"You could have died."
"I thought being dramatic was my thing."
"What the hell were you thinking?" I exclaimed.
"You know, it's funny. It's usually Justin and me yelling at you for things like this. Speaking of Justin, where is he?"
"He's coming with an axe. To detach the limbs of your body that you haven't already broken."
"Kate, come on. You know he won't need an axe for that. Anyway, how was your date?"Jace asked, lifting his eyebrows up and down with a smirk.
Before I could answer Brandon spoke up, "It was going great. Absolutely great until your dumb ass didn't know how to look both ways before crossing a street."
Jace grinned."Oh please, you would be on the hospital bed I am if you were even a minute late to drop Kate off."
"It suits you better."
In between all this banter, I couldn't help it but lurch into a fresh batch of tears. Brandon and Jace spun their heads to me in exactly the same moment. Brandon literally leapt out of his seat and was beside me in less than a second, cradling my head in his hands and wiping my tears.
Jace was slower to respond as the weight of what happened just dawned on him.
"You know what the doctor told me when I got here? That you were in critical condition. They told me there was severe internal bleeding and they didn't know how long it would take for it to stop or if it would stop or if you were going to be able to wake up. So bloody sue me if I am not okay with you taking this as a joke. You nearly died you unaware-half limbed- dingeberry!"
I couldn't stop the overwhelming surge of emotions tumbling out of my mouth. I was there to witness everything that happened to my parents and after all of it, I'm extremely sensitive to cases like this. Cases that involve a run in with death.
"Kate. Hey, I'm really sorry. I-I don't know how to take this. I nearly died, yeah, but I'm here, breathing and somewhat functioning. I don't know how this all even happened, I promise that I was careful. The car came out of nowhere. I need you to see that I'm fine. Nothing happened. I am fine," He said, wincing while opening his arms to me.
I immediately ran into them, cried a little more and then mentally reminded myself to kick his ass when he got some feeling back in him.
"We got you some cake."
He instantly lit up," You should have started with that you bone-crushing cretin."
"I'm so happy you're okay."
"Well, do you at least realize how we felt when you landed in the hospital after that fight?"
"You know that's probably the only useful thing Jace has ever said," Brandon says, giving me a sharp look.
And it hits me how I've put my family through all this pain. First, my parents and then how I attract trouble like I'm a magnet. It's not fair to them. I have to tell them. The reason for my paranoia. The reason why everything changed. It's not fair to keep them in the dark about something that very well involves them. I can't keep the reason behind my parent's death a secret from my brothers anymore. Especially since I nearly lost one of them.
"I cannot believe your crying after we just talked about how much we both wanted to punch the little bastard for being such an idiot and not knowing how to cross the road," Justin says while entering with a box presumably holding the cake and a few other boxes most likely also holding food.
Justin may be putting on a macho man face but it was indisputable that he was breaking inside just as much as I had. He settles the boxes on the table and walks to Jace, hugging him protectively and ruffling his hair. I walk away from Jace and grab Brandon's hand to go and open some of the boxes.
Just as Brandon and I are taking the food out, what Justin exclaimed upon invading the room flashes in my mind. Then what Jace said strikes me.
Not knowing how to cross the road.
The car came out of nowhere.
It enters my consciousness how Jace had realized what he said and promptly diverted the subject to say that he was fine. Jace acts all goofy but he isn't stupid. I know he's never this reckless. The car had been intended to collide with him. Jace's accident was no accident.
And know I knew I undoubtedly had to tell them. About that night. About what happened.
"Jace, do you know who it was that found you and called the ambulance?"
"Oh. I'm honestly not that sure because I could only get a few seconds in before everything went black. I could've sworn I heard someone sound exactly like Caleb."
IMPORTANT
This book will be part of a TRILOGY.
There will be a second and third book.
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