His head jerks to the right and his body crumples. I drop my purse and catch his head, cradling it in my arms as he hits the ground.
Mandy looms over us with a bat in her hands and a deranged grin on her face.
CHAPTER EIGHTY-FOUR
“Tommy!” I scream, vaulting over Jason’s limp body, tackling Mandy low. My shoulder hits her hip while my arms wrap around her legs. The bat flies out of her hands and clangs against the wall as we hit the ground.
“What— Oh my God. Derek!” he shouts. “Call nine-one-one! Ambulance and police! And Coach! It’s J!”
“Is he breathing?” I ask, looking back at him kneeling next to Jason.
Tommy checks for a pulse and then bends over Jason’s face while watching his chest. “He has a pulse and he’s breathing.”
Mandy attempts to kick out from me, but fails. She then resorts to raining her fists down on my back. Her pummeling is nothing compared to Simon’s. Tommy springs up and heaves her to her feet, then hooks her arms behind her back.
I have to see for myself. I spin around on my knees and brush Jason’s hair back around the point of impact. No blood. Tears fall and I lean in close. “I’m so sorry, J. I don’t know what got into me. Please, wake up. Please.”
I slide my hand into his and lay my head on his chest, feeling the slow rise and fall of his breathing and his familiar heartbeat.
“I made the calls. Holy shit!” Derek yells, dropping to the ground on the other side of Jason. “What the fuck happened?”
I sit up, tears still falling. “We were arguing and she snuck up behind him and hit him with a bat.”
“And I’d do it again!” she yells.
I level a glare at her. “You shut your fucking mouth!”
“Now you can’t have him either.” She laughs maniacally.
I push my hands on the concrete to rise and Derek presses his hand on my shoulder. “She’s not worth it,” he whispers.
“I don’t even know what he sees in you,” she taunts.
“Shut the fuck up,” Tommy says, jerking her back to make his point clear.
I slip Jason’s phone out of his pocket and dial.
“Hi, honey. Are you coming home tomorrow night?”
“Alana, it’s me.”
“Sara?” she asks. Her bewilderment switches to fright with her next question. “What’s wrong?”
“Jason was attacked,” I answer, struggling to keep my voice even. “He’s unconscious and an ambulance is on the way.”
“Who? How?”
“His ex-girlfriend hit him in the head with a bat from behind while we were fighting.”
I hear her suck in a breath. “You checked his breathing and pulse?”
“Tommy did. I just had my head on his chest. His breathing and heartbeat are slow.”
“Roll him on his side.”
“But what about his spine?”
“That will be nothing compared to him asphyxiating if he vomits. I’m his mother, and a nurse, and I’m telling you to roll him on his side,” she demands, then explains how to position him.
“Okay. Give me a minute.” I set the phone down next to me. “Help me roll him towards you,” I tell Derek.
“What?”
“His mom is a nurse, Derek.”
He position’s Jason’s left arm next to his head. “Ready?” he asks.
I nod. We count together, then Derek pulls Jason towards him while I push.
I place his right arm down his abdomen, then pick up the phone. “Done.”
“I’m coming up.”
I recognize her do-not-argue-with-me tone. “I don’t know where they’re going to take him, Alana.”
“I’m guessing UCLA Med Center. If it ends up being somewhere else leave a message on my cell. Otherwise, that’s where I’m heading.”
“I don’t think you should be driving that far alone while worried, Alana.”
“I’ll call your parents, honey. I’ll see you in a few hours.”
I hang up and pocket the phone.
The wail of sirens stops behind the building. Two officers round the corner and stop in their tracks, surveying us.
“What happened?” the short one asks.
“She hit him with that bat,” I answer.
“You saw this?” the tall one asks next.
“I saw her behind him with the bat in her hands after he fell and she admitted she would do it again.”
Tall Officer takes Mandy from Tommy, pressing her against the wall and frisking her before handcuffing her. The paramedics round the corner, wheeling a stretcher between them.
“What happened?” the female with a ponytail asks, brushing Derek aside. Her partner moves next to me.
I repeat the incident for the fourth time as I push to my feet and step out of their way. They roll him onto his back and check