Page 97 of Begin Again

“It’s complicated?” I sighed, looking at Kaden’s reddened chin from close up. He was still staring at Dawn, stunned.

“You hit me,” he said, as if it had just registered.

“And probably broke my hand at the same time,” my friend blurted out, examining her fist. It was already swollen and the first two knuckles were red. I grimaced. That had to hurt.

“She hit me,” Kaden repeated, looking at me. If I hadn’t been worried about Dawn, I would have laughed at his shocked expression. “I think she hurt herself more than she hurt you,” I said, going over to Dawn. With an arm over her shoulder, I drew her into the apartment. “Let’s put some ice on that.”

“I was just so angry, because he’d treated you like shit and then you didn’t call, and I thought… forget it. Anyway he deserved it,” she hissed and at the same time grimaced in pain. A tear dropped from the corner of her eye. Dawn wiped it away with her good hand.

I dashed to the fridge and grabbed a bag of frozen tortellini, wrapped a dishtowel around it, and went back to Dawn, who was standing—confused—in the middle of our living room, as if she didn’t dare to sit down.

She looked me up and down. “Are you okay?” she whispered. Typical. She’d probably broken her fingers, but she was asking how I felt.

“Fabulous,” I said and noticed how this blissful smile was stealing over my face, kind of inappropriate at the moment. But I couldn’t stop it. Damned hormones.

“So he was nice to you after the two of you disappeared yesterday?” she probed.

“Yes. Very nice. He always claims to be an asshole, but in reality—”

“I can hear you—I’m right here,” Kaden snapped.

I ignored him and put the cool towel carefully on Dawn’s hand. She winced.

“You should go to the hospital,” I murmured.

“Let me see,” Kaden said, coming over. He took Dawn’s hand and examined it tenderly.

“That looks pretty nasty.” He raised his head and looked at me. “You’re right, she needs an X-ray.”

The three of us made our way to the hospital. In the emergency room, we filled out the forms for Dawn. The waiting room was packed, and it was hard for me to sit around like this. We waited and waited and watched—as her fingers kept swelling like balloons until she couldn’t move her forefinger and middle finger at all.

“It’s going to be okay,” I repeated for what seemed like the hundredth time.

Dawn and Kaden looked at each other across me.

“She’s just saying that to keep herself calm,” whispered Kaden too loudly.

“Yes, and she’s saying it because she feels guilty.” Dawn nodded in agreement. “After all, it was thanks to your fight with each other that I hit you. Well, that was at least sixty percent of the reason.”

“And the other forty percent was for Spencer?”

She nodded. “Someone had to avenge his swollen face.”

“That’s so honorable of you,” I said and grabbed her intact hand. We intertwined our fingers. Dawn was the best girlfriend I’d ever had. And even if I wanted to shake her for having hurt herself for my sake, we both knew very well that I would have done the same for her.

“If your ex crosses my path, I’ll give him what for, too,” I promised her.

She grimaced. “That would be great, but let Kaden show you first how it’s done. Otherwise you’ll end up like me.”

“Ms. Edwards?” a nurse called from across the room. “Please come into treatment room three.”

Dawn and I both stood.

“You don’t have to come with me,” Dawn said with a glance at Kaden.

“Cut it out. Of course I’m coming with you,” I said, and then turned to Kaden, considering whether to kiss him goodbye. But he made the decision for me. He grabbed my hand and murmured—his lips on mine—“I’ll wait here for you.” Then he kissed me, swift but firm. My face glowed as I followed Dawn out of the waiting room.

In the hallway, she dug the fingers of her healthy hand into my arm. “He kissed you.”

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