Aligned: Volume 4 (23 page)

I turn the car up the hill as I hear sirens in the distance. I should wait here for the ambulance. I feel lightheaded from the blood loss, and the pain grows worse with each second, but I can’t wait for help.
 

I step on the gas and drive up the street. I drive until I see her lying on the ground while Ethan has a knife in his hand threatening her. She doesn’t look scared, though, as she looks death in the face. She looks calm, content, as if she has already lived what she was brought on this earth to do and is content even if he ends her life.
 

I won’t let that happen, though. Her eyes light up just a second when she sees me in the car. “I love you,” I mouth to her. “I know,” she mouths back.
 

I turn my attention from her to Ethan.
She’s going to hate what I do to her car
, I think, but it’s the only way I can save her. She’ll get over it.
 

I watch as Ethan turns as he hears the car approach. I get to see the terror on his face as the car picks up speed. I watch as he makes a split-second decision to take out Alex with him instead of trying to run away.
Wrong move
, I think.
 

Because I look back at Alex, who is already a step ahead of him and has rolled too far out of his reach for him to take her out with him. The fucking bastard looks back just in time for me to see the light leave his eyes as I hit him with Alex’s car. I don’t stop when I hit him, though. His body lands on the hood of the car, and I don’t stop until his body is obliterated between the hood of the car and a tree.
 

I take a deep breath when the car comes to a stop. It’s over. And she’s alive.
 

I grab her hand. “We aren’t done yet.”
 

She looks at me with sad eyes. “Yes, we are.”

She tugs her hand free, and I grab her, forcing her to look at me. “I love you.”
 

She shakes her head. “You can’t love me.”
 

How has my entire life gone to hell because of a mix-up?
My life could be completely different if I had corrected her that night when I was holding her in my arms, and she said Landon assuming my usually more outgoing brother was the one who came to her rescue instead of me. The rule follower. The boring one. It made sense for her to think it was Landon. And I never corrected her. It didn’t seem to matter at the time. Not when so many more important things were going through her head at the time than which brother was holding her and protecting her.
 

After that night, we never spoke of it again. Her brother dropped out of high school the next day. He ran away to join a gang, and for a long time, we never had to deal with him. Not until the next time he almost destroyed our lives. I shake my head. I’m not going to think about it. I’m done thinking about all of it. I lost.
 

I told her it wouldn’t have mattered. That even if I’d told her, she would be destined to be with Landon, but I don’t believe that. That night affected us both. If I had told her, she would be mine right now. The baby growing in her stomach would be mine, not his.
 

“Wait,” Caroline says.
 

I freeze even though my heart has already closed to her. It had to to be able to let her go.
 

I feel her soft hand touch my arm, and I turn to her. The tears have multiplied in her eyes as she looks at me so tenderly like I’m a piece of glass she could break with just a tap. She can’t, though, because I’m already broken. I’ve been broken for months now. Since she told me she could never love me. That the only reason she sucked me off was because I looked like Landon. Since the night he got her pregnant.
 

Her eyes search mine for something, but there is nothing left to see. She steps closer, but there is still nothing for her to find. I have nothing left.
 

I think she is going to tell me how sorry she is. How wrong she was. I think she is going to tell me some other amazing woman is out there for me, and I just have to be brave enough to go out and find it.
 

Instead, she tells me so much more. And not one of them is with words. She grabs my neck, and our lips collide. Not like before. Before when I kissed her, it was hungry and needy. This kiss is more. I will compare all kisses to this kiss. I wanted this kiss when I kissed her the first time.
 

She gives me everything as her tongue explores my mouth. Telling me how much she loves me with just her tongue. I push back against her tongue showing her that I love her just as much.
 

My hands find her long locks of hair and tangle themselves there. Just needing to have her surrounding me in any way possible. She grabs hold of my shirt and forces us closer together until we press together. Chest to chest. Stomach to stomach. Baby ...

Her stomach presses against mine, and I can feel the life growing within her. Landon’s child. I gently back away, forcing our lips apart. Her eyes stay closed as I force us apart.
 

“Landon,” is all I say. I can only force that one word out of my lips. I’m not strong enough to say more or to convince her why we can’t do this. She already knows.
 

She opens her eyes with her hands still grasping my shirt. I suck in a breath as I stare at her gorgeous soft eyes.
 

“Drew, I have to tell you ...”
 

And then she’s falling, collapsing to the floor in a pile of pain. Pain that I don’t understand where it’s coming from. I collapse with her.
 

“Caroline, what’s wrong?”
 

“I don’t know ... stomach ... head ... dizzy.”
 

She’s on the floor holding her stomach in obvious pain, and I don’t know how to help. I’ve never been this scared in my life. She can’t lose the baby. She can’t.
 

“Come on; let’s get you to the hospital.”
 

548798879432 … Every part of me. Stubborn. Strong. Happy. Sad. Pain. Pleasure ...

I scream as I watch Landon crash into the tree. I see the car smoking but no movement from inside. I know Ethan’s dead. There is no way he survived that, but I don’t know about Landon.
 

I pull myself up. I grab my prosthetic and then hop on one leg as fast as I can to the car.
 

“Landon!”
 

He doesn’t answer or move. I get to the door and yank it open to find Landon slumped over the steering wheel.
 

“Don’t you dare die on me now, Landon.” I pull him off the steering wheel trying to see if he’s still breathing. I put my head to his chest, but I can’t hear or feel anything. He’s dead...
 

“He can’t be dead! It was supposed to be me. It was supposed to be me ... I’m the one who is supposed to be dead,” I yell to a god I don’t think exists. If he did, he wouldn’t allow this to happen. He wouldn’t allow a daughter to grow up without her father.
 

I collapse on his chest as the tears fall. “You can’t die, Landon. You just can’t.”
 

I feel his chest move just enough to force me to sit up and look at him. He coughs, and I notice blood spews from his mouth.
 

“I wouldn’t dream of it,” he barely gets out.
 

“Oh, my god! You’re alive!”
 

“I could never leave you.”
 

I sob and wrap my arms around him. “How are you alive? Just... how did you make it to the car? You were barely breathing when I left you.”
 

He strokes my hair gently. “You saved me. I had to save you too.”
 

We both hear the ambulance sirens getting louder as they come toward us. We both are running out of time together before we spend the next days or weeks getting poked and prodded while trying to heal. We are running out of time until we will be questioned about everything that happened and why Ethan is dead on the hood of my car.
 

I look into Landon’s eyes. There is so much to say and no time to say it. So I say the only words that matter. “I love you.”
 

He sucks in a deep breath. “I love you too.”
 

***

They wanted me to ride in a separate ambulance. They said they needed to work on us both, and they could do that the best if they separated us. I said no. I wasn’t leaving him again.
 

They reluctantly let me ride along with Landon. One tried to fuss with my wounds while the ambulance sped off. I wouldn’t let them, though. I wouldn’t let them focus on me when Landon clearly needed the most attention.
 

Instead, I held his hand while they stuck him with IVs and loaded him with drugs. I watch as they pushed oxygen through his lungs. I watch as they cut off his clothes and begin working on his wound.
 

I hold his hand and watch his eyes. I hold his gaze until the drugs pull him under, and even then, I don’t let go of his hand. I watch as we turn down the road to the hospital, and I know if he’s made it this long and is still breathing, he’s going to live.
 

I sigh in relief as we pull up to the emergency entrance. I release his hand for just a second as I climb out of the ambulance. They move Landon quickly out, and I grab hold of his hand again as they rush him inside. When we get inside, I hear the paramedics talking to the doctors and nurses that meet us. Surgery, I hear, but I guess I was expecting that.
 

I feel a woman’s arms touch me and pull me gently from Landon. “He’s going to be okay. He needs to go to surgery now. You have to let him go.”
 

I slowly let go of his hand. “I love you. You’re going to live,” I whisper into his ear before kissing him softly on the cheek. I let him go and watch him quickly rolled past a door to surgery.
 

“Miss, will you let me check you out?” the young nurse asks.
 

I nod and follow her when I no longer have sight of Landon. We walk back to the emergency room.
 

“I need a doctor,” a familiar voice says as he bursts into the emergency room. I stop following the woman and turn in time to see Drew escorting a hurting Caroline into the emergency room.
 

My eyes meet hers. I see her pain. I feel her pain. I glance down at her growing stomach. At her baby that has to survive because I know deep down that I didn’t save Landon. His daughter did.
 

I nod in her direction telling her that she has won. I won’t fight for him any longer. No child deserves to grow up without a father.

When I was truly scared

You saved me.
 

When I was crying on my knees

You saved me.
 

When the darkness was controlling me
 

You saved me.
 

I open my eyes and expect Alex to be there. Just like she was the entire ride back to the hospital. I don’t see her eyes, though. Instead, a tired Drew stares back at me.
 

He smiles in relief when he sees me open my eyes.
 

“How are you feeling?”
 

“Like hell. Where’s Alex?”
 

He looks at the ground uncomfortably, and I sit up too fast, causing incredible pain in my stomach and chest. “She can’t be dead.”
 

Drew puts his hand on my shoulder guiding me back. “No, I didn’t mean that. She’s fine. They released her a couple of days ago.”
 

“Then what’s wrong?”
 

“Nothing’s wrong with Alex. She’s in with Caroline actually.”
 

“What?”
 

“Caroline had a complication with her pregnancy while you were ...”
 

“Killing Ethan,” I finish for him.

He smiles. “Yes. While you were killing Ethan.”
 

“Is she okay? Is the baby ...” My voice trembles as I say it.
 

“The baby is fine for now. She has something called preeclampsia. It’s serious. She could have to have the baby early if they can’t get it under control. But she’s in the best doctor’s care possible. They are both going to be fine.”
 

I suck in a deep breath. I’m not sure I can survive if anything happens to them. “Why is Alex with Caroline?”
 

“Because someone needs to and I can’t be in two places at once.”
 

“But why isn’t she here with me and you with her?”
 

Drew looks down at his hands and then back to me. “Because Alex thinks you should be with Caroline and I agree. You three need to be a family.”
 

I shake my head. “I get to decide what I want. And that’s not ...”
 

Drew puts a hand up. “Calm down, Landon. No one is telling you what to do. We just didn’t want to complicate things further while you were unconscious.”
 

“Complicate things ...”
 

“Landon, I’ve been a horrible brother. The night you and Caroline were together. The night you conceived your daughter. Caroline and I ...”
 

“Had sex?”
 

“No! No, no. We made out and other things. It never went that far, but I should have told you. I shouldn’t have kept it from you.”
 

I smile. “Drew, it doesn’t matter. Not after everything we have put each other through. I don’t care what you and Caroline did.”
 

He nods, but I don’t think he will forgive himself so easily. I can see that he won’t talk much more about Alex or Caroline or the baby. “What happened after they brought me to the hospital?”