The Wall of Winnipeg and Me - Mariana Zapata Page 0,198

Aiden stood there for a minute before slipping a hand inside his pants and adjusting himself. “I’ll be right back.”

I nodded.

His mouth opened for a moment, but he closed it. “I’m sorry, Van.” That stupid beeping got even louder and he shook his head. “Let me check.”

Then he was gone.

We had just been making out, on the verge of doing something we couldn’t come back from, and he was out of the room.

Seriously? Of all the times they could have come in, they had to do it right then? They couldn’t have waited a few more minutes?

I didn’t doubt it was them, but what the hell were they out doing until nine? Didn’t clubs close at three? I sat up in bed as I yawned, thinking more about why Zac wouldn’t put in the code, and then thinking back about what the hell they had just interrupted.

With a sigh, I redialed Diana’s number, promising Leo who was crying in his crate that I’d let him out in a minute as I put the phone to my face and crossed my legs, the dampness between them making me feel really uncomfortable now. The phone rang three times before she finally picked up.

“Hey,” I said.

I’d known Diana what seemed like my entire life. I’d been there with her when her first serious boyfriend broke her heart, and I’d been there when her dog died. I’d thought I’d heard every emotion possible in her voice over such a long time period. So I wasn’t prepared at the wrecked, distraught, “Van,” that crackled out of her mouth.

“Di, what’s wrong?” I immediately freaked out.

She was sobbing. I could tell she’d been doing it for a while. Through the tears and the distraught tone in her voice, she told me what happened. By the time we hung up, my entire body was numb. I forgot about Leo as I sat there for a moment, trying to collect myself.

I couldn’t even find it in me to cry.

Getting to my feet, I attempted to swallow the pain in my throat. Nearly blind and going almost on instinct, I forced myself down the stairs. My ears were ringing. When had they started ringing? I wondered distractedly, trying to process my thoughts and finding myself completely unable of thinking about anything.

It was amazing how quickly things could change; that possibility never ceased to amaze me.

The tears had just started catching up to me by the time I found all of the guys in the living room. It wasn’t until I spotted Zac on the couch with what was a very visible cast on the foot he had propped up on the ottoman that I lost it. Guilt and anger finally wrapped their spiny fingers around my heart, wringing the words right out of me. My voice broke as I asked, “Aiden, can you drive me to the hospital?”

Chapter Twenty-Nine

I stared at the screen of my phone until the MOM flashing across it finally bleeped out, replaced by MISSED CALL.

Not a single bit of me felt guilty for letting her call go to voicemail. Not one single freaking little bit. I’d call her back. Eventually. I was too tired after my run.

“Darlin’, you want somethin’ to eat?” Zac’s voice piped up unexpectedly from his spot across the kitchen.

I hadn’t even realized I’d zoned out so completely when my phone started buzzing. I raised my eyes to find my roommate with one hip against the counter, a spatula in his other hand. But it was the crutch he had shoved under his armpit that caught my gaze. I didn’t need to look around to know he’d left his other crutch propped up by the refrigerator. I’d found it there at least ten other times over the course of the last two weeks.

Yeah, crutches. The first time I’d seen them was when he and Aiden’s friends had showed up to the house, after spending hours at the emergency room thanks to a hairline fracture in his foot. Every time I saw them, they made me want to cry. Not because he’d broken some bones, which was terrible in itself, but because of what it reminded me of.

They reminded me of Diana’s face when Aiden and I picked her up.

Aiden had driven me to the hospital the minute I got myself together enough to explain what happened. How Diana had gone out with her coworkers and stayed out late. How her boyfriend had showed up to her apartment in the middle of the night,