I black out and when I come to, I have no idea how much time has passed.
Oh God. It’s growing dark, and all I can hear is the water churning in the nearby river. “Rochelle, please answer me. I’m sorry. I take it all back. I take it all back.” I blink trying to get my tears to stop but it’s not working. “Colter. Tell me you guys are okay. Don’t shut me out.” I pull on my seat belt, but it won’t budge. “Someone help. Help,” I scream till my throat goes raw.
“Can anyone hear me?” A man calls out, trying to open Colter’s door.
I go to speak but my voice dies in my throat.
He gives up on the other door and yanks mine open. “I’m ok,” I manage to croak out.
“Don’t move. I’ve called 911.”
“I need to help my friends.”
He glances to the front of the car and drops his head, scrubbing a palm over his mouth. Reaching around the seat he checks Colter’s pulse first.
“Is he breathing?”
“I’m no doctor. Can’t be sure.”
“Rochelle?”
“I can’t reach her from here.”
“I need out of this car.”
The man pulls a knife out of his pocket and cuts the strap of my seat belt.
I lean forward to touch Rochelle, but the man stops me.
“I wouldn’t,” he warns.
“She’s going to be okay. Right?”
He ducks back out of the car. “Over here.” He waves his arms.
I climb out of the car on shaky legs.
Sirens wail in the distance, growing closer with each passing second though they seem like hours. Please let them be okay. Please, God, save my friends. I drop to my knees and pray. I beg for forgiveness. I’ll give anything.
I’ll take it all back.
I’ll give him up.
God if you’re listening please hear me.
Chapter Twenty
I can’t breathe. I can’t speak. She’s gone. Both of them are. It’s all my fault. I did this. I killed Rochelle and Colter. I heard them as I was being loaded into the back of the ambulance. One survivor. Minor injuries. The seat belt saved my life. I’m alive and they’re dead.
“Alexa, honey.” My head snaps up at the sound of my mom’s voice. The curtain to my bed in the ER is drawn back. “Sweetheart.” She rushes toward me, and I wrap my arms around her.
“She’s gone, Mommy. I killed her. I killed my best friend.”
“Shhh,” she shushes me and kisses my forehead next to my bandage. I think it’s the only real affection my mother has shown me in years. “You did no such thing. You weren’t even driving. None of this can be pinned on you.”
“Colter...Rochelle. They were mad at me.” I cry harder. Snot bubbles out my nostrils. “It’s all my fault. I killed them. Why didn’t I die too? I should be dead. Not them.”
“Can’t you give her something to calm her down?” I hear her murmur to someone.
I curl up in a ball on the hospital bed and pray for God to take me too. This has to be a bad dream. It can’t be real. My best friend can’t be gone. She just can’t be. Every time I hear footsteps I look to the crack where my curtain is pulled watching for her shoes. It’s always a nurse or someone here for another patient. My mom had to go fill out paperwork for the insurance or whatever. I keep praying she’s going to come back any second now and tell me there was a mistake. That Rochelle and Colter will be fine. That they are here too, and I can see them any minute now.
Heavy footsteps sound in the corridor. I can sense him before I see his riding boots through the crack. James is here. How do I face him right now? How do I look this man I love more than my own life in the eyes and tell him that it’s my fault his daughter is gone? I hold my breath waiting for him to open the curtain and tell me he hates me. That he wishes it were me who died in Rochelle’s place. It’s my greatest fear—losing him for good, and it’s about to come to fruition.
The curtain is yanked back but it isn’t James. “I was sent to check on you. You need anything?”
I shake my head. “How...” I struggle to find the words.
“Not good, but he did ask me to make sure you were okay.”
“Okay.” I laugh bitterly. “My best friend is dead, Nickel. Nothing is okay. It should’ve been me.”
The handsome man blows out a breath. Colorful tattoos snake up his arms.
“What are you doing here?” I hear my mother question as she enters behind him.
“Ruthie asked me to see how Alexa is.”
“Can you take me to them?”
“You’re not going anywhere, young lady. Not until I speak with the doctor.”
Nickel shoots me a wink and steps out. I’m sure he was sent as my bodyguard or to make sure I don’t take off. Maybe both. Perhaps he’s here to kill me for what I’ve done.
“Does dad know?”
“Your father didn’t want me to come, but you’re my daughter. I tried to raise you right, but you keep going down
