Page 17 of Grievance: Volume 1


  “Trust me when I say I never wanted to be the one who had to tell you this, but you deserve to know the truth. If he was under the influence of these pills during the accident, then it could happen again.”

  He turned her around and lifted her chin to meet his eyes. “I can’t…” he paused with watery eyes. “I can’t lose another person that I love.”

  The pain in his eyes and the tremble in his usually strong voice overwhelmed her, and Hannah crushed her lips against his. He pulled her from her seat down to her knees and held her tight. She never thought Emmitt could love her, especially after everything she’d done. She didn’t deserve his love, but she could not deny him.

  Their moment was interrupted by a blaring horn coming from outside. Hannah stiffened. She knew it was Sean. Emmitt held her tighter.

  “Don’t,” he pleaded. “Please don’t leave me again.”

  Hannah felt his quickening breaths and rubbed his back.

  Sean sounded his horn again, his impatience being felt.

  “I’m just going to talk to him, then I’ll be right back, okay?” Hannah lied.

  Emmitt shook his head, not letting her go, but it was Hannah’s fear of what Sean might do that forced her to her feet.

  Emmitt stayed on his knees, looking as though he was experiencing difficulty breathing. “Are you okay?” she asked and he grabbed her hand.

  “I’m good,” he said followed by a cough. “Hannah, don’t go.”

  Sean laid on his horn even longer and she headed for the window.

  “I’ll be back,” she said as she climbed out the window. “I promise, I’ll figure something out.”

  ***

  Emmitt wheezed as he crawled to the window. His chest clenched when he watched her climb into Sean’s truck. He blacked out before the truck door even closed.

  Sneak Peek

  Episode 5

  Chapter One

  Hannah/Tristin

  8:39PM

  The quick steps of the triage team pulling the gurney drew the attention of everyone in the hospital waiting room. The ER doors opened to two EMT’s working to revive an unconscious Hannah. Her torn clothes were covered in bloodstains and dirt while every area of exposed skin bared bruises ranging from blue to black.

  The gurney was placed beside her body as an oxygen mask was held to her face.

  “Any ID found on the body?” A nurse asked.

  “No.”

  “Did anyone see how she got here? Who had first contact?”

  “I did,” the nurse holding the oxygen mask said. “I was just coming in when someone laid her down and took off.”

  “Are we okay to move her?” a member of the triage asked.

  “We don’t have a choice,” another answered.

  The team rolled Hannah onto her side and placed the gurney under her before lifting her onto the stretcher and rushing her inside. Once behind a curtain, they cut her out of her clothes, revealing even more wounds.

  “Wait!” a nurse cried as they peeled away the sleeves of her cardigan. She raised Hannah’s arm to see her name and a phone number written in black marker. “Someone get me a pen.”

  4:28PM

  Sean waited with his passenger door open when Hannah climbed out of Emmitt’s window. As she approached the SUV she felt her heart jackhammering in her chest and her palms were sweaty. She paused to catch her breath and remembered that Emmitt could be watching. She didn’t want to leave him, but she had to.

  “Get in the damn car,” Sean whispered through his gritted teeth. The rage in his tone settled like a weight around her neck. Every nerve in her body screamed for her not to go with him. She wasn’t delusional enough to think that he wouldn’t hurt her, especially now that she knew he’d been taking drugs. “Hannah!” He barked forcing her to step back. Her lungs wouldn’t allow in anymore air and her hands shook.

  Sean huffed and grabbed her hand, pulling her the rest of the way. He forced her into the SUV and slammed the door. Hannah’s wide eyes found Emmitt’s bedroom window as Sean made his way around to the driver’s side. She knew she’d made the wrong decision. She should’ve stayed in Emmitt’s arms, where she was safe.

  9:05 PM

  Hannah laid motionless on the examining table with tubes in her nose and wires connected to her chest and head. A nurse entered placing x-rays on a backlit wall just as another nurse wheeled in an ultrasound machine.

  “What do we know so far?” the doctor asked.

  “Broken nose, multiple contusions to the front and back of the head, her collar bone is cracked,” the second doctor said studying the x-rays. “I see two, three, make that five cracked ribs. Broken pelvis, sprained right wrist and ankle and…broken left and right arm in…three places. This looks like one hell of a collision.”

  Two nurses prepped Hannah’s badly bruised abdomen for the ultrasound with a clear gel before gently pressing the handle to her skin.

  “Doctor, we have internal bleeding,” The nurse announced and the doctor turned his attention to the ultrasound monitor.

  “Someone call the OR at Regional West and tell them we need a room now. Has the family been contacted?”

  “Yes, her mother’s on her way?” the nurse replied.

  “Call them back and tell then we’re moving her to Regional West Hospital. Also, page the neuro and ortho surgeons on call there and brief them on our findings. Let’s get her prepped for emergency transport.”

 

  4:33 PM

  Tristin climbed through Emmitt’s window and spotted him passed out on the floor.

  “Emmitt!” she yelled shaking him awake.

  He slowly came to and she rushed to the bathroom and wet a towel. Tristin helped him up and pressed the cold towel to his forehead.

  “What happened? Where’s Hannah?”

  “She left,” he said taking a few deep breaths. “Sean picked her up.”

  Tristin’s eye’s widened. “I thought she was going with Connor.”

  She grabbed her phone and dialed Connor.

  “Hello?”

  “Where the hell are you?” Tristin asked.

  “Just getting back to Emmitt’s.”

  “I thought you were taking Hannah to my house.”

  “I am. I was just about see if she’s ready to go.”

  “Well, you’re too late she already left with Sean.”

  “She what?”

  Connor hung up and she saw him and Brian get back into her sister’s car before speeding off.

  4:37PM

  Hannah panicked as Sean sped through traffic and turned onto a dead end. He threw the car into park and gripped the back of her neck. Hannah screamed.

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t have a choice. They wouldn’t let me leave.”

  “Shut up!” he yelled before slamming her head against the dashboard.

  Hannah’s ears rang and vision blurred from the first impact, preventing the others from even registering until everything went black.

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  About the Author

  Tetonia Blossom is author of Jingle My Way and All I Want Is You, who is making her Young Adult debut. She is a graduate of California State University, Northridge’s School of Cinema, Television, and Arts where she discovered that daydreaming could actually become a career. In her opinion, a story worth writing has to contain the 3 H’s: Humor, Heat, and Honest characters. She lives in the small town of Maricopa, Arizona with her husband and rapidly growing hoard of romance and YA novels.

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