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Tyler
I walked out of that room and kicked the wall beside her door. I was angry... so frustrated. That look in her eyes had me worried and scared. I was going to lose her; I was sure. I sighed when the door open, and my brothers came out. They knew something was off but I wasn’t sure how much to say.
"What is wrong with you?" Lincoln asked as he approached me.
"Why'd you just leave like that?" Kayden grounded out. "She needed you. She—"
I shook my head feeling like shit. "She doesn't need me," I told them lowly. I was sure now she would fear me. Now that I knew what she had been hiding. Why she ran.
"Why would you say something like that, Tyler?" Kayden growled as he pushed my arm.
I lunged forward and grabbed my brother's shoulders to look him in the eyes. "Not. Now."
"Whoa, whoa. Calm down, man."
"You don't understand," I told them as I pushed Kayden away. "You just don't."
"Then explain," Lincoln demanded as he put some distance between Kayden and me. "What happened yesterday between the time we left you and the time she woke up, huh? She remembered—"
"That's the problem!" My eyes slanted to Lincoln's. "I see Daniels lying there, and it tortures me but now...."
"We know man."
"No! No, you don't. You just don't get it. Yesterday she woke up and didn't even know me! She had no idea who I was, and in those moments where her memories were lost, she told me something. Something that she would have never, ever told me, or any of us. It shocked me, and no, before you even asked, I'm not telling you. I won’t do that to her, but talking in there, when her memories were clearer, her eyes shot to mine. They weren't confused; they didn't hold love. Her eyes held fear and tears. She was scared guys. She was terrified of me. She realized she made a mistake. That in her moment of confusion, she told me the one thing she would never want any of us to know. She fears me. That's why I left, and it kills me because I can't even tell you."
I shook my head. "I need to sort things out. I need to figure out how I can make this better. How I can make her not so scared of me. Let her know that what she said yesterday is only between the two of us, and find out what the heck happened to her back then."
"Hey-hey," Kayden stopped me when I started to walk away. "You're not alone. Even if you can't tell us, we're still in this together."
"What are we even doing guys? How do you think it looks with all of us around her? That's not normal." Lincoln butted in.
I flashed my eyes towards Lincoln and glared at him, then turned to Kayden. "You're right, but when has our family ever done normal? Kayden, you're a hundred percent positive you feel the same way about her as we do?"
"Yes," he said solemnly, then smiled, and I could tell he was thinking of her. "She says the darndest things that make me want to smile, but she also has a loneliness about her. I want to be the one to make her smile. To make her happy. Shit, to make her laugh." He chuckled and shook his head. "To see her eyes light up like they should. I want her to feel like she makes me feel. Alive," he breathed out, then turned back to me. "I know we're young, but I feel that she could be it for us. That she is the one we've been waiting for."
I nodded, accepting what he had said then looked over to Lincoln. "And what about you? Do you feel the same way? Is that why you're questioning this?"
Lincoln glared back at me. "I'm the same way." His shoulders dropped, because he knew there was no fight here. He knew that we all felt the same way about her. "I can't even fathom not having her with me. With us. She just occupies my whole mind, and all I see is her. When I saw her, I just knew. I don't know how to describe it. She's so sweet, gorgeous and those eyes. She just fits. I haven't looked at anyone else since I saw her." He looked towards her hospital door. "And I don't want to."
I nodded and took a deep breath, "This is crazy guys. How can we all feel the same way about one girl? How can we all have the same feelings for her and be okay with it? I have no jealousy whatsoever towards either one of you being around her. If anything, I'm happy about it. As long as I get to be with her too. It's weird, you know. I thought I wouldn't be but," I just shrugged. "I don't know. We can't let anyone else know. What would Mom and Dad think about us going this route? Heck, what is Daniel's thinking?"
"She seems to be okay with it," Kayden spoke up. "We just need to go easy. We have to work with her on trusting us. Letting her know we're ok with everything. And Mom and Dad will be alright with it all. It's not the first time."
Lincoln stepped in. "We're still young, but we're not idiots. We're McGuires. We know what we want, and we go after it. Right, guys?"
We all nodded. "Right. So let's work on getting her to trust us."
***
Faith
I looked at the door Tyler walked out of, scared that he didn't want me anymore. I glanced over to Lincoln as I tried to put on a brave face. He kissed my forehead and whispered that they'd be right back. I nodded, but I knew better. The McGuire family would know the truth and would not want the reminder of Raina's past constantly around. I watched as they left and looked to Brady. My chest tightened when I thought about what I heard before I left home.
"Were you going to send me away?"
Brady looked shocked. "What? No! Whatever you overheard was about your father's murder. A caseworker came to talk about it and find out if any more information was remembered."
"And I felt," Sarah started, as she took my hand and sat down by my bed, "that you shouldn't be there when they came to talk. That it might have been too much for you. Oh, honey," she bent down to brush the hair out of my eyes as she looked tortured. "We would never give you up. We love having you in our home. You are a survivor, Faith. Let us do some of the hard stuff and let things be easier on you."
My chest loosened, and I realized that maybe I should tell them about the McGuires and my family.
I looked over towards Brady, as I held Sarah's hand. "Brady, I—"
"Oh, you're awake!" the nurse who entered stated, as she walked over to my bedside, checking my vitals. "How is my patient today?"
"Her memories are back!" Sarah voiced, her eyes full of relief.
The nurse turned to me, forgetting her previous attentions on my IV, and asked if that was correct. I nodded, and she paged the doctor.
"Besides your memories returning, anything else going on?" she asked.
"My head hurts, and my side," I told her, as I took inventory of my injuries. In fact, the whole right side ached today. I glanced towards Brady and saw that he looked worried and disappointed in me. I turned back to the cheery nurse as she spoke.
"That's to be expected dear; you do have two bruised ribs, a black eye and a good goose egg on the back of your head. You ready to go home today?"
I muttered an agreement as I swallowed. I heard the nurse list my injuries and was mad at myself.
I could have prevented this if I had just talked to them before running. I needed to think before I did things. Someone else tried to come in, but Brady stopped them. Quiet voices murmured to each other as the nurse did her check up on me.
"You were very lucky, young lady. The bus was crushed. Luckily nobody died."
***
I came home that evening, stiff and sore. HotShot came up to greet me and pushed his head into my leg for attention. I gave it a brief pat, and then Brady moved me to my room where I was maneuvered into bed. HotShot jumped up and laid at my side.
Sarah made sure I had a flat screen TV in my room, and funnily enough, a fog horn if I needed help. Brady wouldn't let anyone else visit after Tyler stormed out of my hospital room. It didn't matter. It wasn't like he would be coming back anyway. His family moved to get away from mine. A reminder of a painful past no one wanted.
The caseworker had come and talked to Brady and Sarah while I was in the hospital, and then they came to see me. I told them what I had before. I didn't remember what happened the night my parents died. The worker said they had a witness that saw someone enter the house when the yelling was going on, then leaving the house when it stopped. He had just thought the person helped the couple settle their disputes. He had gone for a fishing trip and was none the wiser, until someone brought it up to him years later. Brady made them leave after that. He said this was not the time to do this, but all I could think about was... it wasn't me who killed him. If I didn’t do it, then who did?
"You think you'll be alright tonight?" Sarah asked as she stood by my bed.
"Yeah," I told her weakly. "I'm sorry, Sarah. For running. What I heard... well, it wasn't what I thought."
Sarah nodded, looking serious. "We were so worried. Don't- Don't scare us like that again. Ask, before you assume." Sarah left to get another blanket for me, and I turned to Brady.
"Thank you, and I’m sorry."
"There’s nothing to be sorry about, but I wish I knew what happened between you and Tyler."
I turned my head away from his stare and looked at my new TV. "I’m not ready to talk about it."
He nodded. "Well, when you’re ready."
Sarah came back into the room with another blanket. She was smiling, but when she saw our faces, she frowned. She put her hands on her hips and asked, "What's the matter?"
"Later," Brady answered.
"Well, I’m here if you ever need an ear," she offered, glancing towards me.
"Thank you." I yawned. "I think I'm tired."
Sarah pulled the blanket up from the bottom of the bed, drew it across the top of me, and then stood back. "You know what to do if you need help in the night," she stated, as she gestured to the fog horn she had given me earlier. I gave her a ghost of a smile as I lifted it up. "Yep, I just squeeze this and scare the living daylights out of the two of you." She just laughed as Brady shook his head.
Sarah walked out of the room first, leaving Brady to turn back to me. His eyes were pleading. "Please don't blow the foghorn, Faith. Just text me. I'll make sure you get what you need."
I chuckled and nodded my head. "I figured you'd say something like that. Goodnight."
"Goodnight, Faith."