Bradford Bastard (Bradford Bastard 1)

“Mom?” I question, answering her call as I move away from Bri. “What’s going on?”

Harsh sobbing cuts through the line. “Oh, Tanner,” she wails, her tone full of grief. “I only went to get a coffee and when I returned—”

“What happened?” I demand, unable to catch my breath. “Fuck, tell me she’s still alive.”

“I … I …”

“MOM,” I rush out, grabbing my shoes and flying out the door, halfway down the stairs before she can get out another sob. “What happened? Is Addison alright?”

“Barely,” she cries. “Someone came in here and tried to hurt her.”

“What?” I spit, racing through the bottom story of Channing’s home and breaking out into the cold night. I dash across to my house, the front door still unlocked. “What do you mean someone tried to hurt her? What happened?”

I break through the internal door to my garage and slam my hand down over the automatic door opener before racing toward my bike, searching over it for the key but finding it nowhere. “I don’t know,” Mom sobs. “No one is telling me anything, they just keep racing around. Two seconds, Tanner. I was gone for two seconds.”

Anger boils through my veins as I give up the search for my keys, certain Riley must have forgotten to leave them after he returned my bike, and I go for my Mustang instead, the keys already in the ignition. “WHAT HAPPENED?”

The tires screech as I hit the gas and like lightning, the Mustang lurches forward, shooting me out of the garage and down the street. “All I know,” she says as I struggle to hear her over the roar of my engine, “is that when I returned, all the doctors and nurses were racing in. The wires to her monitors and medication had all been cut and the ventilator … it looked as though someone had yanked it out of her throat. I just … I don’t understand who would do such a thing.”

I have a good fucking idea.

“Just stay with her,” I tell Mom. “Hold her hand. I’m coming.”

Mom ends the call and I push my Mustang faster, flying around corners until I finally hit the highway and put my foot to the floor. What’s usually a ten-minute drive is done in three and I park right out front before storming through the front doors.

Bradford Hospital is huge, but over the past six weeks, I’ve become all too familiar with this place. Being the dead of the night, it’s almost silent inside, and I grow frustrated having to wait for the elevator to arrive. I almost bail and take the stairs when it finally dings and I barrel into it, slamming my hand down over the button for the ICU.

I arrive on Addison’s level, and the moment the elevator door dings its arrival and opens wide, I’m already flying down the long hall. I hear Mom’s cries before I’ve even reached Addie’s room, and it pushes me faster. My feet pound against the linoleum and I grip the edge of the doorframe, using it to swing around and propel myself into Addison’s room.

I come to a screeching halt, needing a moment to take in everything that’s happening. There are two doctors and four nurses, each of them hovering over my sister, but none of them seem rushed, telling me that the brunt of the emergency has passed, but nothing—nothing—is sweeter than the soft rhythmic beep of her heart monitor.

I double over, catching my breath while keeping my eyes locked on Addison, scanning over her beautiful face and taking in the ventilator that’s keeping her alive.

Holy fuck. We almost lost her, and I was too fucking busy playing boyfriend to a girl I vowed meant nothing to me. I should have been here, should have been watching out for her, at least that way no one would have been able to come in while Mom was out. She would have been protected and I let her down.

What the fuck is wrong with me?

I let Bri talk me out of beating his ass the other day. I was right there in Hope Falls, and I let her stop me. I let her take my pain and convince me to turn around. I’ve been so busy trying to play boyfriend that I’ve let it cloud what’s really important, and now, Addison has been hurt again. If I had just intervened, this could have been avoided.

“Oh, Tanner,” Mom sobs, finally seeing me at the entry of the private room. She throws herself into my arms and I catch her before she crumbles. “Who would do such a thing? Who would try to hurt my baby?”

Mom cries into my chest as I keep my eyes on Addison, watching as the doctors do everything they can to help her, and after twenty minutes, they move away and I’m faced with one of her regular doctors.