Page 135 of Sapphire Spring

What felt like a breathless eternity later, there wasanother crack. Something zipped right past his shoulder, close enough to makehis entire body seize against his will—a bullet missing him by inches.

He lost his footing on a rock, slamming face first into thedirt.

The wind knocked out of him, he jumped to his feet. Dizzyand wheezing, he turned back in Chadwick’s direction by mistake.

One hand clamped over his crotch, roaring from the completedestruction of his balls, Chadwick raised the gun to fire. That’s when a ton ofnavy bluechrome exploded from the brush next to him.Naser had been too deafened to hear the car’s approach. Mason’s Lexus was goingso fast the tires had left the ground as it crested a rise in the earth. Thecar slammed into Chadwick broadside. His entire body bent at an impossibleangle, then he was a dusty tumble of limbs beneath the tires.

There was a moment of elation when he realized the gunhadn’t gone off.

But the Lexus kept going.

And it only had eight feet of stopping distance before thecliff’s edge.

It wasn’t enough.

When the taillights disappeared over the side of the cliff,Naser let out a scream he could barely hear even as it set fire to his throat.

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Shock warped Naser’s memory,upending his sense of time.

He was on a stretcher being wheeled through the ER as doctorsshouted questions at him over the ringing in his ears.

Then he was back on the cliff’s edge, screaming into thewind as the hikers who’d come running at the sound of Chadwick’s last gunshotsheld him back by both arms. And there, far below him, the Lexus had landed onexploded tires, nose decimated, air bags bulging so hard against the windowsthey crowded out any view of Mason within.

Then his sister was next to him, holding his tremblingwrists, kissing him gently on the forehead. Were they in the hospital or hadthey brought him home? The temporary deafness made time harder to track.

Then he was being wheeled into some sort of machine. A scan,someone told him.

Then hospital lights whizzed by overhead, and the ringing inhis ears was finally fading, replaced by the beeps and clamor of a crowded ER.And by the time he was back behind the curtain, the grip on his hand now wasfirm, a man’s grip. He looked up. The hand was Connor’s, and he was doing thatthing he always did when he was trying not to cry—pursing his lips together inwhat looked like a pout, his eyes wide and glazed. Logan stood behind him,holding his shoulders, eager for Naser to see that he was there.

Where’s Mason?He wanted to ask, but he couldn’tfind the words. Couldn’t find any words at all. His lungs felt small and dry.

Then he was back at the cliff’s edge, staring down at theruined Lexus sedan, one question screaming inside his head again and again.

Where’s Mason?

He heard the curtain pushed back on its rod, felt the energyaround him tense. He blinked, feeling like he was back inside his body for thefirst time. As soon as they introduced themselves as detectives, he heard hismother tell them to get lost—his mother was there? When had she shown up?Come back once I’ve managed to get the results ofNaser’s cat scan and a lawyer,she told them. They weren’tquestioning her son without either. Male grumbles followed, then his mothermade the high chirping sound she’d used to use while corralling their dog outof the kitchen, and the detectives were gone.

“Where’s Mason?” he whispered.

There was a tense silence. He felt a grip on his shoulder,his mother’s manicured hand. And he looked up into her dark, welcoming eyes.“Surgery, Naser-joon. He’s in surgery.” Hewanted to ask her why she’d hesitated before answering.

Nexthe heard his motherinterrogating the attending physician.

Normal cat scan results, a fewscrapesand bruises, but nothing physical.

Then the curtain was pushed back again, and this time it wasa familiar face, but a new one to this ER. Jason Maleki, his bald brown headgleamingand his eyes full of alert sympathy. He was one ofhis mother’s oldest friends, and a lawyer. Mahin cleared out their room, andNaser gave his account, describing it all like something he’d witnessed from adistance. Because that’s how it felt.

He told them everything that had happened that morning.

Everything Chadwick had done to him in high school.

And when he described the instance of sexual assault behindthe bleachers, his mother’s hand closed over his and held to his tightly, andhe heard her let out a small, choking gasp. But she stuffed it down quickly,determined not to center herself in this awful moment.

Then they were leaving the ER, their whole entourage walkingin a kind of formation, with Naser flanked by his mother and sister, andConnor, Logan, and Jason Maleki tailing. The corridors seemed endless andadministrative—they didn’t pass any gurneys or wheelchair-bound patients. Thenhe saw two men he assumed were the detectives he’d heard earlier outside thedoor to a small conference room.

Connor, Logan, his sister, and his mother, they all peeledaway, and then Jason was showing him to a chair across from the detectives andthey were around a wooden conference table. He told them everything he’d toldJason and his mother in the ER. They listened attentively, asked a questionhere and there.

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