Page 87 of Riding the Pine

CHAPTER 35

Scott

Apollo’s in the shower. I fell asleep on his couch, and he left me where I was. When I came to, I helped myself to a midnight snack of a pint of ice cream from his well-stocked freezer and turned on his enormous TV.

Edith isn’t home, so she can’t get cranky at him for having a friend staying over. Though she’s been around all of us for so long now, she’d probably have encouraged me to stay anyway.

Apollo’s phone vibrates on the coffee table. I’m verging on ignoring it until Athena’s picture on the screen catches my eye.

“Hey, Bright Eyes, Pollo’s in the shower. I can get him to call you when he gets out.”

Silence.

My stomach hardens.

“Athena?”

Still nothing.

The clock on my phone screen tells me it’s after one in the morning. Every single thing in this moment feels wrong.

I’m on my feet putting my jacket and shoes on in a fraction of a second. “Athena? Baby? Talk to me.”

She sniffs. My heart splinters into a gazillion pieces in an instant.

“Sc-Scott?”

She never calls me Scott. It’s Scottie, Gizmo, hardly ever Scott.

“I’m here.” I try to keep my voice warmer than the artic chill freezing my insides.

“I-i-i” She bursts into a fit of sobbing, and my blood surges in my veins. Whoever made my girl cry is about to die.

“Tell me where you are, Bright Eyes. And what I’m walking into.”

“Library,” she whispers. “I think. I’m hurt.” Her voice shakes so hard she’s either cold, or in pain, maybe both. “Bring a Ziploc and a spoon.”

The fuck? “I’m going to call you back on my phone, okay? I’m on my way.”

Before I’ve even hung-up Apollo’s phone and dropped it back onto the coffee table, I’m dialing her with mine. There’s nothing but silence and the occasional sniff and whimper down the line as I make the quick trip across campus to the library.

I park next to her car under the streetlight. Finding her keys a few feet from her bumper sends more dread coursing through my body. I don’t know what I’m about to find, but I know I need to steel myself, steady my emotions, and help her before all else.

Pulling our locator app up on my phone, I’ve never been gladder that the five of us have each other. I keep talking to her in hushed, level tones, telling her I’m on my way, assuring her that I’m close while I make my way toward her icon on the screen.

For some reason, she’s behind the library. Everything about this entire situation is wrong, my body is crawling with anxious energy, but I can’t let my fear and anger take over. I need to figure out what’s actually happened and deal with it instead of letting my brain run to the worst-case scenarios.

Maybe she fell. Hopefully, she fell. Hopefully, she dropped her keys out front, and somehow fell around the back, and… this isn’t working. The rational part of my brain can’t see anything other than danger.

Her leg is sticking out from behind the building as I approach, and my stomach curdles. I know for sure it’s her leg because there’s a motion detected light that switches on as I walk toward her. Her fancy-pants shoe is off, it’s lying a couple feet away in the grass. Her pants are down below her knees and bile rising in my throat makes me cram my fist in my mouth so the wail that wants to break free stays inside.

I can’t panic. I can’t react. I need to be strong, to keep it together, and get through what I’m about to see with minimal reaction. I don’t have time to react. I need to get her to safety.

I swallow a dozen times as I close the distance between me, and her limp body. Her eyes snap open as I approach, wild with the terror of a cornered animal. The relief in them as recognition of who I am clicks shatters my heart even further.

I make a move to rush to her, but she shakes her head. “Photos.” She’s got a lisp, struggling to speak, the dark purple bruise spreading on her jaw suggests someone punched her, and despite the warring in my chest, the demanding animal inside my body yearning to rip someone apart limb by fucking limb, my first priority is my girlfriend.

Always.

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