Savage Little Lies by Eden O’Neill

Chapter Nineteen

Sloane

I was pacing the hospital when Ares Mallick waltzed into the ER, and I twitched.

What the fuck?

The past few hours had been a complete mess, and I was still trying to figure them out. It’d started when I’d been ripped from my sleep by my brother. I’d been having another weird nightmare about my mother when I heard him vomiting.

He hadn’t stopped.

I’d run into his room to find his head in a trash can, body halfway off the bed. Immediately, I raced out of my room. He’d been sick, but he hadn’t been vomiting. I started to call 911, but he stopped, and after, somehow convinced me to let him go back to bed. I had for a time, coming back to my room myself, but I’d ended up texting Ares.

Honestly, I didn’t know why.

I supposed I’d been panicking, and with everything going on with Legacy, he should have been the last person I texted. Technically, he’d been the second person I’d attempted to contact, the first being Callum. He hadn’t picked up since it’d been so late, and I guess I thought Ares might be a good alternative to help try to convince my brother to go to the hospital with me. Being Bru’s friend from the football team, I figured he may have some pull with him where I didn’t. My brother was freaking stubborn as hell.

Within moments of the text, Ares had gotten back to me. He’d texted right away I should call 911 after I’d explained what happened, and I felt like an idiot for hesitating in the first place. I’d started to call, but then I’d heard a thud. I’d returned to my brother’s bedroom to find him collapsed on the floor, unresponsive and barely breathing.

Yeah, I hadn’t fucked around after that.

I’d called an ambulance right away, and though the whole event in question happened hours ago, it seemed like it just happened. It kept replaying in my head. The paramedics rushing in, my brother on the floor. My brother not moving.

I felt like I’d died inside, every moment pulling me closer and closer to that point of insanity I’d teetered on since I’d gotten to this town. If I lost Bruno, I didn’t know what I’d do.

He was all I had.

They had been able to get my brother stable in the end, get him responsive. He’d woken up, but he was barely lucid, and I’d ridden with him and the paramedics over to the hospital. I’d tried calling Callum on the way, but again, hadn’t been able to reach him. I’d tried calling Dr. Richardson too, my brother’s doctor, but it just must have been too late. He hadn’t answered either, and he’d just seen my brother this morning. What was crazy was he’d said he was doing better.

This wasn’t better. This wasn’t better at all,and here I was with no answers. When Bru and I had arrived at the hospital, the staff wouldn’t let me in the back. Some kind of accident had happened on the highway, I guess, and they weren’t allowing a lot of foot traffic back there. Hospital reception told me a doctor would come out, see me and give me an update on my brother, but they never had.

This had left me basically walking a hole through the fucking floor, and though not many things could shock me further tonight, Ares Mallick showing up did. For starters, he’d told me he was out of town when I’d initially texted. I hadn’t asked him. He’d just told me.

Spotting me now, he sprinted over, actually here in the fucking ER.

“Hey,” he said, casual like this was normal. He tugged the hood of his football hoodie down, pushing rain from the front of his curls. The guy was basically soaked, and it had been raining pretty much all night. He gazed around. “Where’s Bru?”

I blinked, still shocked he was here. “I… I… I don’t know. I…”

You need to breathe. Breathe.

I tried to, but fear from the situation still lassoed me like a wild stallion. I felt on the cusp of breaking from it. In my silence, Ares cut around me like he’d actually spot my brother just casually waiting in the ER, and maybe he thought he could. For all he knew, my brother’s condition wasn’t as serious as I’d made it sound.

I followed after him, my high-tops squeaking in the puddles his sneakers left. “What are you doing here?”

His big legs swiveled around, his keys in hand. His chest heaved with heavy breath, and the way he breathed, it appeared like he’d sprinted all the way over here. “Well, you texted me, right? To help?”

I had, but I didn’t ask him to come. I approached. “Weren’t you like somewhere else? Out of town or something…”

“Obviously, not now, little,” he snipped. His hand pushed over his hair. “What’s going on with Bru? It sounded serious.”

Reality set in again, that we were here and I was dealing with this current state of events. Air flow thinned, and next thing I knew, I was bending to catch my breath.

Ares’s eyes flashed. “Little, hey.”

I gasped, and Ares waved someone over.

“A little help, please,” he said, but I shrugged it off. I just needed to calm down. I needed…

Ares held the person coming over from reception off, looking at me. “What do you need? You need to sit?”

It was like he read my mind, or we were strangely in sync or something. I nodded, and he joined me over in the waiting area.

“One second. Just stay here,” he said. He sprinted over to the water machine, bought a bottle, then brought it back to me. “This will help.”

It actually did and gave me something to focus on.

Ares folded himself into the chair beside me. “Better?”

Like one hundred percent. I capped the water. “Yeah. Thanks.”

“No problem.” He eyed me. “You need anything else?”

He appeared genuine about the ask and almost worried, which was a new look for him. Ares definitely cared about few people outside himself, and like a million percent not about me. He and his friends were cut from the same cloth.

I rubbed my hands on my shorts, saying nothing. I shook my head, and he sat back.

“Is it that bad?” he asked, sounding worried now. “Bru? He all right?”

I wished I could tell him. I shrugged. “I don’t know.”

“You don’t know?”

“No, they won’t tell me anything.” These people were being assholes, point-blank. I wet my lips. “I rode over in the ambulance with Bru, but when I got here, they took him back and told me I had to wait in the waiting room. He was stable, but they wouldn’t let me go with him because some kind of accident just happened in the area.”

“An accident?”

“Yeah, something on the highway,” I said. “Basically, they aren’t letting a lot of people back there. Just doctors and staff.” That’d been hours ago, hours with no news. “I keep asking for updates, but they aren’t telling me anything.”

I pushed my hands over my face, still in my fucking bed clothes. I’d barely gotten a chance to put shoes on in the middle of all this.

I literally thought I was going to lose my shit, all this too fucking much.

Ares got up. “I’m going to go talk to someone.” He shrugged. “Get some answers.”

I pulled my hands over my head, lacing my fingers behind my neck. “I already tried that. These people are being complete bitches.”

What I said made him chuckle, his hands diving into his hoodie pockets. He leaned forward. “No offense, little, but you’re not me.”

He sauntered away after that, casually striding up to the front desk. I watched in fascination as he chatted up who was easily a college girl behind the reception desk.

Her cheeks colored the tint of a stop sign, and right away, she got up after talking to him. My lips parted when she waved him to follow her.

He did, of course, but not before passing me a wink. He disappeared behind the hospital doors after her and was gone for about ten minutes before he returned. He came back with a chocolate bar and a smile on his lips.

He tossed the chocolate to me. “Bru’s fine. He’s sleeping.” What the fuck? “I didn’t see him, but I spoke to his doctor personally. He’s resting and stable, and you’re welcome for the chocolate, by the way.” He leaned forward. “Blair showed me where all the good snacks were.”

I noticed Blair was missing, and I wondered what other delights might have been exchanged back there. Ares had only had a few minutes, but something told me that probably didn’t matter. I sat back. “How did you just do that?”

He might have gotten a college girl to do what he wanted, but getting a doctor to stop and talk to him was different.

Then again, if she’d been a female doctor…

His big shoulders popped. “My family has a lot of influence over this hospital. When I come through, people move their feet.”

Aka they most likely donated a crap-ton of money. He didn’t say this, but he might as well have. Money was influence. Money talked.

His lips tightened a beat before he continued. He outlined his lips. “Anyway, his doctor says he’s fine. Bru’s actually not even down here anymore.”

I stood. “Where is he?”

“Since he’s stable, they’ve moved him to another wing of the hospital. He needs to stay overnight for observation.”

“Why didn’t they tell me?”

Ares pushed his hands into his pockets. “I guess they got a hold of y’all’s guardian. Spoke to the guy personally, and he agreed with the plan of action.” His eyebrows narrowed. “It seems your Montgomery took care of everything.”

He did, but he hadn’t called me. In fact, I’d been trying to get a hold of him most of the night. At least, I had before my phone died. That’s how much I’d called him.

I pushed my hair around. “Can I go see him?”

Ares shook his head, and my heart sunk. He put a hand on his chest. “I couldn’t even go. It’s past visiting hours, and I’m not family.”

“Well, I am.”

“But it’s still past visiting hours, little. And you were right about that accident. The hospital is a clusterfuck right now, and I was lucky to get the few moments I did get with the kid’s doctor. The hospital doesn’t want a bunch of people wandering around. It’s a bad time, and they’re not making exceptions for anyone. Not even me.”

This was complete bullshit, all of it. I wanted to go back there and punch someone in the face. They couldn’t treat people this way.

Ares’s head tilted. “But it sounds like the kid’s doing okay. The doctor advises you to go home and apologizes for not coming out to speak to you. Once they got a hold of your Montgomery, they didn’t do anything more after that. They were busy with that accident, I guess, and got sidetracked.”

And I was nobody. I wasn’t like Ares. People didn’t move because of me. I growled. “So they forgot about me. Nice.” My teeth gnashed. “Someone should fucking sue these people. They don’t have their shit together.”

“Yeah, oversights definitely tend to happen here,” he said, looking over my head. His eyes had narrowed when he made eye contact again. “But you should go home. Get some sleep. Parking out in the lobby isn’t going to get you anywhere.”

He was right, of course, but it made me feel better to be at least in the same place my brother was. At least, until visiting hours. “I should just stay. I don’t even have a ride home anyway.” I could call a ride share, but I wanted to stay anyway.

Ares studied me. “I could give you a ride.” He pocketed his hands. “I’m already here, and I’m not getting on the road to head back out of town tonight. It’s too late.”

“Where were you coming from?”

“Lake Shelley,” he stated, and my jaw fucking dropped. That was like out of state.

I started to mention that, but Ares was waltzing toward the door.

He lifted a hand. “Come on. I’ll swing you home.”

He didn’t give me a chance to negotiate, and apparently, Ares really did move people.

I went begrudgingly, but it was hard to argue knowing someone had driven a state over to help. I didn’t know why he did, but I didn’t argue with that either.

He’d gotten me answers.