“Willow!”

I jumped, sucked in a sharp breath, and slapped my hand over my mouth to keep quiet. I could feel tears pressing against the back of my eyes.

“Brody, you have to go.” I jerked him by the arm toward the door. When he didn’t move, I looked at him and yelled, “Go!”

“Who are you yelling at, girl? You best be watching that smart mouth. Get your ass in here. Now!” he shouted.

Oh, he sounds really drunk. Please leave, Brody. Somehow, I hope you know I love you. Always will.

Brody walked slowly out the door. His eyes searched mine. Placing a hand lightly on the side of my face, in a broken voice, he said, “I love you.”

It took everything in me, but I made myself jerk away from his touch. “Goodbye, Brody.” I was screaming inside. ‘No, no, no! I love you.’ I couldn’t hear anything over the screams in my head and the blood rushing behind my ears.

The first tear rolled down my cheek just as I shut the door. I laid my forehead against the scarred wood and felt a sob ricochet through my body. It sliced through my insides like a shard of glass. Saying goodbye to Brody, hurting him, was more painful than anything I’d ever felt. It ripped through me more than any punch. It stole my breath worse than any kick, tasted worse than my own blood after getting backhanded. I’d gladly suffer through any of those to take back the hurt I’d seen in Brody’s eyes. The hurt I’d put there.

But he had to leave. If he’d seen Brody here, he wouldn’t have just hurt me. He would have hurt Brody.

I wasn’t worth it. I had to make him stay away.

Breathe. Just breathe. You’re strong. Breathe.

I sat in the emergency room, my arm cradled against my chest. I’d been there three hours, waiting to be called back to see a doctor. Ralph dropped me off with an order to call when I was finished. My mother wanted to come with me, but he refused. Said he hadn’t seen her all week and didn’t want her to spend time in the emergency room instead of with him. Of course, she acquiesced. Nice. Thanks, thanks Mom. Makes me feel loved.

Kids screamed around me. Their piercing wails echoed off the tile floors and bounced against the bare walls. My head pounded. The man to my left vomited into a plastic bucket, and blood dripped on the floor from a dish towel covering the teenaged boy’s arm on my right. I tried not to look at either of them.

“Willow Rutherford,” a nurse finally yelled.

“I’m here.” I got up and followed her to an exam room.

“Why are you here today?” she asked. She was pretty and had kind, chocolate-colored eyes. I tried not to look at her. I didn’t want to cry, and she had the kind of face that made me want to cry and tell her all of my secrets.

I’d protected my secret for so long, it was like a vital organ in my body. One I couldn’t cut out.

“I fell down the stairs and hit my shoulder against the wall.”

She wrote something in her file. “Who’s with you?”

“No one.” I hated how my breath hitched. I wasn’t just alone at the hospital, but I was truly alone. Brody’s face flashed in front of my eyes. The hurt look. The questions in his eyes. The love. I swallowed down the lump that formed in my throat and tried to pull myself together. One problem at a time. That was the only way I’d get through this. One problem at a time.

She nodded and jotted something else in her file. “Okay, the doctor will be in shortly. Do you want me to turn the television on for you?”

I looked at the small TV hanging in the corner of the room and shook my head. “No, thank you. I’d rather just lie down.”

“Okay, sweetie. Buzz if you need anything.” She walked out of the room, pulling the door closed behind her.

I looked around. It looked like any other hospital room. Scuffed white walls, scary-looking machinery, heart monitors, IV poles, and stuff I had no idea what it was. I hated it. Laying back on the gurney, I closed my eyes. I breathed deep, trying to ease the pain in my shoulder.

There was a quick rap on the door and a tall, white-haired man walked in. “Ms. Rutherford?”

“Yes?”

“I’m Doctor Sebastian. What brings you here?”

I sighed. I already answered this. “I fell down the stairs and hit my shoulder against the wall.”

“Can you move your arm?”

“No.”

“We’re going to take some x-rays and see what’s going on in there.”

“Okay, thank you.”

Minutes later, a guy that didn’t look much older than me pushed a huge piece of machinery into the room. “Rutherford?”

“Yes.”

“I’m from X-ray.”

He took several shots from different angles. It hurt like hell, and I cried out several times. “I’m sorry,” I said, biting my lip.

“It’s okay. I’m sorry I have to bend it around. I know it hurts, but I’m almost done.”

When he finished, he told me the doctor would be in shortly to discuss the results with me. I waited an hour for the doctor. I sat on the gurney with my eyes closed, trying to focus on something other than where I was and what had happened to put me there. But all I could see were Brody’s blue eyes and the hurt in them.

My forehead leaned against the door Brody had just walked out. Tears and flashes of the pain in his eyes were all I could see. I felt like I cut a piece of me out when I hurt him. And I knew I hurt him. I could feel the pain radiate from his body.

He grabbed a handful of hair and jerked me backward. I couldn’t hold in my small scream, and he smirked. Next to hitting me, his favorite thing was hearing me cry and scream.

“What the hell were you doing? Cheating on Jaden with some punk. Who do you think you are?” A punch to the side punctuated his question, and the air whooshed out of my lungs. Ralph let go of my hair, and I dropped to my hands and knees. I saw Jaden leaning against the wall at the end of the hall. He smirked at me.

I grabbed the staircase banister and pulled myself up, only to be on the receiving end of another of Ralph’s fists.

“You know the only reason someone like Jaden even looks at you is because I’m friends with his family. He’d never waste his time on white trash like you if it weren’t for me.” He wrapped his hand around my upper arm and squeezed so hard I knew there’d be bruises the next day.

He pulled me to face Jaden. “Jaden has graciously agreed to take you back.” He looked at Jaden. His voice softened and he even grinned at him. Grinned. It was sickening, and it made me hate them even more. “Am I right, son?”

“Yes, sir. There will be rules, of course.”

“Definitely. Willow needs rules and punishment to keep her in line. She seems unable to make good decisions otherwise.” Ralph slapped Jaden on the back like they were old buddies. “Good, good, I’m glad we’ve got this worked out. Let’s go have dinner. I’m starving.”

Ralph shoved me toward the dining room. My arm and shoulder hit the doorframe hard, and I felt a pop followed by a searing pain.

I couldn’t use my arm throughout dinner, and when I tried to move it, the pain was so intense that bile rose in my throat and I was sure I’d either throw up or pass out from the pain. I squeezed my eyes closed and tried to think of anything other than the agony sawing through my body.

“Willow? Open your eyes,” my mom asked when dinner was over, but I hadn’t moved from my chair. When I didn’t, she knelt in front of me and realized my breathing was ragged and a fine sheen of sweat covered my face. She turned and called to Ralph, who’d already plopped down in his recliner and commandeered the remote. “Ralph! Ralph, I think she needs a doctor!” She silently looked in my eyes and cupped the side of my face before helping me out of the chair.