feet just as the door to the stall is nearly torn off its hinges.

“Angel.” Max’s voice is so low, it’s nearly a growl. “What happened?”

He looks at me, and my eyes widen in shock. “I didn’t do anything,” I confess. But if looks could kill, I’d be dead.

“Max,” Raechel groans, still on the floor. “Stop scaring her.” He glares at me again and then tries to move past me. We do not all fit in this stall, so I slip out. Before I get all the way out, he’s moved in, wrapped his arms around her and pulled her up against his chest. It’s a pretty impressive move, especially considering she’s not short. I step back and hold the door for him as he steps out of the stall. He walks over to the sink and sets her down, and I take that as my sign to leave. I start towards the door, but he shoots me a look. It’s enough to stop me in my tracks.

“Don’t move.”

I take in the look in his eyes and decide I’m done here; I value my life too much. I dart for the door. It happens so fast, I don’t see him move. He’s in front of me a moment later. It startles me so much, I let out a small scream. But when I see his eyes, this time, I scream for real. Terror fills me, and I stumble backwards. His eyes are different. “Max,” Raechel calls out. He moves away from the door, and I yank it open and run out into the hall and slam right into somebody.

Jackson’s in my face a second later. “What happened?” he grounds out.

I look over my shoulder. “Max...” I can’t even get the words out; I don’t even know what to say.

“I’m gonna kill him. Stay here.”

Shock runs through me, and I realize I have a whole new set of problems on my hands. “No, Jackson, wait.” I try to grab his arm, but he’s an unstoppable force. He slams the door into the wall, just like Max did. Max is standing in front of Raechel, facing her. But he whirls around, placing himself in front of her. “Jackson, stop,” I try again.

Raechel meets my eyes, and the look in her eyes doesn’t give me a lot of hope. “How good at staying in control is he?” she asks warily, still eyeing Jackson.