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JACOB'S POV
I feel defeated. I walk over to my bike and pick it up, mounting it. I can follow her. This is an option. I let her slip away before. This is my doing but I can feel that it is not the end for us. I am determined to follow her back to Seattle. I will not let this be it for us. I am about to start up the bike when I feel my phone vibrate in my pocket. I glance down the highway at Nessie's car becoming smaller and smaller in the distance. I look at the phone. 4 missed calls.
"Make it quick" I grumble when I see that it is Leah calling.
"Thank god. Jacob, where are you?" I can hear the panic in her voice and I feel a sinking in my stomach.
"What happened?" my instincts tell me that something has happened.
"Don't freak out," Leah says.
"Okay, saying 'don't freak out' is making me freak out," I reply.
"The packs got into a bit of an altercation and River may have gotten a little banged up," Leah explains.
"What?!" I am furious. What the hell is River doing getting involved in pack altercations?
"Look, Sam wanted to send a message that Nessie isn't welcomed in town… or something. Anyways, he came down to your place with his pack to … I dunno, I guess to threaten you?" Leah says, she sounds just about sick of Sam's shit. "Anyways, I guess Seth was there with Misty and our pack visiting River and Sam lost his shit that Misty was there. River kind of got caught in the crossfire. That is what I have been told."
"Where is he?" I ask angrily. Next time I see Sam I might put him down.
"We're in the ER," Leah says.
Fuck. I glance down the highway, Nessie's car is all but a dot now. I sigh. It's just never good timing. "Okay. I'm coming," I hang up and kickstart the bike.
The entire ride there I am furious and by the time I arrive at the hospital, my blood is boiling.
"What the hell. What the actual hell!" I shout when I finally get to the waiting room and see both packs sitting around, far from each other. My pack shudders at my yelling. Misty Clearwater looks really upset. Leah is pacing. My eyes zero in on Sam. I rush him, slamming the other pack leader into the wall so hard that the drywall cracks, "what's wrong with you?! you fucking hurt my kid?!"
"Uh, sir!" the receptionist shouts, alarmed.
"Get off me!" Sam pushes me away.
Both packs stand up, facing each other. I let go of Sam.
"It was an accident!" Misty said quickly when she realises that a brawl is about to break out again. "It was my fault. I didn't put my car in park and when the wolves were going at it, I guess one of them got thrown against my car and River was standing behind it," she said getting upset.
"River got pinned against the garage with the car," Leah explains.
"Is there a doctor around here?" I feel so frustrated that I don't know anything. I go over to the receptionist who looks scared of me, "my son is here, who do I talk to? His name is River Black." Some fucking birthday for this kid.
"I'll let the doctor know you're here," she says.
"I'm so sorry," Misty is crying now.
I sigh and wrap an arm around the 18-year-old, "it's not your fault," I reply and kiss her head. Misty is a good kid. I've known her since she was a baby. She does well in school and is always nice to River. She would always make sure he was included in things despite his visual impairment. If it weren't for her treating him like any other kid, he probably wouldn't be as confident as he is right now. That's why when she started getting into trouble a few years ago, I didn't cut off their friendship. Despite her delinquent phase, she has always been a good friend to my kid.
"Black!" A man in a white coat with a clipboard walks in. I let go of Misty. Sam puts out an arm for his daughter.
"Don't touch me!" Misty scowls at Sam and walks to stand by her mother.
"Is my son okay?" I am desperate to know everything.
"A few cracked ribs, fractured wrist and a mild concussion," the doctor explains, "he seems to be alert so that is a good sign but is complaining about some muffled hearing in his right ear. That is where he hit his head so I am confident that it will correct itself in a day or two. However, due to his visual impairment, the hearing issue is causing some disorientation, so you want to keep an eye on that to make sure that he doesn't have a fall. He also has a small corneal laceration where some debris had scratched his eye. Obviously, we need to make sure that it doesn't get infected so I'll be prescribing some antibiotic drops," the doctor said, "he's okay to be discharged."
"Thanks, doctor," I say, feeling overwhelmed by all the information. So much for going after Nessie. There is no way I can make sure that River is cared for and go after her at the same time. I can't even reach her to let her know what happened. I look back at Leah who is comforting Misty and then head into the ER to see my son.
"Hey," I walk between some curtains when I see River. He is sitting on the side of a bed. His one arm has been cast for the fractured wrist. He has a cut on his forehead and some deep bruising is starting to come in. His right eye is covered by some white gauze. "Happy birthday?"
River looks miserable but manages to smile a little at my sarcastic remark.
"You good?" I ask, heading over to him and put my hand on his shoulder.
"I think I'm going to throw up," he looks a bit flushed. I retrieve a trashcan nearby and put it in his lap, holding it for him with one hand while I try to comfort him by rubbing his back with my other. He hangs his head, slowly breathing but he doesn't throw up.
"Here," I say, grabbing his uninjured hand and put it on the garbage bin so that he is holding it, "sit tight. I have to go see how much all of this is going to cost me… " I leave River and walk out to the waiting room. Sam's pack has left. It is just my pack, Leah and Misty.
"Is he okay?" Misty asks.
"Uh, yeah… he's kind of nauseated, though," I reply, "Leah, can you give us a ride home? I took my bike here."
"Why don't you both come back to our place?" Leah suggests. "I'll make dinner, you and River can stay in the guest room?" Leah and Kalen had built a nice big house overlooking the beach a few years back. It's a great place. Much better than our little two-bedroom above the garage. Leah had really lucked out with Kalen. His family was very wealthy and had tragically died when he was very young. They live modestly by his standards but by the standards of everyone else around these parts, they are the rich folks. Especially since the Cullens left.
"Thanks, Leah, but I think it would be better if we just went home," I reply.
"You can't take River back there. The AC is broken and the heat in there is disgusting… no offense," Misty refutes. She's right about that.
"Misty's right," Leah says, "if he's sick because of all this, the heat is just going to make everything worse."
I feel a wave of stress roll over me when I realize that not only are we going to be hit with a hospital bill but I will have to put work on hold to care for River. The one time I might actually consider taking money from the Cullen's and Nessie has vanished. More stress.
"I don't want to intrude," I reply even though they're right. The heat would not be good for River.
"You won't be," Misty says, "I've got a soccer game tomorrow morning so I'm spending the night at my friend's house so we can carpool."
"And Kalen and I are heading to the city this evening so he can go to some conference. Actually, having a house sitter would be really helpful. Last time we were all out of town some kids broke in and stole a few bottles from the bar," Leah says. "It's a win/win.
"Fine.. fine. We'll stay over," I reply. At least I can forget about everything for tonight. Maybe even figure out a plan to find Nessie. Things are not done between us.
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