Fallen Raine {Completed}

Chapter Thirteen - Because Running Off Alone Always Works Out For Everyone...

~Chapter Thirteen - Because Running Off Alone Always Works Out For Everyone...~

When I made it back to the food court, I spun around to see River right behind me. He seemed a little peeved, and I almost laughed at his childlike annoyance. I don’t think he was used to girls telling him, “Not now.” It would do him some good.

I sat down in the chair across from Brad, and splayed my hands on top of the table. He was sitting up now, but he was pale and still looked quite woozy. He blinked to clear his eyes of sleep.

“Hey, how’re you feeling?” I asked gently, laying a concerned arm on his shoulder.

Brad looked at me, his light hazel eyes then flickering around to the rest of the group. “My head hurts,” was all he said.

I reached over quickly and grabbed some painkillers and a bottle of water, proffering them to him. “It’s no morphine, but it’s the best I can do under the circumstances.”

“Thanks,” he muttered, cracking open a couple aspirins and gulping them down with a couple swigs of water. When he was done, he swallowed and looked back at me. “And thanks for patching me up, too, Raine.”

I waved it away nonchalantly. “It’s no problem, Brad. Don’t mention it.”

He gave me a wan smile and sat back, rubbing his temples. River stepped forward, and I noticed his arms crossed over his chest. He was tapping his booted foot impatiently. “So, Brad, you wanna tell us what happened?” he asked, his voice steely.

I opened my mouth to tell River to give Brad some time and lay off, but Brad cut me off. “Oh, um, I can’t—I can’t remember.”

River’s face smoothed out as quickly as a piece of creased paper being ironed and unfolded. “What do you mean, you don’t remember?” River hissed, leaning forward.

            “River,” I reprimanded, my voice sharp as a knife.

Brad looked at me through his fair lashes. “No, it’s okay, Raine.” He then looked at River, and his eyes grew harder. “I mean that I have no recollection of what happened.”

I tried a different approach, since River’s forceful approach obviously wasn’t working. I wouldn’t expect it to. Unlike high school, River wasn’t going to be able to get through this situation through blatant bullying. “What do you remember?” I asked gently.

He sighed and rubbed his eyes, as if he had a throbbing headache. “I remember going into the backroom with Jason talking about football, and then waking up a couple of minutes ago with a sore head.”

“And nothing else?” River queried incredulously, throwing his hands up. “How can you not remember anything else?”

“River,” I hissed. “Don’t blame the poor boy. He took a pretty bad head injury. It’s lucky he even woke up. It could’ve sent him into a coma or killed him. It’s completely understandable. There was a fifty-fifty chance that he wouldn’t remember, anyway.”

River glared at me. “You mean you knew he may be of no help?”

I shrugged, feeling anger rise within me. Brad probably had a concussion from the injury, which sometimes gave short-term memory loss. It’s not his fault he was attacked. “It was a possibility. What do you think would happen if someone took a nasty hit to his or her head? They’re magically fine with no problems? Technically, this is good that he’s at least functioning.”

“Yeah, well his ‘functioning capabilities’ aren’t gonna save us, are they?”

I knew he was angry and upset and maybe even guilty about Jess’s death, but he had no right to take it out on poor Brad. “Hey, River, cut it out,” I said sharply. “Brad could’ve been killed. So tone it down.”