I start to turn, but what I hear next pins me in place. Even if I could run and make it up the steep path without any problems, I don’t know that I could make my feet move.
“No! I won’t let you hurt her!” It’s Quinn’s voice, and I look up, shocked to see him throw out his arm to stop Madeline. She’s trying to run but her ankle clearly still hurts. Instead of being able to dart out of his way, she stumbles, and his arm hits her right in the middle of her chest.
“Quinn! Let me go, you asshole! Let me end this for both of us!” Her voice is a screech that echoes around the water. When the sound makes its way back to me, it’s twisted and distorted. Without thinking, I cover my ears and drop down to my knees. My skin crawls and my entire body feels like it’s on fire.
I know that this is just adrenaline, but it feels awful.
My vision starts to go dark around the edges.
“No, no, no,” I murmur to myself, trying to hold onto reality. This is, quite possibly, the worst time and place for me to pass out. Ever. Even though I try to fight it, I feel lightheaded. Planting my left hand in the dirt, I try to keep the dizziness from passing, but it’s threatening to overwhelm me.
I can hear Madeline and Quinn arguing. There’s a scuffling sound, but I can’t look up. I can’t see anything. Everything has gone dark. Slowly, I bend down, putting my forehead on the dirt. Taking deep breaths, I try to calm down, but my body is turning against me.
The pain from my wrist, the pain from my chin…the knowledge that my best friend wants to kill me and the only person standing in her way is the god of Trinity Prep? It’s too damn much.
Quinn shouts, a loud enough sound that I can’t help but look up. Jerking my head up from the ground, my eyes focus on his back.
But that’s all I see before everything goes dark again. This time, when I fall down to the ground, I can’t brace myself. My right wrist shoots pain up through my elbow, to my shoulder, and my core. By the time the pain is too overwhelming, all I can see is black.
And then nothing.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
“Abigail?” It’s Quinn’s voice calling me out of the darkness, and although I’m afraid to open my eyes and look, I have to know what’s going on. I need to know that everything is okay and that I’m safe and that Madeline is nowhere near me.
I peek at him through my lashes, trying to prevent him from knowing that I’m awake, but he sighs a sigh of relief and brushes my hair out of my face. I shiver under his touch. Every single time I feel his skin on mine, I long to snuggle into his arms and have him kiss me.
There’s no way for me to figure out when exactly I fell in love with Quinn, but I can’t hide the way I feel about him. I open my eyes, needing to make sure that this is real.
Also, I want to know where I am, because I’m not in the woods any longer. There aren’t any sticks or rocks digging into my back. I’m on a ridiculously comfortable bed and there’s a warm blanket pulled up to my chin. My right arm is out of the blanket, a splint back on my wrist, but nothing hurts. I’ve obviously been given some medication, but the right dose, it seems.
“Where am I? What happened?” There are so many things that I want to ask Quinn, but I’m happy to start small. I just hope that he’ll be honest with me.
Quinn sighs and settles down next to me, his weight causing me to roll a little towards him. Normally, I’d want to get away from him, but this time, I don’t mind. I think I actually like being a bit closer.
“I got you out of there, Abigail. You’re safe, okay? And you don’t have to worry about Madeline coming for you again, I promise. You’re safe.” He sounds almost like he’s trying to convince himself as much as he’s trying to convince me.
“Where’s Madeline?” Struggling a little, I push myself up on my elbows. “Is she…” The thought of her being dead, even though she was completely willing to kill me at the end, is enough to make me sick, and I can’t finish my question.
He shakes his head. “She’s not dead, Abigail, but she’s gone. Our mother came and took her after I went to her dad.”
“Mr. Britton.” The headmaster. I’d just found out that the two of them were related, but in hindsight, it made a lot of sense.
Quinn nods. “Yeah. He wasn’t pleased with the shit she was pulling, especially because it could have gotten her killed, so she’s gone. I promise you, you’ll never have to deal with her again.”
“Thank you.” For a moment, that’s all that I can think of to say, but then something else comes to mind. “But why? Why did you save me? The whole thing with the internship and the bet…” I don’t want to think about the bet, so I stop talking. I can’t think about what it was like to be with Quinn, and the fact that it was likely just a game to him…
I motion for water and he hands me a cup, waiting until I finish before he starts talking.
“There’s a lot for me to explain, so just sit back, okay?” I nod, and relax into the bed. The pillows are so soft that I could easily fall asleep, but I need to hear this.
He links his fingers through my
