My voice startles her and she screams and begins to scramble.
“It’s me, Tuck.”
I go down to my knees and place my hands on her hips, trying to roll her over to see me, but she fights me off like a wild beast.
“Hey. Hey, now, it’s me, Tuck. Look at me, Blue. Look at me.”
Her eyes dart up to mine, and when we she connects with me, the amount of pain filling her is like nothing I’ve ever experienced, and it takes me back to my own living hell.
“Where is he?”
“Gone.”
Her sobs start, and I try for more information while carefully cradling her to my chest. I feel like a dickhead, but totally relieved when I noticed her panties are still on and not torn.
“Blue, help is coming.”
“No, take me home.”
“You need to go to the hospital.”
“No.”
Her instinct to fight me kicks back in as she tries to scramble from me. In her weakened state, there’s no way she’ll ever be able to escape, but I don’t want her to hurt herself any further.
Holding her securely with one arm, I dial Noah and give him our location, and explain the situation as quickly as possible.
“Okay, Blue, we’ll go to my house. You can’t fight me. You’re hurt.”
She settles easily back into me when I remove the threat of the hospital, and I know it’s because she doesn’t want her parents to know. It’s just something Blue would do, but she’s going to the hospital.
I hear the roar of Lane’s truck on the opposite side of the row of trees.
“Blue, I’m going to pick you up and take you to my house.”
It kills me to lie to her. I didn’t think anything would be worse than pushing her away these last few months, but I just found it. She cringes as I stand with her and then wails from sheer pain. My fists clench and I see red, ready to fucking kill whoever did this to her.
With each steps she cries out, and I know she has to go to a hospital. She doesn’t have a choice. Her body goes limp as I near the fence and the truck comes into view.
“Fucking Noah, be careful.”
It takes every single ounce of willpower I have to let go of her.
“Is she alive?” Noah asks, his eyes wide with horror.
“She just passed out.”
I leap the fence in one swoop and jump in the back seat.
“Give her here.”
Noah passes Blue’s lifeless body to me. Leaning down, I let her breathing tickle my ear and rub the side of her jaw that’s uninjured.
“She refused to go to the hospital and panicked when I brought it up.” I look up into the other three worried faces. “She has to go.”
Sophie crawls over into the back seat and lays Blue’s head in her lap and begins crying and kissing her delicate skin.
“She doesn’t want her parents to know. They just flew out a day ago.”
“She has to go to the hospital,” I repeat mindlessly.
“They’ll call the cops.”
“I don’t fucking care.” It comes out as a roar. “She needs help.”
Blue jumps at my face, throwing her arms around my neck while wincing in pain. Sophie rubs her back and talks to her.
“Your parents won’t find out. We are going to the hospital, Blue.”
Chapter 17 Blue
“For the tenth time he didn’t rape me.”
The nurse glares, and I know she’s had it with me.
“It’s protocol.”
“I’m not an idiot. No.”
She leaves the room, and I hear Sophie let out a loud breath in the corner chair.
“You shouldn’t be so damn stubborn, Blue. They’re just trying to help you.”
“He didn’t rape me.” I sit up in the bed while a sharp pain attacks my right side. “It’s just like I told the cops. He threw me down. I blacked out for a bit, and then got my pepper spray.”
I don’t even want to know what would’ve happened if I didn’t wake up. Actually, I know exactly what he would’ve done. The curtain rustles and Tuck and Lane rush to my bedside. And in the oddest of moments as time stands still, I still can’t make eye contact with Tuck. His voice saved me from my demise. I heard him and then fought, and somehow I associate it with the attack. It should be in a good way like the king on the white horse who saves the kingdom, but for the moment it’s the complete opposite.
I turned to see my attacker, anticipating his face, and then my world turns upside down. I’ve managed to keep the hospital from calling my parents and coaches. Being eighteen and protected by privacy acts have been my only allies. Looking down at my wrapped knees and then rubbing the pad of my finger over the road rash on my jaw, I feel ashamed and embarrassed.
“Blue Williams.” I look up into the face of a doctor with an officer behind him. “We are ready to discharge you. It looks like no broken bones, just a slight fracture in your right rib. You’ll need lots of rest and no strenuous activity for a couple weeks.”
I twist my fists into the sheets, and Tuck must notice, because he steps up and untangles my hand from the bedding and holds it in his.
“I’ll send you home with some painkillers and ointment for your skin.” He pauses and gestures to the officer behind him. “Blue, you really need to file a report.”
I gently shake my head, and the doctor opens his mouth to argue, but Tuck interrupts him.
“I have all the information and will be taking care of her over fall break,” Tuck says while rising to his feet, but not letting go of my hand.
“You have my card.” The officer nods and leaves the room.
The doctor begins speaking again. “Your discharge nurse will be with you in a minute.”
“I’m not going home with you, Tuck.”
I don’t wait until the curtain is swept shut to blurt out my words and make eye contact with him, and strangely, it doesn’t sting as badly as I thought it would. He doesn’t talk to me, but stares down at me with his relentless glare.
“Take me to the dorms, Tuck.”
“Your bags are packed and you have no choice, Blue.” He lowers his large frame to the edge of the bed. “I’ll drag your bratty ass out of here screaming and kicking. I’m not leaving you. I should’ve been there with you.”
“Tuck, you hate me. I disgust you, and you only use me to get your rocks off.”
My fingers are squeezed to near pain in his large palm. “Blue, you have two choices. Go quietly, or fight it the whole way.”
“Transport here.” A doughy-faced young man walks around the curtain, pushing a wheelchair.
“Perfect. My truck is waiting in the u-drive out front.”
Tuck stands and gathers a couple bags that I hadn’t noticed sitting on the edge of the bed, and when I think about it, I don’t remember much since being checked in here, or what day it even is.
“What day is it?” I ask as I sit up in the bed.
“Sunday afternoon.”
“I’ve been here…” I try to wrack my brain.
“We brought you in last night around eleven. They’ve been running tests.”
My feet grace the cold hospital tile floor, and Tuck’s on his knees slipping on my sandals. I hate that he’s the one doing all of this.
“Where’s Sophie?” I want her helping me, not Tuck.
“She and Lane just left.”
“To where?” I ask with a raised eyebrow.
“He’s taking her home for break.”
“She just left me?” A pang of hurt hits me hard, and it’s worse than the sharp pains in my side.
“I made her leave.”
“Uh?” I look down into his dark eyes.
“I see the hurt on your face. I made her leave.”
“Why, Jones?” As his last name slips from my tongue, it sounds odd. I hear his teammates call him by it all the time.
His palm runs up my calf, caressing uninjured skin. “Because, Blue, it’s time you meet the real Tuck.”
After all the hurt, denial, and longing for this man, he just spiraled my lust over the edge for him into straight and pure love.