Cover Up (Cover #2) (20 page)

I called to her repeatedly
, but she never responded. When I checked her pulse and realized how faint it was, I lost it. I screamed for help before realizing that no one would hear me over the loud music pounding through the place.

Reaching in to the inside of my sport coat for my phone I called for help. It would take them a few minutes to arrive and I just couldn’t wait for them, I rechecked her pulse frantically
, but couldn’t find it. Swiftly, I pulled Emily away from the table and placed her on the floor, straddling her.

1, 2, 3, 4, 5

I began CPR and counted in my head, tilting her head and giving her mouth to mouth. I couldn’t lose her, I recited in my head while I continued pumping her chest.

Please don’t leave me.

A crowd formed around us, watching as I pleaded with Emily’s too still body, tears streaming down my face. And I continued my count.

1, 2, 3, 4, 5

I repeated this a few times and checked again for a pulse. It was slow and faint, so I released the breath that I hadn’t realized I had been holding just as the paramedics pushed through the crowd and reached Emily.

Please
, Emily. Don’t leave.

Chapter Sixteen

EMILY

When I woke up, all I felt was pain radiating down my head, neck, and back. The sound of the beeping machine next to me told me I was back in this place again.
The hospital.

I grunted at the thought of being back here, in this place
. I slowly opened my eyes and they tried to adjust to the harsh florescent lighting.

What the hell happened?

It was then that memories came flooding
back, and I remembered what I had happened. The pain was excruciating. I tried to sit up on the bed. I ran my hand through my hair and found the stitches on the side of my head.
Charlette!

I
saw her. She was there at the bar. She grabbed me from behind, and her gloved hands struck me in the head with something hard. While white hot fury surged through me, more memories flooded my mind.

The g
ala.

Sex.

Cheating.

Yelling.

Screaming.

Car.

Phone.

Scream.

Hospital.

Darkness.

ADAM

Suzie and Diana both met me at the hospital an hour after I arrived with Emily. The doctors were still checking her out, leaving me sitting on the same cold, blue plastic chairs that I had sat on two weeks ago.

“What happened?” asked Suzie the minute she burst through the front door, tears
already falling from her eyes, and she hurtled into my arms. The gentle, vulnerable act caught me off guard. I had only seen Suzie in her tough-girl guise. But not tonight. Tonight, she wept in my arms like a small child, releasing all the pent up emotions she had desperately held back for the past few weeks. I cradled her head in my hands, while she leaned against my pounding chest. My anxiety hadn’t eased one bit since arriving at the hospital.

“Is she ok?” choked Suzie against me.

I wasn’t sure. The blood. So much blood was pooling from her head onto the table that it scared me, but I wouldn’t tell her about that.

“Hey. You know Emily is strong
, right?” I offered instead of the truth.

“What happened
, Adam?” came a voice off to the side. I had forgotten about Diana, who had come in with Suzie. I looked at her to see tears streaming down her face, and instantly knew she was beside herself. I knew she felt out of place, being her, and yet her love for Emily couldn’t keep her away.

Stretching my arm towards her, I invited her in
and pulled her into my arms along with Suzie. I hugged both women as I explained what happened. They sobbed against me, drowning out the noise the hospital made, but all I heard were wails.

“Mr. Owens,” I heard
and all three of us shot our heads up to find a young doctor, who appeared to be in his late twenties, standing behind us in blue oversized scrubs and matching crocs.

We
spun around and the girls dried their faces against their hands. I hadn’t realized that I been crying myself, until Diana swept her dainty hands across my cheeks, collecting the tears which had fallen at some point of our three-way embrace. It was such a Diana thing to do that I didn’t pull away, nor was I alarmed by the gesture. She was doing what she had always done, making sure I was ok and trying to take care of me. It made me smile inwardly for a split second before the young man’s voice interrupted my thoughts.

“Ms. Roberts is awake now, she had a minor episode a few minutes ago
, but we have stabilized her. Please, follow me if you wish to see her,” he said before turning and leading the way.

The relief we all felt was
inexplicable as we made our way to Emily’s room. I still wasn’t sure what happened, but I told the police what I knew happened at the bar.
Someone had attacked her.
.

EMILY

It was all back. Everything. All the memories I had lost were came back with a vengeance. I was exhausted, both mentally and physically drained, while I lay in the uncomfortable hospital bed.

This must be a different hospital
.
I thought as I shifted into a somewhat more comfortable position.

A small knock on the door made me spin my head around. A bad move when you
’ve suffered a head injury and have a massive migraine.

Suzie was the first person I saw
come through the door, followed by Adam, and then Diana. My gut clenched, but not because I hated her. All I felt was pity. I recalled our conversation a few weeks ago when she confessed her betrayal.

“Roberts, I swear you are making a career out of scaring the shit out of me,” scolded Diana
when she reached the hospital bed and hugged me tightly, almost too tight, but I didn’t complain.

“I’m sorry for scar
ing you guys. It just happened so fast, there wasn’t time to react.”

Adam came up close to me and stroked my hair. “What happened
, baby girl? I was only gone for a few minutes. Who did this to you?”

His eyes were sad
while as he stared at me awaiting my answer, but I hesitated. If I told him what happened, I’d have to confess that I remembered everything and not just a piece here and there. I’d have to deal with what Diana had done to me. Deal with Charlette and Julien having sex behind my back. Deal with the fact that I didn’t love Adam anymore. Deal with the hurt it would cause him to know that Diana had been successful in tearing us apart. I stared at him, wide-eyed, while I weighed my options before wrenching my eyes away from him and they fell on her…
Diana.

I hadn’t spoken to her about what she had done. I wasn’t sure if I could emotionally handle whatever excuse she thought up to give me. What could she possibly
say that would make her actions ok?
Nothing.

There
was nothing that would ever clear the air between us. She had fucked up royally as a friend, and the thought made me sadder. Had she only been a friend to me, I could possibly handle being around her, but she was more than that to me.
She was my sister.

Since the moment I showed up at her apartment looking for a place to live, we had been inseparable
- but now… We were nothing. Not friends and certainly not sisters.

Maybe it was time I dealt with it all.
Lay all my cards on the table and let them fall where they may. Adam had been right the other day. I always considered myself a strong person, but if I were really fucking honest with myself, I would have to admit that I was a coward. I always ran when the shit hit the fan, and I was tired of it. Sick of running away and yielding to whatever problems arose. I did this when I was a child with my own mother. I always ran and hid when she got drunk and wanted to beat me. I was an adult now. A grown ass woman. I needed to stand up and face the music. Go toe to toe with the shit storm that had become my life and put things back in order.

“I need to speak to Diana. Alone.” The words were out of my lips before I had a chance to stop myself.

Adam was noticeably confused. He looked at me for a second longer and silently asked what I was doing. I nodded my head, signaling to him that I was fine and safe.

He sighed
, stepped aside, and left the room, pulling a surprised Suzie behind him; leaving a scared Diana to face me - alone.

“Before you say anything
, Emily, I need to tell you something,” she said softly, her red-rimmed eyes pleading with me silently. For what, I wasn’t sure. Did she want my forgiveness? Did she expect me to put it all behind us? Or that we’d resume our
friendship
, like her betrayal had never happened?

I nodded my head towards her and she sucked in a breath before clearing her throat to continue. She didn’t move any closer
. She stood in room’s center, an equal distance between herself, the bed, and the door.

“I wanted him. Adam. I had wanted him from the moment I saw him. We were at the coffee shop near my apartment
, I saw him when he came in, and instantly fell in love,” she began. A smile crept up on her face as she stared down on the floor reliving her memories.

This should be interesting…

“He was so confident in his little chef’s uniform that I felt like my heart melted at the sight of him, but of course I never said anything to him. Instead, I talked myself into talking to him the
next
time he was at the shop. I figured that if he showed up again while I was there that it would be a sign,” she continued.

I rolled my eyes
, but she didn’t see it - her eyes still fixed on the tile floor in front of her, a smile still etched on her face.

“I didn’t tell you about
it because there wasn’t really much to tell, yet. You told me that you had started seeing someone, but I hadn’t met him. So I had no idea it would be the same man from the coffee shop. How was I supposed to know, really?” she asked and looked up for the first time since she began, holding my gaze with apologetic eyes.

“A week later you
introduced me to the man the coffee shop. I was surprised, of course, but pushed it aside. I was happy that you had found someone. I pushed Adam completely away, not wanting to harbor feelings for my best friend’s boyfriend, but Em’ it was just so hard,” she muttered and began to cry.

“That night
…I was stupid to come on to him. Even stupider to break you guys up. For that, I will not stop apologizing. But there is more that you should know.”

I didn’t
reply. I simply stared at her waiting for whatever else she was about to tell me. I knew it wouldn’t be good.

“After you guys broke up. I tried to be there for him. I didn’t want to see him
suffer. I mean….I loved him, you know …and I felt so guilty.” She was biting on her nails, shifting from foot to foot.

“That’s because you were guilty.”

She nodded her head in agreement and continued, “It didn’t take long for us to grow closer. We spent a lot of time together.”

I
eyed her suspiciously, as she withdrew her gaze. Was she saying what I think she was saying?

“What do you mean you spent a lot of time together? You two dated?” I demanded with a roar.