Arranged love

APRIL

I stand with my back plastered to Lucy’s bedroom wall with a clear view into her bathroom. Both French doors are wide open. Grave sits on the bathroom floor with her in his lap. Just like that night I found him; she threw up on him. He shoved his fingers down her throat to make it happen. Never thought I’d be so happy to see someone vomit.

But she’s awake. I can hear her softly crying. She trembles in his arms.

“Grave?” I hear a man call out from the front door.

“In here.” My voice shakes.

An older man enters the bedroom dressed in a button-down shirt and pair of black slacks. He carries a suitcase in his right hand, but he’s not alone. A man wearing a Kingdom T-shirt and jeans is right behind him. I remember him from the night the Mason brothers sent men to Roses looking for Ethan. It’s Grave’s brother, Bones. His angry blue eyes look me up and down before he dismisses me and makes his way into the bathroom.

“She’s coherent.” Grave starts talking to the doctor. “But she’s ingested too much.”

“What was it?” he asks Grave.

“I don’t know,” he growls.

My eyes start darting around the room, and I see the bottle on her nightstand. I pick it up and run into the bathroom. “Whatever was in here,” I rush out, holding it out to anyone who will take it. I recognize it from the video she sent Grave.

Bones yanks it from my hands and reads off the bottle. I’ve never heard of it before.

“Okay, Lucy,” the doctor begins, opening up the case he brought with him. “We’re gonna pump your stomach, sweetheart.”

“No,” she softly cries out and my chest tightens. “No … please …”

“Grave, I want you to sit with her back to your chest.” Bones helps Grave position the poor girl in his lap. “Good,” the doctor says once they’re situated. “Now reach around and hold her arms against her chest. Tightly,” he orders.

My hands come up to my face so they can’t hear me cry. They’re going to hold her down and ram a tube down her nose.

“Grave …” Her voice breaks. “Please don’t …”

He doesn’t speak to her, and I hate that he’s mad at her. This woman is in need of help. Has she always been suicidal? How many times have they had to do this to her? How many …?

“Bones?” I hear someone shout out his name.

“In the bathroom,” Bones answers.

Moments later, Titan enters the bedroom, and I see Emilee. Her eyes are red and puffy. She’s been crying too. She runs to me and wraps her arms around my shoulders. “Are you okay?” she asks softly.

I nod and sniff.

“Okay, Lucy. You’re going to feel a little pressure …” He looks over at Bones. “I need you to hold her head back for me.”

Bones grips her chin and tilts her head back where it rests on Grave’s chest.

“Noooo,” she cries out, fighting them as the doctor begins to feed the tube down her nose. She starts choking, and her body jerks.

Titan looks up at us, walks over to the bathroom door, and shuts them both in our faces, but that doesn’t block out her cries.

GRAVE

I SIT IN the waiting room at the hospital with April on my right and Emilee on my left. By the time Dr. Lane finished pumping her stomach, the ambulance arrived.

Lucy is going to be admitted and kept for a seventy-two-hour hold.

No one has spoken. I was surprised to see my brother show up at Lucy’s penthouse. I had April call Dr. Lane. He probably immediately called Titan who then called Bones. I know what they thought. April calling them crying about a girl named Lucy … They thought I was fucked up with her.

It’s happened before-other than the time April found me passed out on the floor at the Airport. I’ve never done drugs wanting to commit suicide, though. April was right-Lucy was crying out for help. And I’m thankful she wanted to go and check on her. Otherwise, she would have died there in her bed alone.

April lays her head on my shoulder, and I pull away from her. She looks up at me, those ice blue eyes no longer red from tears, but they look tired. I wrap my arm over her shoulders and pull her into me.

“Is she going to be okay?” she asks softly.

“Yeah,” I say, but honestly, I don’t know. Lucy has a long road with recovery. But my main concern is will she want to get the help she needs?

The emergency doors open, and I pull away from April to stand when I see Trey and Tanner enter. “Where is she?” Tanner asks the moment he spots me.Nôvel(D)rama.Org's content.

“She’s been admitted …”

“What the fuck happened?” Trey demands.

I run a hand over my hair. “She overdosed.”

“What the fuck were you doing with her?” He bumps his chest into mine.

I take a step back, lifting my hands. It’s been one hell of a day, and I’m not in the mood to fight. Not like this. Not here.

“He wasn’t with her.” I hear April snap from behind me. “She sent him a video …”

“April.” I shake my head, my way of telling her to sit down and shut the fuck up

“He saved her life!” she yells, not listening.

“April!” I shout.

“Sit your ass down, bitch!” Trey yells at her.

I turn back to face him, fist my hand, and punch him in his fucking face. So hard it shoves him back through the sliding glass doors. I walk outside but am shoved to the side. Bones comes to stand beside me and pulls his gun out of the back of his jeans

Trey steps up to the barrel. “Are you going to start a war over a whore?” he asks.

My brother cocks the gun. “Are you?”

Trey pulls his shoulders back and looks at me. Then at April. His dark eyes run up and down her body, lingering on her chest. It makes my blood boil knowing he’s thinking of her the way he was taught. Like the woman in the photo hanging in their office. He raises his right hand and rubs his chin, his lips turning up at the corner. “Did Grave tell you that my sister sucked his dick that night? Right before you found him unconscious on the floor.”

My body tenses. They know exactly what we did because there are cameras in there. I’m sure the fucker watched it.

April doesn’t say anything, but I can feel her anger instantly. Like a fire at my back, heating my skin. I stay facing Trey. As long as she’s behind me, they’ll have to go through me first.

He takes a step toward me. Bones keeps the gun pointed at him, ready to fire if need be. “And did he tell you that she drugged his drink?”

“Trey!” I snap.

“Is that true?”

I expected that question from April, but it came from my brother. I ignore him.

Trey laughs as his eyes land back on mine. “They expected you to be fucked up, so they never even questioned it.” He looks at April. “But you? You, of all people, I thought you’d give him the benefit of the doubt.” He looks her up and down again, this time licking his lips. “You were the name he called out while she was on her knees. And I’d like to know why.”

I lunge at him. My body hits his so hard that it knocks the wind out of me. We hit the concrete sidewalk, and I don’t even think. I just start pounding on his face. No way in hell will I let him touch her. He’s already sent his men after her once. It won’t happen again.

My fist hits the side of his face, and blood splatters the sidewalk. “Fucking touch her and I’ll saw your fucking hands off!” I warn.

I go to hit him again, but I’m yanked back by Titan. He shoves me to the side. I wipe the sweat off my forehead with the back of my bloody hand.

Tanner leans down and picks up his dazed brother. “Get the fuck out of here,” he growls.

“We have a deal!” I shout at him, and I want to know that he’s going to honor it.

He nods. “We have a deal.” Then he drags his brother back through the double glass doors into the hospital.

I’m gasping for breaths. My hand hurts, and I’m fucking tired. “Fuck!” I shout, turning around to look for April. “April?” I call out when I don’t see her.

“She went to the car with Emilee,” Titan reassures me.

I go to step off the sidewalk to the parking garage when Bones slaps his hand to my chest. “Was that true?”

I take in a long breath. “Why the fuck do you care?”

He sighs heavily, putting his gun away. “Grave …”

“I’m just a druggie with a death wish.”