Page 37 of Wylder & the Rising Rockstar
“Logan?”
“Hmm?”
He looked so content, so happy, her gut clenched at how she had to break the bubble they’d been in all day. Today was a good day. It had started with Logan, and it would end with Logan.
The next few moments would define how this day was remembered. The bad always overrode the good. “There’s something I need to tell you.”
“I’m listening.” And he was. She could tell. Logan’s eyes held to hers, ready to hear whatever she had to say.
“Luke—“ Her words cut off when a loud knocking on the common room door filled the silence.
“Hold that thought. I’ll get it.” Logan slid from under the blankets and walked into the common room.
Wylder’s entire body deflated. She’d come so close. She expected Logan to return quickly, and when he didn’t, warning bells went off in her head.
Reluctantly leaving the warmth of her bed, she opened her door, surprised to see Ms. Jones standing in the common room. The faculty and administration made it a point not to enter the dorms, and Wylder could tell by her face something was wrong.
“What is it?” She joined Logan.
Ms. Jones looked between them. “I stopped by Logan’s room and was told he’d be here.”
Logan wrapped an arm around Wylder like he needed her to hold him up. “Sebastian was in an accident.”
Wylder’s eyes widened. “Is he—"
“He’s hurt,” Ms. Jones said. “We don’t know how badly yet, but he is alive. He was driving back from Nashville this evening.”
Logan nodded, his face showing no emotion. “He left yesterday after classes got out to go meet with my uncle. They’re still looking for Luke. I didn’t expect him back until tomorrow.”
Ms. Jones gave him a sympathetic look. “He’s at Riverpass Medical. I’ve been asked if you can go and thought I’d bring you myself.”
“Wylder too?” Logan’s voice held a desperate note like he needed her to say yes.
“I’m sorry—"
“Please.”
The headmistress looked at him for a moment before nodding. “Very well. You’ll need the support. Grab your coats and I’ll call Wylder’s parents to let them know.”
On the way out the door, Logan dialed Luke, probably knowing he wouldn’t answer. When the voicemail picked up, he spoke. “I don’t know where you are, Luke, but Bash has been hurt. This isn’t about you and me right now. He’s always been there for us. If you care about anything other than yourself anymore, get to Ohio. He’s at Riverpass Medical.” He hung up without another word.
Wylder didn’t know what exactly was wrong with Sebastian, but she couldn’t help picturing the smiling man she’d met over the summer as Ms. Jones uttered words like “possible internal bleeding” and “head injury.”
She gripped Logan’s hand harder, not wanting to let go.
11
Wylder had never spent much time in a hospital. She’d been lucky that way, she guessed. She’d never had to deal with injuries to her parents, to her brother. When her birth mother died, she hadn’t even known it was happening.
So, it was perfectly explainable that for once in her life, she didn’t know what to say. Right? That the moment she saw Sebastian lying in the hospital bed, all thoughts left her brain, leaving her to stare at him like a useless fool, unable to help Logan make sense of this, unable to comfort him.
She was his girlfriend, and she had nothing to say.
Sebastian had been on his way back from Nashville early, but they didn’t know why yet. Why couldn’t he have waited until the morning? Maybe then he wouldn’t be lying here. So much that happened in life was up to chance. Sebastian had to leave at the exact moment he did to be in the perfect position for the Riverpass teenager to slam into his car, forcing it off the highway and into a ditch.
Ms. Jones had explained to them the car hadn’t flipped, thankfully, but the windshield shattered, and Sebastian suffered some pretty severe injuries. A broken arm that now sat in a cast. A concussion from the airbag. They’d done tests to check for further trauma and internal bleeding.
As Wylder and Logan approached Sebastian’s bed, a doctor stood to the side. His voice reached them. “You were lucky, Sebastian. We found no signs of internal bleeding, and your head trauma seems to be limited to a pretty nasty concussion. I don’t want you falling asleep tonight. Do you have someone who will be with you to keep an eye on you? You shouldn’t be alone.”
