chapter 15
CALLUM
WHEN I WAKE UP, everything hurts, even to breathe. I open my eyes and glance around the hospital room. Trinity is asleep, her face on my mattress, her body slumped in a chair. She looks uncomfortable but so peaceful that I don’t want to wake her. I have no idea what happened in that farmhouse; I just remember Luke trying to shoot Trinity and my stepping in to shield her, the bullet hitting me instead.
At least she’s okay, and next to me.
If I woke up and something had happened to her, I would have set the fucking town on fire. I reach out and gently touch her arm, needing her skin on mine. The motion pulls at my chest and hurts like hell, but I don’t care. I wonder if Justin heard about me getting shot and if he’s okay. I hope all of this is over now.
Trinny lifts her head and looks at me. “You’re awake.”
I nod. “Are you okay?”
She nods and moves closer to me. “Both of them were arrested. I called Justin and Eddie; they’re with your father. They’re all coming to see you. They should be here this afternoon, and then when the doctor says it’s okay, we can all go home together.”
“We’re still in the middle of nowhere?” I ask, surprised they even have a hospital here.
“No. We’re back in the city, they had to fly us here to the closest hospital,” she explains. I move over and let her lay next to me. She’s so careful not to put any of her weight on me, when all I want is her all over me.
“It’s meant to be me in this bed right now,” she whispers, and her voice cracks at the end.
“I don’t think your old body could have taken it, babe,” I reply, and she makes a sound of frustration. I sigh, and tell her, “If you thought I was going to sit there and let someone I care about take a bullet when I can protect them, you don’t know me at all. I’d take that bullet for you over and over again, Trinny.”
It’s then that Medusa herself starts to cry, overcome with emotion. I rub her back, trying to comfort her, telling her that it’s okay.
“We’re both alive, and the bad guys are caught, and our family and friends are safe; this is all that we wanted, right?”
She nods. “Yeah, but you weren’t meant to get shot, Callum.”
“I’m fine,” I assure her. “We won this.”
“Was it a competition?” she asks, her voice a mixture of laughter and tears. “Like some fucking Hunger Games or something?”
“Not quite, but we made it, so stop crying. We might have to tell everyone to stop calling you Medusa otherwise; I don’t think she cries at all,” I say, trying to change the subject. I don’t like to see her upset, and I know it must take something huge to make her like this, because she can usually shield all her reactions so well. Or maybe her guard is completely down around me now, and there will be no more shields or walls at all.
I hope so.
We both fall asleep, and when I wake up next it’s to a doctor checking my vitals. “Will I be okay, Doc?” I ask her, whispering so I don’t wake up Trinny.
She nods. “You were very lucky. If that bullet hit you more to the left . . .” She shakes her head. “And you lost a lot of blood, Mr. Hopkins, but I have no doubt you’ll make a full recovery.”
“Thank you,” I tell her, then glance down at Trinny. “You’re right. I am lucky.”
In more ways than one.
“YOU LET HIM WHAT?” I ask Eddie, scowling at my best friend.
“It was just a small party at my house.” Eddie shrugs, ignoring the smoke coming out of my ears. “Don’t act like we never had any parties.”
I sigh and look to Trinny, who just laughs. “At least they had a good time.”
“It was fine,” Justin assures me. He was almost crying when he saw me lying in here, but now I think he knows I’m going to be okay. They’ve been catching me up on what I’ve missed. It seems like I’ve been gone for a month or something, but it’s only been a couple of nights now. My dad is on his way, and I know just how worried about me he must be. “We cleaned up after and everything.”
“And we found out who vandalized Justin’s car.” Eddie smirks, shoulders shaking as he clearly can’t keep the laughter inside anymore.
“Who?” I ask, glancing between the two of them.
“Justin’s new girlfriend,” Eddie says, avoiding the kick Justin tries to give him.
Wait, what?
“I thought you didn’t have a girlfriend?”
“I didn’t,” Justin explains, shifting in his seat. “But, well, Lauren came up to me and admitted that she liked me and that she was upset that I hooked up with Fiona and then . . .”
I put my hand up. “So she’s crazy and now you’re dating her?”
Eddie laughs harder. “Exactly what I said.”
Trinny gives me an evil look. “If Justin likes her, I’m sure she’s lovely.” She then adds under her breath, “Just tell her if she pulls anything like that again I’ll put her ass in jail.” She pauses and adds, “After I get Trevor’s uncle put away.”
It’s me who laughs this time.
Looks like my baby brother is going to learn the hard way about crazy girls.
“They said I can leave tomorrow,” I let them all know. “I can’t wait to go back home and be back in my own bed.” I look to Trinny. “Or to try out your bed.”
We haven’t spoken about what’s going to happen when we get home, but it’s going to be fine; I can feel it in my bones. There’s no way the two of us are going to walk away from each other.
No way in hell.
Priorities have changed, and where Trinny goes, so do I.
I’ve approached the bench, looked Medusa in the eye, and survived.
Anything is possible.