[COMPLETE]
When Hanna Haddad embarks on what's supposed to be another uneventful summer as a lifeguard on Cape Cod, a trip to the past comes as an unnerving surprise. The discovery of her estranged mother's journal opens up the world of tragedy and...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Two distinctly male voices talked over my head, all one incomprehensible jumble of English to me. Arms twitching, I winced at the pain surging through my body. Oddly enough, my back hurt more against the unforgiving hardwood floor than my beaten jaw.
"I think she's waking up." I couldn't make out the voice, but I felt a presence next to me on the ground. "Shit, shit, shit."
"Get away from her, man," another voice spat. Alex. "You did this to her. You're making me wish I smashed your nose in on her behalf. Maybe for once we'd be even."
"I didn't think she would shove herself between us," he said, his voice slightly cracking. "You know I would never touch a woman that way. I am not your father."
"Fuck you, Jesse. Just fuck you."
I let out a shuddery breath, straining my eyelids and cheek muscles. The whole left side of my face radiated red hot pain, from the bottom of my jaw to my pounding temple. A light hand touched my right cheek, fingers just dancing over the skin.
"Hey, Hanna, can you hear me?"
I groaned and forced my two eyelids open. The sunlight streaming through the blinds burned what was underneath.
"Can you two just fucking shut up?"
"Oh, thank God," Jesse breathed, sliding his hands down his thighs in relief. "I'm so sorry, Hanna. If I'd known this would have—"
I drowned out his phony apology, head too heavy to even lift from the ground, let alone comprehend more bullshit. Alex slid a hand to the middle of my back, the other on the underside of my knees. He gently pulled me off the hard ground and into his chest, arms trembling beneath me.
"Hanna, I'm so sorry, really, I had no idea you were even next to us—I got so caught up—"
I cut him off, my voice coming out in a weak garble. "Shut up, Jesse."
His face broke in the same way Alex's had when he'd deprecated their relationship earlier. I wished I'd had more tasteful words than that phrase, but my pounding head couldn't take any noise, no less a bumbling apology.
"I'm going to take her to the hospital. You stay out of it."
Alex said nothing else to his stepbrother, pushing him aside to take me to the driveway. He put me down a few steps in, testing if I could walk on my own, but my world was still a blur. A couple steps in, and my head almost smashed into his metal car door, leaving him to lunge forward and haul me up again.
"Th-thank you," I breathed as he helped me into the passenger seat. Sagging into the cushion, I pulled down the sun visor mirror to get my first real look at my face. I sucked in a breath. The bruise emanated a deep reddish-purple already, somehow making the one on my chest from before look like child's play. "I th-think I'm okay now."
