That thought makes a sob rise up in my throat. If what Aiden accused him of is true, I can’t face my father right now.
Fuck, I don’t know who I can trust anymore.
Hot tears sting my eyes, and I blink them away, lifting a hand to my face to brush at my cheeks.
I don’t see the car that runs a red light up ahead until it’s too late.
Headlights veer toward me, and my heart clenches. A gasp escapes me as the bright light nearly blinds me. My body reacts on instinct, my foot stomping on the brakes even as I twist the steering wheel. Panic shoots through my body, a surge of adrenaline so powerful that it makes me feel ill.
In the half-second I have left to process what’s happening, I already know it’s too late.
I hear a sound, crashing and shattering all at once, then the world flips on its head. Everything tumbles before my eyes like a washing machine gone wrong. I have the fleeting thought that time is elastic, snapping but stretching at the same time.
It’s all wrong. This is wrong. This isn’t how it’s supposed to end.
A loud screech is the last thing I hear before everything goes black.
* * *
Aiden
Fuck. No!
My heart lodges in my throat as I see the car run the red light, veering across traffic in a collision course with Rose’s vehicle.
It only took me a few moments after she left the house to shake off the haze of anger and frustration clouding my mind and go after her. I remember pulling out of the driveway just as she turned a corner at the end of the street, my head a mess as I cranked the wheel to go after her.
Even though I wasn’t sure where she planned to go, I knew I couldn’t let her leave.
But I was too far behind her to stop the crash.
All I can do now is watch it play out.
It all happens so fast. It’s not like a movie scene, not in slow motion, not dramatic and glittering. It goes by in the blink of an eye, and it feels like it tears my heart out with it. Rose’s car is t-boned by the oncoming vehicle, the sound of metal on metal as loud as a clap of thunder.
“Fuck!”
I slam on my brakes, stopping in the middle of the road before throwing open my door. I sprint out of my car, racing toward her as terror infuses my limbs.
The car is totaled. It skidded, turning to its side before stopping at a tree. It’s not wrapped around the trunk, thank fuck. Neither of them was driving fast enough for that. The truck that hit her is still in the intersection, turned slightly as if the driver realized their mistake and tried to correct their course, but it was too late.
Too late.
Too fucking late.
When I get to her car, the door is stuck. I can’t pull it open.
The window is crushed, most of it shattered out of the door panel. Rose’s blonde hair is tangled, thrown over her face from the force of the crash. I reach through the broken glass of the window and push it away.
She’s breathing, unconscious but still alive. There’s blood and something black on her face, marking her cheek. Her breaths are shallow, and there are flecks of glass in her hair, blinking like diamonds. It’s a perverse twist on the way she looked at the gala.
My heart sits in my throat as I fumble for my phone and call for an ambulance. Everything is a blur as I remain by her side, listening to the slow approach of sirens in the distance.
Please, god. Don’t let them be too late too.
The ambulance pulls up alongside us, lights flashing. Someone pulls me away from Rose, and my hands curl into fists. I’m on the verge of hitting whoever tried to take me from her side, but I’m vaguely aware of someone telling me I can ride in the ambulance. I have to stand back as they pull her from the car, a brace wrapped around her neck, her bright green eyes hidden behind closed lids.
The ride to the hospital is agonizing, and I can’t stop staring at Rose’s pale, still face the entire time. When she’s finally wheeled into the emergency room, I’m left standing in the waiting room, feeling as if my heart has left my body. As if all that’s left is an empty, vacant cavity in my chest.
