Surrounded (Unsettled Series Book 2) (25 page)

She was no friend of mine…and I didn’t care if she’d flown around the world and back to be here…I didn’t want her near him. Olivia stood up from her chair. “Patrick and Trevor are upstairs, trying to get an update on Scott. I’m going to walk down to the cafeteria. Do you ladies want anything?”

“No, thank you.” There was no way I was going to be able to eat while I was staring in the face of his ex. She had a lot of nerve showing up at here.

“Do you mind if I join you? I’m starving” Alex piped up. I think she caught a glimpse of the death stare I was shooting in Ashley’s general direction.

“Of course not. Let’s go.” The two of them walked away and I took a seat across from Ashley.

“Do you know who I am?” Ashley asked.

“A thief?” I knew my response was the lowest of blows, but I hoped my words cut enough so she’d know I was onto her. I’d be damned if she was going to just show up at the hospital with bells on acting like she was the epitome of flowers and sunshine. I could tell she was surprised by my response.

“Did I miss a wedding?”

“Come again.”

“You and Logan…are you two married?

“No. What makes you ask that?”

Ashley pointed to my name tag, “Brooklyn Colton.”

Oh.
I’d forgotten I was still wearing the badge. Apparently it was her turn to sling mud.

“Not yet, but we will be” I lied. I wasn’t giving her an inch. She had her chance with him and now he was mine and I wasn’t letting him go
. Even if I’d been stupid enough to do it once. 

“Hmm.” She said with a smirk. “We were supposed to get married once.”

“So I heard” I shot back.

“He’s a good man. I regret letting him go. You’ve got a good catch. I hope you know that.”

“He isn’t a good man…he’s great, and I’ll never walk away.”
Again.
I stood from my seat. “I better head upstairs. I’d hate for Logan to wake up and I’m not there.” I couldn’t help but feel redeemed by the look on her face. “I would say it’s been a pleasure…but that’d be a lie.” I turned away from the shocked look on her face and headed towards the elevators. I was the only chick allowed on team Logan. I smiled as I hit the elevator button. Logan would be so proud.

Logan

“L?” A voice questioned from a great distance. I cracked my eyes for what felt like the first time in centuries. They closed just as quickly.

“L? Can you answer me?” Trevor’s distinct voice kept drawing me back to consciousness.

“Stop yelling,” I responded hoarsely, turning my head in the direction of his voice. My voice was raw. “Where am I?”

“Saint
Magdalena’s”

The hospital?
“What happened?”

“You were in a car accident,” he said in an even tone.

“Car accident? When?”

“Thursday. It’s been four days now. We’ve all been living here for the last few days.” I tried to focus my eyes on his face. At first he was only a hazy blur. But after a few moments, he started coming into focus. The five o’clock shadow on his face told me he wasn’t lying about staying at the hospital. “The docs say you don’t need any more surgeries right now.”

I lifted my hands and rubbed my eyes, but the IV in my arm got stuck on the frame of the bed. I turned trying to free it and…
holy shit the pain was staggering
.

“Surgery?” I croaked.

“Yeah, you had three cracked ribs and ruptured your spleen.” As Trevor spoke, bits and pieces began to filter through my groggy brain. A flicker of a memory sparked in my mind. Bagels and…Scott.

“Where’s Scott?” I asked. Trevor looked away from me. I could see his jaw twitching. He didn’t want to answer me. He placed his hand over his jaw and began to rub his face in circles. I knew that nervous tic. There was something he wasn’t saying.

“Trev, where is Scott?” I asked again.

“L, just try to get some rest. I’ll go get your mom. And Brooklyn wants to see you…like now. She’s been fucking beside herself since she got the call.” Trev stood and patted the footboard of my bed. “Just take it easy man.” He walked out the door and a few minutes later my mom appeared.

“Mom,” I murmured. The worried look on her face made my heart cringe and wonder how bad I looked.

“Hi, honey,” she breathed. She walked up to the bed and patted my arm, leaning in to kiss my forehead. “I’m so glad you’re okay.”

“Mom, what’s going on? What’s going on with Scott?”

“Scott’
s in surgery right now, Logan.” She whispered. Her words slammed into my chest with the full weight of their implications. The way that her voice cracked told me she was scared.

I could feel my throat closing up, constricting me.

“How bad is it?”

“When you got into the car accident…”
Her eyes glazed over and she stopped talking.

“When I got into the car accident what?” I prompted.

“Scott was thrown through the windshield, honey. Things are touch and go right now.” She said, wiping a stray tear from her eye. My body began to shake violently. “But the doctors are hopeful.” She said, in an effort to console me.

“I don’t believe you. Tell him to get his ass in here right now!” I yelled—or at least as much as my voice allowed.
She was lying. Scott couldn’t be that bad. We were just talking about eating breakfast.

“Honey, I can’t have him come in.” Her voice was so low it was almost inaudible. “You need to stay calm.” I could hear my monitors start to beep loudly in the background.

“Mom, I don’t believe you. If this is some type of shitty joke he told you to play on me, I don’t believe you.”

She leaned forward in her chair. “Logan, before anything else, you need to know that this is
not
your fault.” How could she possibly be saying that right now? I was driving. Scott was still fighting for his fucking life. Of course this was my fault.

“You guys were hit by another car that ran a stoplight.”

I didn’t care. I still felt responsible. “But what about Scott?”

“He’s been through two surgeries, but he has to have another one
after today. They put him on the schedule for tomorrow.”

“I want to see him,” I announced.
I didn’t care if I had to throw myself on the damn floor and drag myself there. I had to see my brother.

“Logan, you listen to me right now. There is nothing you can do for him right now. You can’t eve
n walk. The doctors are hopeful so all we can do right now is remain positive.” How could this be happening, again? Wasn’t one time enough?

“Mom, I can’t go through this again. We can’t go through this again.” My voice cracked as I finished the last part of my sentence. The weight of everything bore down on my chest. “Honey, don’t think about that. Things will be different this time. I promise.” Tears ran down her cheeks. “Just rest honey… just rest.” She laid her head on top of my blanket. “Everything will be alright
, Logan. Don’t worry.” 

“Don’t cry
, Mom. I’m sorry. I’m okay….Scott will be okay, too.” I didn’t believe the words I was saying. I had no idea what was going to happen with Scott, but I damned sure hoped that my words weren’t falling on deaf ears. 

As we sat there, comforting one another, the door to my room opened and my dad appeared in front of my bed. I couldn
’t face him now. This would be the second time I almost took his son away from him. For a brief moment our eyes locked before I quickly turned and pretended to stare out the window. At that moment I wished I was anywhere but in the hospital with him staring down at me.

“How are you feeling, son?”

I didn’t respond. He didn’t need to know I felt like I had been run over by a freight train. My concern was not about my own life. It was about Scott.

“Dad, Mom, please leave. I need to be alone,” I whispered.

“Logan…” My mom pleaded.

“Mom, just go. Please. I’m tired. I want to rest.” At th
at moment I would say anything if it meant I didn’t have to face my dad.

“Okay
, honey. I’ll come back,” she said, brushing her hand over mine. My mom stood and walked out of my room, but my dad stood firm in his place.

“Why are you still here?” I wasn’t going to be able to hold myself together much longer.

“I’m not leaving,” he said. “You’ve been through hell and back, and I’m not leaving.”

“Dad
.” I warned, forcing myself to look at him.

He shook his head at me. “I’m not leaving.”
He walked up to me, rolling the monitor I was connected to out of the way. My dad planted a hand on my shoulder. “Son, it’s okay to feel once in a while.”

“Dad, you don’t have to put up a front. I know you blame me. I understand. I know I’m not the Jr. you’re proud of. I know I’m responsible for Pépé and Nana’s death…and I know I’m responsible for Scott
, too. I know it all. There’s no need to pretend that you don’t hate me so we don’t have to pretend. ” My heart shattered at the thought that Scott may die.

“Logan Peter Colton, Jr. you look at me right now goddammit!” My
dad raising his voice never really happened so it took me by surprise. “Right now!” He bellowed again. His voice boomed off the walls and I felt like I was a kid again. I turned to look at the man whom I slightly resembled.

He ran his hand through is hair. “Look…I should have done this years ago. This may not be the most appropriate time to tell you this, but it’s been long overdue. You were never to blame, son. Never. I was wrong for ever placing that burden on you. That was my own shortcoming for not knowing how to deal with my own grief over losing my parents. But Logan, you are my son the same way Scott is. If anything happened to any of my children, I would cry the same tears for each of you.” His voice cracked. For the first t
ime in my life I watched as my dad’s normally contained face reflected sorrow, showing the wrinkles around his eyes.

“But this time it i
s
my fault.” I would never want to leave Brooklyn behind, but if I had to switch places with Scott I’d do it with my very next breath.

“Logan, it’s okay to be scared, but it’s not okay to blame yourself. You don’t control nature, or crazy drivers. You can only control you
rself.”

For the
first time in a long time, my dad grabbed my hand. My eyes began to sting.

“Dad, I can’t go through this again
.” A foreign feeling washed over me. I hadn’t cried since the time I twisted my knee in junior league.

“Son, it’s alright,” he said reassuringly. I clung to his hand tighter. Tears began to fall from my eyes. I turned into my dad and pulled at his shirt. He didn’t say anything. He just cupped my back and pulled me in closer.

“I can’t fucking do this, Dad, not again.” Pain bloomed in my body with each uncontrollable heave, but I didn’t care. The outer pain was nothing compared to the inner pain I wished would subside. I was too fucking tired. Tired of dealing with death. I was tired of being the grim reaper’s helper.

Scott couldn’t die. He just couldn’t.

But despite everything, my dad patted my back as if to say things were going to be okay.

A while later the door to my room creaked and my eyes slid open. I hadn’t realized I’d fell asleep.

“Babe?”

Her voice did my heart good. Brooklyn appeared from around the corner and slowly approached the bed.

“Brooklyn,” I murmured. I was so glad to finally see her. It felt like an eternity since I’d laid eyes on her last. “Come here.”

“No. It’s okay. I don’t want to touch you. I might hurt you.” She stood in front of my bed, making no effort to come closer.

“Babe, you can’t hurt me anymore than I already am. Look at me” I turned the corners of my mouth up to give her a weak smile in an attempt to reassure her. “Now come here. Please.”

A solitary tear rolled down her cheek as she walked up to the side of my bed. She ran her hand over my bandages and gave me a long once over. She didn’t say one word, but I could see the fear in her eyes. I attempted to pull the blanket up higher to hide my injuries. All I wanted to do was ease her mind. “I’m here, Starburst.”

As soon as I said those words, she fell into my chest and let out a whimper. “I thought.
..I didn’t know what to think, Logan.”

“Baby, don’t cry. I’m here. I’m okay.” She clutched at the blanket wrappe
d around me. I used my free arm and pulled her to me. Even though her weight made me cringe, I pulled her in tighter. I needed her just as much as it appeared she needed me.

She sat up and swiped her fingers under her eyes, wiping away her running mascara. “I’m just glad you’re okay.” She gave me a weepy smile. “Or kind of okay, anyway.”

“Sounds like I’m lucky to be alive,” I said.

“I know. What happened? I mean, how much do you remember?”

“Honestly, I can’t tell you, babe. Scott and I were making a quick stop to grab bagels before our morning meeting and then everything went black. I felt the initial impact, but I don’t remember much else.”

She reached up and brushed my hair off my face. “I need to tell you something, in case I never get the chance to tell you again.” Her voice was unusually solemn. ”I thought I was in love before you…but now I know you really are the love of my life. When Damon said he loved me, I believed him. But when you say you love me, there is no equivalent. I don’t just hear your words, I
feel
them. So if you were to leave me now…” her voice broke off and she wiped another tear from her face.

“Brooklyn, look at me.” She lifted her chin and I saw the torment in her espresso eyes. “I’m not going anywhere. Unfortunately for you, even if you wanted to get rid of me, which as we both know, you’ve tried,” I said trying to lighten the mood, “I’m still here.”

Her face softened, and the anguish in her expression eased, so I continued. “Whether I’m here or gone, I’ll never stop loving you. You are my thousand reasons to smile, Starburst, and nothing is going to make me give that up.”

I fought through the bullets of pain in my side to pull her close to me again. I wanted to smell her hair, her scent. Be near her. She was the only thing that was making any sense right now. We were two broken people but at the end of the day, she understood me—accepted me—and I was willing to fight for her. To fight for us.