Chapter 112 TYLER
Harper didn’t show up for lunch. She didn’t attend any classes afterward either. The closing bell rang, and she still hadn’t shown up.
I grabbed my bag, already heading for the girls’ bathroom before the teacher could dismiss us. Something in my chest felt unsettled. An uneasy feeling crept up my spine.
The thought that I’d left her alone in that bathroom, knowing she was hiding there because of me, made me feel a whole lot worse about myself.
I should have stayed.
I should have offered to drive her home instead of asking her to come back to class.
I should have—
A scream broke through my thoughts.
A girl raced out of the girls’ bathroom, completely shaken, like she’d just seen a ghost.
I grabbed her by the wrist before she could run past me.
“Taylor, what’s wrong?”
Her face crumpled. Her lips quivered as she tried to form a coherent word. Her hand slapped over her mouth as she swallowed a strangled cry. She pointed toward the girls’ bathroom just a few steps away.
“H-Har—”
I didn’t wait to hear the rest.
The hairs on my arms were already standing on edge. A sharp prickling sensation tore through my chest.
I didn’t bother knocking or worrying about the fact that I was breaking school rules. My mind was already moving at a mile a minute, trying to come up with something simple, something explainable that could have caused Taylor’s reaction.
I barged my way in.
A group of girls were huddled together in front of a toilet stall, whispering and murmuring at something on the ground.
“I can’t find a pulse,” one of them muttered from within the huddle.
I didn’t bother asking questions.
I pushed my way through them, my heart beating so loudly I could barely think straight.
Nothing could have prepared me for what I saw.
Harper lay on the tiled floor, surrounded by a pool of what looked like her own blood. It had spread across the tile in a dark stain, some of it already drying at the edges. Her body was half turned toward the doorway, like she had tried to crawl out.
For a moment, my brain refused to process it.
“H-Harper?”
I dropped to my knees beside her. My hands hovered over her face, terrified to touch her and somehow make things worse.
Her face was pale.
Too pale.
“Harper,” I called again.
No response.
“Come on, Harper. Wake up. Please.”
My voice cracked.
My vision blurred for a second.
I leaned forward and pressed my ear against her chest. The girl who had spoken earlier scrambled away to give me space.
“I already checked,” she said quickly. “She doesn’t have a—”
“Harper,” I whispered, cutting her off as I pressed my forehead gently to Harper’s. “Come on, baby. Wake up.”
Nothing.
Panic surged through my chest.
I slid one arm carefully behind her head, lifting her slightly toward me. Something sticky and half-crusted brushed against my fingers. I pulled my hand back instinctively.
Blood.
My hand was smeared with it.
“Call the ambulance,” I said.
My voice was barely above a whisper.
No one moved.
They were just staring.
I adjusted my position beside Harper, sliding one arm behind her back and the other beneath her knees.
The second I lifted her, pain tore through my shoulder. My jaw tightened instantly.
The injury screamed in protest, a sharp burning sensation shooting down my arm.
“Call the fucking ambulance!” I shouted toward the hallway.
The girls jumped as if the sound had snapped them out of their daze.
Someone finally fumbled for their phone.
I moved toward the door, Harper still in my arms.
A crowd of students and teachers had already formed outside. Phones were raised everywhere. Students whispered to each other as they stared.
But none of it mattered.
Nothing mattered except Harper.
Peter intercepted me first before I could reach the exit.
“Holy shit!” he blurted.
He reached toward Harper, but I stepped back.
“What the hell happened, Tyler?”
Jax, Kane, and Mark pushed through the crowd just then. Mark stepped forward, his eyes widening the moment he saw her.
“What—”
The word died in his throat.
I tried to move past them, but my grip faltered.
Harper’s body shifted slightly in my arms.
My heart lurched as I quickly tightened my hold before she could slip.
My rotator cuff screamed in protest.
Beads of sweat broke out across my forehead.
My arms trembled under her weight as a sharp wave of pain shot through my left shoulder.
“Tyler, your shoulder,” Mark said quickly. “Let me carry her—”
“No!”
The word came out harsher than I meant it to, but I didn’t care.
Mark backed away almost immediately.
“I’ve got her.”
I adjusted my grip around Harper, pulling her closer to my chest.
Her head fell against my shoulder, strands of her hair brushing against my neck.
My stomach twisted when I saw the blood matted in it.
“Someone just call a freaking ambulance,” I muttered through clenched teeth.
As if on cue, a siren wailed faintly in the distance.
I shoved past my friends and broke into a slow jog down the hallway, Harper still cradled in my arms.
Every step sent another jolt of pain through my shoulder, but I barely registered it.
“Stay with me, Harper,” I murmured. “Please… stay with me.”
The sunlight hit my face as I burst through the front doors. The paramedics were already running toward me with a stretcher.
“What happened to her?” one of them asked quickly.
“She fell in the bathroom,” someone from the crowd answered.
I hesitated for a moment.
Letting go of her felt wrong. Like the second I did, something worse would happen.
But the paramedics were already guiding the stretcher closer.
Carefully, I lowered Harper onto it.
The instant her weight left my arms, pain exploded through my shoulder.
I bit down hard, barely holding back a groan.
The paramedics immediately began checking her pulse. One of them shone a small light into her eyes while another adjusted the oxygen mask.
They lifted the stretcher and rolled it toward the ambulance.
“I’m coming with you,” I said immediately.
“Me too,” Mark said, stepping forward beside me.
Peter appeared at my other side, resting a hand on my shoulder.
The paramedic paused before helping load Harper into the ambulance.
“I’m afraid only one person can ride with us,” he said. “What’s your relationship to the patient?”
“She’s my girlfriend.”
“She’s my girlfriend.”
The words left both of us at the same time.
For a second, the world went quiet.
I turned toward Mark, my expression hard, making it clear I wasn’t stepping back.
His shoulders dropped slightly.
His gaze flicked toward Harper lying motionless inside the ambulance while the paramedics worked around her.
Then he looked back at me.
After a moment, he stepped back.
“Go,” he said quietly.
His voice sounded tight.
“Just… look after her.”
I nodded once before climbing into the ambulance.
The doors slammed shut behind me.
And the siren started screaming again.