Page 136 of My Best Bet

I choked out a laugh, which immediately made my head pound. I tried to think back to the last thing I remembered, but my head was all foggy.

“How are you feeling?” Lucy asked with her wide innocent brown eyes.

I went to pat her head, but I was met with resistance. Looking down, my eyes took in the hospital gown, the sling holding my right arm in place, and the wires going into my other arm. Déjà-vu slammed into me, making my breathing go ragged.

“You’re okay,” Piper said hurriedly, standing above Lucy. “Collarbone got fucked, but–”

“Ooh, that’s a potty word!” Lucy interrupted her.

Piper grimaced down at her. “Sorry, but yeah, your collarbone got… smoked?” She looked to Lucy for approval. Lucy gave a nod. “We think it happened from the airbag. And you have a concussion and some bruises, but you’ll heal up fine. You’re lucky that’s the only damage. That was quite the accident. You caused a five-car pile up.” She must’ve noticed my panicked face, because she quickly added, “Everyone’s okay. You had the worst damage.”

Her words echoed around in my brain, but I couldn’t seem to untangle all the details. “My knee?” I was still too afraid to move it.

“All good,” Piper said immediately.

Squeezing my teary eyes shut, I slowly moved my knees up. Relief hit me like a tidal wave and tears steamed down my face.

“Oh no! Why are you crying? Are you sad?” Lucy asked with worried eyes.

“No, she’s relieved, honey,” Piper said quietly.

Using my left hand to clear my face, I nodded at Lucy, and that’s when I realized the two of them were wearing matching brown yoga pants, zip-ups, and ugg boots. Both of them wore their hair in slicked back half-ponies.

“Did you guys go shopping?” I choked out a laugh then immediately winced because of the migraine erupting in my head.

“Yes!” Lucy giggled. “You like our outfits?” She struck a pose. “We’re fabulous! And guess who else matches us?”

“Who?” I gently laid back on the pillow and grinned at her.

“Carl! I love him so much,” she gushed. Her face went serious. “Do you think Dad will let us have a kitten? I just want onesobad!”

Piper let out an evil cackle. “Mark my words, Colt Conover is gonna be a cat dad!”

Just hearing Colt’s name made my heart ache. Being in the hospital was already triggering me, being here without him made it so much worse.

“Is he coming?” For some reason, I could picture his warm brown eyes staring down at me in this bed, trying to implore me that I was okay, but I couldn’t recall if that was a dream or not.

“He’ll be here soon.” Piper’s smile went a little crazed, so I immediately knew she was hiding something.

“Everything’s okay?” I asked hesitantly. “Everyone’s okay?”

Her eyes shifted to Lucy. “Everyone important is okay,” she said ominously, then she dipped down to Lucy’s level and took out her phone. “Wanna watch skating videos?”

“Yes please!” Lucy bounced with excitement.

Piper pulled up her and Patrick’s free dance program from last season before moving closer to my bed. That’s when she dipped closer to me and hurriedly whispered everything that had transpired while I’d been laid up here.

After she finished, my mouth gaped open.

Piper’s eyebrows went up. “Yupp.” She popped thep.

I didn’t even know what to say. I sat there gulping like a fish out of water. Even though I already spent the last few weeks mulling over the possibility that Catherine Conover had somehow manipulated our lives, I was still shocked she could be so evil.

My heart squeezed for Colt. He probably felt blindsided. When we recounted our pasts to each other, I immediately jumped to her as a culprit in our demise. He did not. He refused to believe that his mom was capable of hurting anyone. But that’s because he was a good person. He couldn’t fathom purposely trying to hurt anyone– his teenage self was destroyed when he accidentally injured someone in a game. Finding this out– finding out that his mother was a killer– that probably shattered his sense of reality.

“Is Colt okay?” I whispered.

Piper shrugged helplessly. “I mean, as good as you can be when you find all that out. He wanted to come here straight away, but you were still out, so Kappy and JP assured him we would look after you and they took him home and made him shower first. They should be here soon.”

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