Hear Me Now (23 page)

She nods
slowly, but before I can say anything more, her lips move first.

“I most definitely do and knowing Bruce Murphy, I wouldn’t put it past him to help his son out if he got a call asking for it.”

Would Dillon really call his dad and ask him to set up a fight? Would what happened with us really push him to that point? I saw him that day in the locker room when he told me his secret, what he’s been holding onto since he was twelve. He doesn’t like it, doesn’t want to be a part of it and was so afraid to get close to me because he didn’t want to drag me into it. I can’t believe that the way he was that day would change with what happened tonight.

It’s obvious from the look on my mom’s face though that she do
esn’t think the same way. She can definitely see it and it’s that look, the fear I see in her eyes as she stands from the sofa and makes her way into the kitchen that drives me forward.

Following her into the kitc
hen, she motions to the phone. “Did Dillon ever tell you where these fights were held?”

“A farm.” I say and armed with my
answer she picks up the phone and starts dialing.

“Who are you calling?”

“Kayden. If there’s anyone that would know where this farm is, it’d be him.”

Sliding into a seat at the table, I wait and watch as she starts speaking. She’s moving so quickly that right now I know it’s impossible to keep up, but with the way her mouth curves up and down the entire tim
e she’s on the phone, there’s no doubt that whatever she’s heard it’s bad.

“What did you find out?” I
ask nervously, not sure I want to know with the way she’s reacting.

“Jim Brown before he died had a farm. It’s on the outskirts of Wexfield, which is why I didn’t know about it. Kayden says it’s been abandoned for years but if there was a place in town that people would use for underground fighting, it would be there.”

“So what do we do now?”

“Kayden is on his way over. He’s going to c
ome with me and we’re going to the farm to check it out.”

“I’m comi
ng with you.” If she thinks she’s gonna keep me away from this, especially since I’m the reason for him doing it at all, she’s mistaken.

“Caddy, you have no idea what you’ll be walking into if this is what I think it is.”

You don’t need to protect me from this. Dillon told me how bad it is. He also told that he hates doing it. I know it’s not going to be pretty.
I sign to her, not trusting my voice anymore to get the words out.

So many different scenarios are running through my head right now that it’s hard to keep up, but the one thing I’m able to focus on is my need to be there with them. If Dillon is there, no matter what shape he’s in or even if he doesn’t want to see me, there’s nowhere else I need to be.

Mom’s right. I never gave him the chance to get to know me.

I just hope by the time I get to him, it’s not too late to start.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Cadence

The minute I step out of the car when Kayden pulls up in front of the barn, I’m met with an overwhelming smell of manure, which with how abandoned the place looks, doesn’t add up to me. Putting my fingers to my nose, attempting to block out the smell, I start moving toward the barn door, not wanting to waste any time finding out what I’m going to see on the other side.

There are cars parked around the side of the building which means my mom was right making the call earlier. When I told her that Dillon fought in a barn, I knew deep down this is where he would be, but I’d been holding out hope for a better result. If she
hadn’t jumped on it and we ignored it then god only knows what would be happening now.

I had to put a stop to whatever waited for me on the other side of th
e door. Unfortunately, it looks like Kayden and my mom have other plans.

I f
eel the strong grip on my shoulder before I’m pulled back and even though it’s not a touch I recognize, it’s easy to see its Kayden. When I’m pulled back far enough, his hold on my shoulders never breaking, he comes around to face me and the grim expression on his face tells me everything that his words can’t.

“Caddy, I know you wanna run in and get him, but we gotta do it together.”

As right as he is, I still want no part of it. What does Kayden know anyway? He hasn’t spent real time with Dillon in months. He probably doesn’t even wanna help him out right now.

As my mom
makes her way up to stand beside Kayden, nodding her head as she does, agreeing with what he said, I resign myself to the fact that I’m going to have to do this the way they want. As much as I want to rush in there, find him and drag him out even if he hates me, I know it’s not smart. I might not be going in blind, but being unable to hear anything going around me could spell disaster. As stubborn as I am, even I can’t deny that.

Taking my hand and leading me slowly toward the door, my mom right on our heels, Kayden wraps his hand around the handle and pulls on it slowly. It’s only when the door is cracked wide enough for me to see around it that I catch all the people sitting around on chairs, some jumping up out of them, their mouths wide open, probably yelling at what’s taking place directly in front of them.

Making our way inside, we let the door close easily behind us and take in what’s going on. It’s following everyone’s eyes to the center of the room that I see what all the fuss is about. Why people are jumping up, obscenities flying, at least the ones I can catch with as fast as everything is moving.

There’s a big guy, giant looking from where I’m standing and he’s on top of another guy, his arms moving up and down every few seconds as he hits the guy hard, one punch after another until the guy on the grounds face turns to the side.

My ability to see, how sharp my senses are because of not being able to hear, show me exactly who the person on the ground is the minute his head lops to the side. It’s Dillon and not only do his eyes look like they’re rolling back in his head, but there’s blood, a lot of it, on his eyes, his mouth and at the top of his head.

It’s seeing him like this, my
breath catching in my throat, heart beating out of my chest that my lips part and I’m screaming. I feel the rumble in my throat, the force I’m using even though I can’t hear the sound. At first it’s just a scream, but the minute I try to move toward him, being pulled back by Kayden, it stops being a scream and it’s his name, over and over.

I need to get to him. I need to get this big giant guy off him and we need to get out of here. He shouldn’t be here like this. Looking
at him now, how still his body is, I’m already scared I’ve gotten here too late and he’s already lost to me.

Kayden releases the hold he has
on me, turning toward my mom and saying something I can’t quite make out before turning back and making his way forward. When he moves, even though I’m sure he’s not expecting it, I move with him, not willing to let him get within a foot of his old friend without me by his side.

Turning to me, his eyes blazing with an anger I never got to see during my time at school, he levels them on me and speaks slowly, making sure I catch every single word he says because he’s warning me.

“Go back with your mom, Caddy. I’m gonna get him out of there, but not if you’re with me. I don’t want you getting hurt.”

If he thinks for a second that I care about what could possibly happen to me, he’s lost his mind. I know what he’s trying to do and it’s sweet but there’s no way he’s doing this alone. I’m going to help him get Dillon out of there if it’s the last thing I do. I don’t care what happens to me.

I’m the reason he’s like this to begin with. It’s only fair that considering I caused it, I be the one to fix it. Dillon’s not the only one that struggles with their need to fix things. I do too and right now I need to help him so I can figure out after how I’m gonna fix the situation I put us in.

“No.” I sign and as expected, he turns his head toward my mom, not understanding what I’m saying. It’s in that split second when he turns that I make my way forward and before I know it, I’m hitting the big guy with as much force as I’ve got.

I know I’m not gonna be able to stop someone like him but I’m gonna try.

When the big
guy turns around, his focus off the broken body on the ground in front of him, I start shoving at him again, this time balling my fists and hitting him. The smile that appears when I land my first hit makes me furious so I hit harder and faster, wanting nothing more than to wipe the smug look off his face.

It’s only when his hand comes out in front of him that I real
ize what’s about to happen and moving in an attempt to stay out of his grip, I trip over Dillon’s leg and where I expect to feel the ground below as I fall, all I feel is air. Looking up, I see that the guy’s got a grip on my jacket and he’s yanking me up.

Getting involved, just like Kayden said, was a bad move and now that I’ve done it, there’s no way out. I’m trapped and my attempt to get Dillon out safe is gonna fail, just like everything else has with us from the start.

His hold begins to loosen on me before he can make his next move and wondering why, I search around me. It’s when I make out the side of Kayden’s head behind the guy that I realize what’s happening. Kayden’s coming to the rescue, attempting to take the guy down so that I don’t end up the same way as his old friend.

Bending over from the impact of whatever it is Kayden did, the guy drops me and I hit the ground hard. Wanting
to react to the pain but needing to check on Dillon more, I turn my head and what I see, it turns my stomach. His chest is moving up and down, but it’s weak. His eyes are shut tight, having been knocked out from the repeated blows to the head I watched him take and it takes everything in me not to scream again.

He’s not supposed to be like this. It wasn’t supposed to happen this way. I was supposed to protect him from this so that he would never have to do it again. He’s doing this because I pushed him away.

Even though it hurts, I inch my body slowly over to where he’s passed out and bringing my lips to his cheek, I press them into it, kissing him, wanting him to at least know that he’s not going through this alone.

My body aching and my head pounding, I rest my body beside his, bringing my head down on his shoulder as close as I can be and finally allowing my body to rest. Kayden, I can see out of the corner of my eye is still going at the guy that did all of this and I can
even make out another older man, attempting to pull him away. Unable to take any more of what I’ve seen and the way I’m feeling, I completely shut them out and focus on the feel of Dillon’s heart as it beats into my hand, becoming weaker with each passing second.

My last thought as my eyes close and I allow my body to succumb to the pain it’s in is simple.

Someone needs to stop this. Dillon, if he makes it out of here can’t be forced to go through this again. I can’t let him go through another second of this and it’s because of one simple fact.

I love him.

Dillon

When my eyes opened the first time, my last memory of Ricky over me wailing away on my face, I expected to see clouds, bright light and a whole lot of angel wings. Ha, who am I kidding, the only thing I expected was a whole lot of darkness and maybe even a face to face showdown with the devil himself.

It’s what I deserve.

The way things went down was nothing like that. I woke up in a hospital room, an IV line running straight up my arm, and a whole lot of pain running through every single part of my body. If this is what hell is, it seems fitting.

Even with my blurry vision, a byproduct of the beating my face took no doubt, I can see the room is empty. At least it looked empty until I shift my aching body in the bed and hear the grunt from the other side of the room.

“Wondered when you were gonna wake the hell up.” The voice says and it’s only when he steps forward and throws his body down into the chair beside me that I see who it is.

Kayden.

My memories, they’re hazy after the last shot I took when Ricky slammed me down
onto the ground, but I do remember seeing him for a split second before everything went dark. I remember thinking that Kayden being there was wrong, since he had no idea about any of it. Now that he’s here, I suppose I can get answers.

Well I could if I my damn throat wasn’t so dry. Even pulling my lips apart hurts.

“Looks like you’re the one that needs the paper and pen now, huh?” Kayden laughs and I feel like forcing myself up just so I can hit him. Thing is, he’s right. Talking right now is obviously not gonna happen so if I wanna get answers, I’m gonna need another way.

It’s not lost on me how everything seems to have turned around and I’m the one that’s mute. It makes all those names I called Isabelle, Eric and the countless others I’ve picked on over the years hurt even more than I already am physically. The way I was is physically turning my own stomach.

I’m such an asshole.

“Here,” Kayden says, putting the pad and pen on my chest. “I still think you’re a total douche, but right now you’re a pretty screwed up one. You need all the help you can get.”

The first thing I want to ask him the minute I lift up my hand and grab the pen, wanting to know why he was there to begin with, it fades away as an even more important one rises to the surface. There was someone else there with him and right now, she’s what I care about.

Cadence was with you. Where is she?

“She’s in a room down the hall. Apparently one look at you and she lost her fucking mind.” He says and my stomach turns over again. He can’t possibly mean what I think he means, right?

Lost her mind how? What happened to her? Why is she in a room down the hall?

Seeing my questions and somehow sensing my desperation, he places a hand on my shoulder and takes a deep breath.

“Slow down, man. Seeing you the way she did, she went after Ricky. I got involved, he dropped her, but she hit her back and legs pretty hard when she fell. They’re checking her out. It’s nothing too serious.”

Cadence, the girl that earlier in the night told me she didn’t want to be with me, got involved and was hurt trying to protect me. It’s exactly what I warned her about that day in the locker room. I did end up hurting her with everything I told her even if I wasn’t the one that literally did the hurting.

Shit.

This is all my fault.

You think you can get a wheelchair in here? I need you to take me to her.

“I’m not taking you anywhere, Dill. Your body is fucking destroyed. I get why you wanna do it, but man, seeing you like this, it’s not going to help her. Think about what you’re doing.”

He’s right. Of course he is. He knows about this better than anyone. He doesn’t realize it, but that story
he threw around last fall when he was out for three days after the dance, I knew it was bullshit. He thought he was hiding stuff so well but I knew better. Dean has been knocking him around for years, even if he didn’t talk to me about it and it was because of him that Kayden was out.

It was pretty easy to put together when Dean ended up locked away and word spread all over town. Wexfield is nothing if not the hub for gossip and shit talking. The adults wer
e even worse than the kids with it.

I’m pretty sure that he wouldn’t want Isabelle seeing him after what happened so I know what he’s getting at about me showing up in front of her with the way I look. I don’t exactly know how bad it ended up being, but if the way he’s looking me over is any indication, it’s gotta be pretty damn gross.

How bad is it?

“Her or you?”

Me. You said that it wasn’t bad with her.

“You’ve got two black eyes, a slash through your right eyebrow that’s pretty damn deep. They gave you stitches for it. When we brought you in, your arm was dislocated, but it looks like they put it back together nicely since it doesn’t look like a limp noodle anymore. They’re gonna take you for x-rays on your back soon, there’s some concern about your spine. A few other things going on with your face, but I think that’s about it.”