The Penalty Box - Teagan Kade Page 0,37

thought I’d be more upset, but it’s like I’ve come to accept it in a way.

Carrie offers to come home, but I’ve got my mother, happy to tuck into her like a baby bird on the way home and cry for the first time in years.

I got out of there as fast as I could, ignored Nolan’s family entirely, poor Alissa’s platitudes, but I just had to go, to get away.

So, it’s done.

Stood up on my wedding day and not a damn way to pretend it didn’t happen.

There’s nothing else to do but forget Nolan and move on—painful as it might be.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

NOLAN

Rainbows, I realize. Why the hell am I seeing rainbows?

I lick at my lip. It feels fat and heavy, like a slug attached to my face. There’s grit in my mouth, something hard between my teeth.

And the world is sideways. Why is the world sideways?

I push two hands down and lift myself from the ground, immediately regretting it when a wave of hot pain washes over the side of my head all the way down to my neck and shoulders.

The hell?

I do my best to take in my surroundings.

I’m in a tunnel that runs from the Academy parking lot to the street adjacent The Turtle. Someone’s drawn in rainbow chalk on the ground— ‘Vegan: A crazy idea that animals shouldn’t suffer’. There’s a ribbon of blood running through it. I trace it along the ground, up my leg and realize it’s dripping from my head.

I grunt as I stand, the world swimming back and forth out of focus. When I reach for my head my hand comes away wet with blood.

I do my best to replay what happened.

I finished practice, got dressed for the wedding…

Shit. The wedding.

I drop to my knees, the pain suddenly twice as intense. I want to sleep.

“Hey, buddy, you okay?”

Someone’s got me under the arm, crouching beside me. He’s wearing glasses like Harry Potter, doesn’t appear to be anyone I know.

“That’s a nasty bump you’ve got there, my friend. What happened?”

“I…don’t know,” I tell him, words thick and syrupy in my mouth. “I was walking through here and then…” The urge to sleep is overwhelming.

“Let’s get you to a hospital, hey?”

The world starts to swim between black and white. Panic fills my head. I’m searching around with my hands, half slumping back to the ground when I notice someone else arriving, a woman.

She’s trying to talk to me, says something about being a nurse.

But she’s not wearing a uniform, I think to myself.

I can’t seem to keep track of time, feel numb and limp when the two strangers help me towards what looks like a cab. They tell the driver to take me to the hospital, but it’s like the conversation is under water, completely distant. There’s an argument of some kind, the driver talking about the blood.

I pass out before I hear more.

*

“Can you hear me?”

Someone’s shining a light into my eyes and it’s really irritating.

I try to swat it away. “Yeah, I hear you just fine.”

“You’re in hospital, Mr. King. You’ve taken a nasty hit to head. Do you understand me?”

I nod, but it feels like my head wants to fall off my shoulders.

I reach up and note the bandage in place, take in the hospital room.

The doctor is young. He points to the table beside me. “We’ve placed your belongings right there, including your cell if you’d like to call anyone.”

“Thanks,” I reply, mouth dry.

“I’ll be back shortly to run some tests. For now, just rest, okay?”

I reach for my cell when he’s gone, dialing Peyton.

He answers. “Fuckwad, where the hell have you been? You do know you were getting married today, right?”

“I’m in the hospital.”

His tone hardens. “What? What happened?”

Good question. “I wrapped practice, showered, got dressed… I was coming to the wedding… I guess someone attacked me from behind in the tunnel, I think, maybe hit me? Fuck, I don’t know. It’s unclear.”

“You okay?”

“My head feels like a fucking cantaloupe, but yeah, I’ll survive.”

“I’ve seen you checked by a freight train before. You’ll be fine.”

I hear Phoenix in the background asking where I am, Peyton lifting the phone away from his ear to fill him in.

“Is Linnea there?” I ask. I don’t know why I didn’t call her first.

“No, but we can find out where she is, bring her down.”

“I should call her.”

“I…don’t think that’s a good idea, bro. Let me sweet talk her a bit first, yeah? She’ll understand.”

I’m too tired to argue. “Thanks.”

“You need us to bring