Chapter 48 48: The Righted Wrongs

Chapter 48 48: The Righted Wrongs


NEW YORK CITY



\[ R Y D E R \]

As soon as we arrived at the hospital, we went straight to find Kara's room. My heart was about to burst right out of my chest. And as we were walking down the halls, I saw Cole and this red-haired girl talking to the nurse.

"I'm sorry, Ms. Livingston is still in the ICU, only family members are allowed for visitations at the moment," the nurse said to them.

"We're her family," I interjected, motioning between my dad and me.

Cole’s eyes shot open as soon as he saw me. He was glaring at me, clearly, he wasn't too happy to see me.

"Alright, you two may follow me," said the nurse, nodding her head to dad and me.

We followed her to the ICU room, leaving Cole and the girl behind. She opened the door to the ICU room and I saw Lacey standing by the bed. And on the bed, there she laid, my angel.

She was pale and frail. She looked so thin. Her eyes were closed and her chest was rising up and down slowly. It broke my heart to see her like this. But regardless, she was still the most beautiful thing I had ever laid my eyes on.

"How is she?" Peter spoke.

"They said she was lucky. She only got a few broken bones and a mild concussion, but she did lose a lot of blood," Lacey said, wiping away the tears in her eyes. "They said the surgery went well... She's stable for now, and they're just keeping her here to monitor her condition further," Lacey's voice was coarse from crying, and dad came up to give her a hug.

I couldn't imagine the pain that Kara must have gone through. I wanted to wrap her in my arms so bad and hold her tight, but I restrained myself. Instead, I took a hold of her hand, gently lacing her fingers with mine. I noticed there was a bandage wrapped over her wrist.

"Hi, you..." I said internally.

I leaned down and pressed my lips on the top of her head. I wanted so much for her to open her eyes for me right now. Meanwhile, Lacey took note of what I was doing and she coughed awkwardly.

"Peter, may I speak to Ryder for a moment, please?" she said slowly.

"Sure," dad nodded. He gave me a look before he turned for the door.

I was still holding onto Kara's hand, and Lacey was standing on the other side of the bed. She let out a sigh and started pacing nervously.

"I'm so sorry... about what happened," I started.

"I don't think you should be here, Ryder," she said suddenly.

"Come again?"

"The doctor said that her condition is stable, but she's not waking up. They said it could be due to stress," she continued.

Lacey took a step closer to the bed. She lifted Kara's other arm up gently, before turning it around. And there I saw it— the many cuts. Lacey's hands were shaking as she put Kara's hand back down and reached for the other hand, the one I was holding onto. I let go of Kara's hand as Lacey took it. She opened the bandage slowly and revealed the RY tattoo, with a cut mark streaking through it.

My jaw fell open in an instant. I couldn't believe my eyes.

"I've known about you two ever since that summer four years ago. I had confronted her about it,"

"What?" my eyes shot up at her.

"She asked me not to say anything to you or to Peter, and that she'd end things between you two. I thought you guys weren't being serious with each other, like it was just some game you kids were doing. Or maybe it was just some summer fling. So I didn't really put much thought into it. And after she left Hawaii, she told me she had moved on, so I thought everything was fine," she said, taking deep breaths in between.

"I thought she was doing fine... she really seemed like it. But I guess... not," tears began to trickle down Lacey's tired face.

I wanted to say something, my mouth was open, but I didn't even know where to begin. And my eyes darted back to Kara's tattoo and the cut mark... That just killed me.

All along, Lacey knew about us... and that was why Kara left me in the first place. I actually thought she was being selfish at the time, or that she didn't love me at all. But she did...

And I thought that leaving her was the right thing to do. I thought she would be better off without me. If I had known it would come down to this... I never would have taken one step out that door.

"She really loved you. She must have. She went this far... just to try to forget you," Lacey said, choking back her tears. "So I don't know, Ryder... I don't know what you being here might do to her. You're the source of her pain. And I'm afraid for her, I don't want her to suffer," she said, narrowing her eyes at me with distrust.

I took Lacey's hand in mine, so I was holding both her hand and Kara's.

"Lacey, I am so sorry, about everything. But I love her, I love your daughter very much. I love her with every inch of my being. I need to make things right with her. Please let me at least try," I said, and I hoped to God she could see how honest and serious I was about this.

"I don't know Ryder..." she shook her head.

"If she wakes up and she says she doesn't want to see me, I'll leave. But please, don't send me away just yet, let her make that decision,"

Lacey looked conflicted, she was still shaking her head a little.

"I was wrong. I ended things with her because I thought I was doing the right thing, but I was wrong. I should have never left her. We should have just been honest with you and dad since day one, but we didn't know any better. We were just kids, we didn't even know how to handle our own feelings," I paused for a second before saying, "I know I'm not your most favorite person in the world right now. But believe me when I say I love your daughter like nothing else in this world. I want her to be happy, more than anything. And I'll spend the rest of my life proving that to her, and to you. So please..."

Lacey pulled her hand away and crossed her arms. I was just watching her every move and I had never been more scared in my life.

She then released a long sigh and nodded her head slowly. "Fine. But if she says that she doesn't want to see you, you won't be here, you understand?"

I nodded my head quickly and she gave me a curt smile

This won't be an easy fight, I know, but I ain’t gonna back down so easily either.



A few hours later, the ICU visiting hours had ended and we moved to wait in the waiting room. Peter sat next to Lacey while I sat a few rows away behind them. My eyes were glued to the direction of Kara's room. Every time a nurse or a doctor passed by, I hoped so much that they were coming to tell us Kara had woken up. But she hadn't.

After a while, I got pretty damn tired of sitting around. I had been sitting for a long time on the plane, and now this. I couldn’t take it anymore, so I decided to go out and get some fresh air.



But as soon as I stepped outside the hospital building, I saw Cole sitting on one of the benches. He was alone. He saw me walking out and he was looking daggers at me.

"You're still here," I said curtly.

"How is she?"

"Still the same. Nothing yet," I noticed that he looked terrible, like he hadn't been sleeping in a while. "You should go home. We can take it from here," I said again.

He narrowed his eyes at me and said, "Why are you here, Ryder? You shouldn't be here,"

"Yeah? Why is that?"

"You see what you've done to her? I think you've done enough. She doesn't deserve this,"

"Me? The last time I checked, she was with you when she ran out to the streets and a car hit her. What the fuck were you doing, man? Playing fucking legos?"

"She was running out because she was panicked over you. And if you haven't noticed the cuts and marks all over her body, she hurt herself, and cut her wrist, all because she wanted to forget about you. You see how you've been nothing but a bad influence on her?"

"She did all those things because I wasn't there when she needed me. But that's all going to change now,"

"What, you think you're some kind of Prince Charming that could just come in and save the day? You're here and now all of a sudden everything's gonna be okay?"

"Wow, Cole, wow," I blurted. "You always know the right thing to say to make me feel like shit, huh? Like I don't deserve her. Like I wasn't good enough for her,"

"That's because you are,"

"So what? You're saying that it should be you that she loves?"

"Well, she loves me,"

"Bullshit,"

"It's true. We've been together for a while now," he paused for a second before saying, "I know she still loves you. But she loves me too,"

"Well ain't this fun?" I scoffed.

"If you know what's good for her, you'll leave her alone,"

"Yeah, like you do? If this was a year ago, and I haven't been through what I've been through, or seen what I've seen, I'd probably take your advice. But this time around, I ain't going anywhere,"

"Well I'm not going anywhere either," he spat back.

The two of us were just glaring at each other, and I was seething, thinking of all the ways I could knock him out cold.

"Cole?" and suddenly we heard a voice. We turned around and saw Lacey there.

"Lacey, are you okay? Is Kara okay?" Cole quickly ran up to her.

"I'm fine, she's fine. I just wanted to get some air. What are you still doing here?"

"I can't leave not knowing how she's doing,"

"Oh, you poor thing. Well, come inside, you can wait with us in the waiting room," Lacey gestured for him to follow her. He glanced at me for a second before turning away and following Lacey inside.

"She's really lucky to have you," Lacey said to him as he put an arm around her and they walked away.

This really isn’t going to be an easy fight, I thought to myself as I watched them disappear through the glass doors.



Dad, Lacey, Cole, and I sat in the waiting room all night. None of us said anything to each other. Lacey had fallen asleep on dad's shoulder, and I could barely keep my eyes open, but I wasn't gonna let myself fall asleep.

I want to be the first person she sees when she wakes up.

Cole probably had the same idea because he kept stretching his arms and legs to keep himself from falling asleep. Every now and then, he'd look over to me and shot me a glare. I just shook my head and snorted a laugh in response.

Boyfriend my ass.



Dear K,

Can you hear me calling out to you?

Please come back home.

To me.

Your Ry.







\- - - - - To Be Continued - - - - -