The Broken Girl (Lonely Girl Book 2) (23 page)

“Bec!” Keegan says loudly. “Bec, can’t you hear me?” I nod and my head feels wet. “You are bleeding, Bec, let me look.” Keegan lightly touches my forehead and I wince. “It looks fine.” Everything that just happen registers and I get up, running around to the driver.

Sarah is lying there and I o
pen the door, pulling her from the car carefully. “Keegan, help me.” He helps me guide her down.

“I couldn’t even hit you right.” My hands fly up to my mouth. She had done this on purpose.

“I let your crazy boyfriend into your dorm, told him when you were getting off the plane, and even went as far as leaving threatening messages. What will it take to kill you?” Her words are slurring and Keegan is trying to pull me away from her. I look down and I see that there is blood soaking her pants.

“Keegan get help, the baby.” I say as quickly as possible. Keegan looks at me. “Get help
, Keegan.” He leaves and Sarah tries to move but she isn’t able to do much more then twist.

“You won.” With that
, her eyes go into the back of her head and she goes limp. “SOMEBODY HELP ME!”

***

Standing in the waiting room, being on the other end of those doors, and not knowing what is happening, I now know what I’ve put everyone through. They rushed Sarah in as soon as the paramedics got her here. They went into surgery and we’ve been waiting here. The doors push open and a doctor approaches us.

“Are you the family?”
he asks.

“No, I’m the father of the child
,” my brother says.

“We rushed her into surgery but we couldn’t stop the bleeding. She had lost too much blood and was hemorrhaging. We were able to p
erform an emergency Cesarean but that only further compromised her care. At that point, we focused on the baby as there wasn’t anything we could do for her.”

My brother is barely holding on and I grab his hand supportively. “Doctor, was the baby okay?” Not that I wanted this or want to think about this but I know my brother
does. He’s wondering if he just lost another part of this family.

“Your son is still very small but he is healthy. We will keep him until he is up on his weight. Once he’s clear to go home
, we will release him to you.” I nod as my brother stands there, and I’m not even sure if he has heard anything the doctor has said.

“I’m so sorry for your los
s. The nurses will come around to take you to your son.” The doctor goes to walk away but turns around. “What is his name?” I look up, never thinking my brother would have to do this all on his own.

“Michael Potts.” Just like that
, my brother is a father, and already one I’m envious of.

Everyone is quiet and no one is talking. A nurse
comes up and smiles at us. “I can take you in to meet your son now and one other person.”

Alec gets up and starts walking before looking back at me. “Becca, I can’t do this without you.” I quickly get up and catch up to my brother
, putting my hand in his.

“Thank
God you don’t have to, right?” He smiles softly and we walk into the nursery area. There are little button noses everywhere.

When we see the label Michael Potts
, we both stop. “You can do this, Alec.” He lets go of me and walks up to where his son is lying. The nurse picks him up and puts him in my brother’s arms. As soon as I see this, the tears begin to stream down my face. My brother is crying, holding his son, and they are all alone. No mom, just us. Michael is beautiful; he has my brother’s eyes and his mouth. Sarah’s hair color and nose; that’s all he will ever get from his mother.

“Alec, I have to tell you something?”

“Becca, I’m so sorry about everything. I never should have made you come here.”

I place my arm on him
, stopping him. “Alec, I was offered a job. I was going to drop out and go to school in Europe. Mom and Dad already know.”

He smiles at me. Not the reaction I was thinking I’d be getting. “Becca that’s amazing.”

“Alec, I can’t go, you both need me. I won’t leave you when you need me the most.” My brother walks up to me, placing Michael in my arms.

“Becca, I told you not to stay out of guilt. Besides that, I would never hold you back from this.” Looking down at my nephew
, I just want to protect him from everything in the world. “I know that look, Becca. I have that same look when I look at you. You are going to be an amazing aunt. One who lives in Europe and we visit regularly. Who sends all sorts of funny outfits and paints his nursery. But you are going to be an aunt who lives her life. The way she should. It’s always been art, Becca. Always. I want Michael to be able to be whatever makes him happy. We have to show him that.”

My brother had instantly turned into a father and I became an aunt. “Mom will be on the first plane and she will have no problem staying until I finish school. You were always meant for more than just this
, Becca, whether that’s being painted or painting. As long as you’re happy, we will be happy for you,” Alec says, as he brings his finger along the face of his son.

Alec had to deal with paperwork so he let me bring the
baby out to see everyone once the nurse cleared him. When I walk out to the waiting room, they all stand up, looking at me.

“Everyone
, this is Michael Potts, my nephew.” Charlotte is the first to steal the baby from me. Her and Drake just sit there, staring at the baby with so much love on their faces.

Jake hasn’t done much and is just sitting in the corner. “Jake, I know you wanted to be the dad
. I’m sorry,” I say, and he just looks up at me.

“I just wanted someone that needed me.”

“People need you, Jake. I’ve met your family and they love you. You are needed. Alec is going to need all of us for this. Yes, you can’t be the dad. But you can be one amazing uncle.” Charlotte brings the baby over and places him back in my arms.

Jake is watching him so closely. “Yes, I will be the coolest uncle.”

We hear a chuckle and look up. “Second coolest.” Keegan is standing in front of us with a huge grin.

“No
, fools, you both suck. I will be the coolest uncle because I’m going to be living with his coolest cousin and aunty.” I freeze at Drake’s words and he look up at me once he realizes what he’s done.

“What are you talking about?” Jake asks.

“Well, Alec is going to need more space so we will give him our room. Becca can’t live in the dorms forever. Only makes sense that we all move in together.” He is trying to cover up his mishap.

“Well
, then I guess it’s settled,” I say, putting the biggest smile on my face I can manage. Keegan hasn’t said anything. He’s just watching me.

I hand the baby over to Jake and he looks lost. “Just support his head. I’ll be right back.”

Walking over, I get Keegan’s attention and ask him to follow me. “Keegan,” I say, because I feel like I should just tell him now.

“No,
whatever it is, I don’t want to know.” He starts to walk away from me, leaving the waiting room.

“Don’t.” I beg
him to stay and he whips around on me. His face is flooded with unspoken emotions. I thought that if I told Keegan he would want to come, or at least have the possibility of seeing each other, but from what I see my heart stands no chance here.

“Keegan, do you blame me for Sarah?” I never thought about it until now but out of everyone
, Keegan was the one that actually had feelings for Sarah. He just turns to walk away from me again. “Keegan please don’t go.”

“Don’t you get it
? I don’t want to be here with you.” Keegan yells at me. I flinch and watch him walk away.

I gather myself before returning to the others.
They are all staring at me and this is the last thing I can deal with. “Well, time to get this baby back to his daddy,” I say, and I leave them all to say goodbye.

Alec is waiting for me when I get back; he’s looking out the window
as if it holds the answers he’s looking for. “Your phone rang so I answered it. It was Trevor,” Alec says.

“Oh
, what did he want?” I ask, questioningly.

“He said he was able to get a bigger place arranged for you and your cousin.” I take a deep breath
, ready for a fight. “I’m so happy that Charlotte is going with you, because that means Drake won’t be far behind.”

I laugh at my brother’s mention of Drake. “Yea
h, you are right about that.”

“What about Jake and Keegan?”
he asks.

“I wish I knew, but all I
can think is that some distance might be just what we all need.” He nods and continues looking out the window.

“Do they know?” Walking over to Alec, I wish I knew what to say.

“I’m not going to tell them. Once I’m already gone, they will understand. They will just try to stop me.”

“How soon can you leave
, Becca?”

When I get back to the dorms I walk into my hall and stop. Keegan is sitting against my door. When he sees me, he rushes up to his feet.

“Keegan.” I
say acknowledging him.

“Bec,
can we talk?” He looks so badly broken and I begin wonder if all this has finally weighed on him.

“Of course.” I unlock my door and wave him in. Looking around
, some of my art is still taking up residence on my walls. Keegan is just wandering around as if he’s looking for something.

“Keegan, I’m so sorry about everything
. This is all so crazy. I don’t blame you for being angry with me about Sarah’s death.” He just looks at me like he’s trying to figure out exactly how to break it to me.

“Bec, I was upset about Sarah
and blaming you for her death. But I know now that she came after you; I heard all the things she’d done. Everything that happened: with Dillon, the threatening notes, and of course, the drugs. Then trying to run you over. What happened to Sarah was at her own hands, and I don’t want you carrying that guilt with you.”

I don’t understand his answer. “Why didn’t you want to be there with me
then, Keegan?” I ask, trying to figure out what is going on in his poor head.

“I didn’t want to be there with you because I feel like you just fucking suck me into you. I feel myself gravitate to you and it’s fucking with my head. It’s screwing with me because I’m trying to hard just to be your friend but every nerve in my body is screaming at me, telling me to love you, to make you let me be in love with you. Being just your friend is making it that much worse because I still love you.” I don’t respond to his words I can’t. My heart is breaking and beating with happiness simultaneously because I know it doesn’t change anything.

“Please remember me
, Keegan. You have always been there for me. I want you to remember everything and all those times. I want to be able to be there for you,” I say, knowing if he remembers all the good and bad times, he’d agree that space is what we need.

“You’re beautiful, amazing
, and everything I could ever ask for. Losing my memory was the best thing that ever happened to me. It gave me you, in a new way; you were able to help build me into the man I’ve become. A man worthy of you, Bec.” His words are like spurts of electricity trying to jumpstart my heart. It would be easy to just stay here with Keegan in our own little bubble. The problem with that is there is always reality just on the other side, bursting to get in. It always does too; we can’t hide from the world. That doesn’t change the fact that tonight I’ve fallen in love with Keegan all over again.

“I’m sorry for blaming you
, Keegan. All I’ve done is hurt myself by hurting you. I’m done feeling that way.” No truer words have ever been spoken. I feel like this is exactly the way I can describe my feeling to Keegan. I’m ready to tell him and to let him know I’m leaving but he interrupts me.

“We were always meant to say goodbye
, weren’t we?” His words are my undoing. I grab him and bring him right down on top of me, onto my bed, kissing him eagerly. He is meeting me pace for pace. Giving it his all. Like he knows this was always meant to be.

“God
, you are so beautiful.” His words free me of any embarrassment or hesitation. I pull my own shirt off, causing him to be distracted at the sight of my scar. As much as I hate it, this reminds me of my time with Jake. When I try to move his hands away, he does something that Jake never did. Instead of telling me I’m still beautiful, he says the words I need to hear.

“Don’t
, Bec. Don’t you ever be ashamed of your scar. It means you were stronger than whatever tried to hurt you. Tried to take you away from us.” Staring into Keegan’s eyes, there isn’t anyone else I’d rather be with. No one has ever made me feel so accepted, and no one has seen me in such a true light. “Please say we haven’t lost us.”

My fingers lace with his and I bring one of his hands over my heart. “Never
, Keegan.” He brings his lips softly against mine, gentle and lovingly. Making sure I feel his love with every kiss. My patience begins to waver and so does his. We are both soon grasping at each other’s clothing, pulling them off. In seconds, we are both naked. He’s holding his weight off me and I wish this was how our first time could’ve been.
“We get a do over, Bec. We get to have this again. If you will let us.” His words are exactly what I was thinking, showing how in sync we have become since the accident. If I had met this Keegan, would there have ever been a question of whom I belonged with?