“We have to, baby. You might have a concussion. Hospital and police.”
“No, no,” she kept repeating.
“Let me, wee yin,” Caleb said, gently pulling me up out of the way. And then he was even more gentle as he lifted Harper into his arms. She cried out, a shrill sound that made my stomach sink.
Caleb’s gaze flew to me, his countenance grim. “Her ribs,” he surmised.
“Broken?”
“Maybe just bruised.” He looked ready to kill Vince.
I was right there with him.
“Ava, please, no.” Harper began to cry pitifully as Caleb carried her out of the room. Jamie held the door for them and I hurried at Caleb’s back only to hear her whisper mournfully, “I’m so ashamed.”
Tears filled my eyes as my gaze connected with Jamie’s.
Empathy shone out of his eyes and he touched Harper’s arm, drawing Caleb to a stop. “You have nothing tae be ashamed of,” he said to her.
“Who are you?” she whispered.
“My brother Jamie,” Caleb answered. “Now let’s get going.”
“Hospital, police,” I repeated.
“I’ll call the police and wait here for them,” Jamie said. “I’ll make sure the bastard doesn’t get away before they get here.”
“I’m surprised someone hasn’t already called the police,” Caleb muttered.
I gave the room one last sweep. Everything was in its place except for that vase—and Vince’s sprawled body on the floor. “There’s not a lot of damage, so maybe not a lot of noise.” And if Harper had fought back, made noise, a neighbor would surely have called the police. Which means my friend had taken this beating without a fight.
I knew her history.
I knew her.
She blamed herself for staying with him. I feared she’d taken his beating as a punishment—a thought that made me feel sick. If that was true, we had bigger problems than bruised ribs and a concussion.
I squeezed Jamie’s shoulder as I passed him. “Thank you.”
He gave me a tight smile and nodded.
“Ava, keep talking tae her,” Caleb said as we hurried out of the apartment.
“What’s going on?” A belligerent voice stopped me on the landing while Caleb kept hurrying down the stairs.
I jerked around at the sight of Harper’s elderly neighbor, Mr. Haggerty, standing in his doorway scowling. “Mr. Haggerty, Harper’s hurt. We’re taking her to the hospital.”
“I’m calling the police.” He glowered at us.
“My friend already has,” I assured him. I didn’t have time to stick around, though, so I gave him a nod and rushed down the stairs after Caleb and Harper.
The entire drive to the hospital I made my friend recite recipes to keep her awake. When we got there and handed her over to the nurses, it took everything within me to hold it together.
Harper Lee Smith was my only true family and I had let her down. If I had just kept on at her about Vince—damn the consequences—there was a huge possibility we wouldn’t be at a hospital and Caleb wouldn’t have my friend’s blood on his T-shirt.
Twenty-four
The wait to hear how Harper was doing was excruciating. I just wanted to be by her side. Images of her before she met Vince, of her laughing, full of attitude, filled my head and I was terrified that those images would remain memories, that after all she’d been through this horrible end to a bad relationship would be the thing that broke her.
I clung to hope that if Harper was tough enough to make it out of her past, she was strong enough to eventually realize that what happened tonight had not been her fault.
Sensing that I was deeply buried in my own thoughts and concerns, Caleb was a silent support at my side as we sat in the waiting room of the ER. We were surrounded by people, yet every single one of them faded out of existence as I stewed in anxiety. That is … every single one except Caleb. I still felt him there. His strength and warmth beside me anchored me even if it seemed to the outside like I’d floated away from him.
“Harper Smith’s family?”
Her name jolted me out of myself and I rose to my feet, as Caleb stood up at my back. “Yes?”
The doctor, a young brunette with kind eyes, gestured to us and we marched over to her. “You’re Harper’s relatives?”
“She doesn’t have any blood relatives,” I answered. “I’m her best friend. I’m her only family. I’m her emergency contact on her insurance. Ava Breevort.”
“Okay. I’m Dr. Hunter.” The doctor lifted her hand in a calming gesture, sensing my building anxiety at the thought of being barred from Harper. “Ava, I can tell you that Harper is going to be all right. She’s got a fractured rib and a broken wrist. The wrist we’ve put in a cast, but unfortunately there’s not a lot we can do about her rib except administer pain relief while it heals. Thankfully her nose isn’t broken, but a deep cut on her eyebrow and left temple required stitches. Which brings me to what I am concerned about. Harper threw up while we were treating her and is feeling very disoriented. I’ve ruled out any serious brain injuries but I always ask that patients suffering from concussion have someone stay with them for at least forty-eight hours. This is just a precaution to make sure there aren’t any concerning changes in Harper’s behavior.”
“I can do that,” I said instantly. “She can stay with me.”
“Good. Now, I’ve given Harper some painkillers, but she’ll need bed rest and plenty of fluids. We’ll be a little while longer discharging her, but the nurse will let you know as soon as she’s ready to be taken home. Oh, and—” Dr. Hunter lowered her voice even further. “Harper has asked us not to call the police, however—”
“We called the police,” Caleb cut her off. “They’re on their way.”
I looked at him questioningly. He gave me a reassuring nod. “Jamie texted. The police took Vince into custody and Jamie’s on his way here. The police will be here shortly tae take a statement from everybody. Including Harper.”
“Right,” Dr. Hunter said. “Then Harper stays until the police have asked their questions.” She seemed appeased and left us to return to her duties.
As soon as she was out of sight, I just began to walk forward.
My feet slapped hard in my flats against the hospital linoleum floor as I rushed away from the waiting room.
I heard Caleb calling my name, but I only stopped when I reached an empty corridor with a vending machine in it. And then I bent over, my hands on my knees, and began to sob.
He could have killed her.
The bastard could have killed her.
Caleb pulled me up and crushed me to him, my arms automatically winding around his back to hold on tight as every feeling and fear I’d gone through that night spilled out of me with absolutely no control.
“I could have stopped this.” I sobbed, the words garbled. “I should have. If I’d just—”
“No.” He shushed me, stroking my hair. “You dinnae get tae blame this on yourself, wee yin. I won’t allow it.”
I did blame myself for not pushing Harper harder. But I heard the steel in Caleb’s voice and shut up. Eventually the hard sobs that racked my body calmed to silent tears that didn’t seem to want to stop leaking out of my eyes.
“Harper okay?” Jamie’s voice brought me out of my Caleb cocoon, but I didn’t lift my face from where it was pressed against his chest.
“Harper’s going tae be fine,” Caleb said, giving me a squeeze. “He messed her up pretty good, though.”
I tabulated her injuries in my head and felt my fear melt to wrath almost instantly. I lifted my head but didn’t pull out of Caleb’s embrace as I turned to Jamie.
His eyes searched my face and I knew I looked a mess but I didn’t care. Jamie informed me, “The police have Vince in custody. He still hasn’t fully come down from whatever drug he’s on and he pretty much admitted tae them that he beat Harper because she wanted tae break up with him. The police are on their way here tae take a statement from you two and Harper.”