Carter Ortese is Trouble - completed (The Boys #1)

Chapter 35: Carter

By the time I'm on the road, I've lost track of the ambulance. There's only one hospital for twenty miles, so I head straight there. The roads are eerily abandoned, as if paving the way for me to speed right through the night. A few miles pass, and my phone rings. It's only then that I realize I've been out of the house for much longer than an hour.

I answer my phone and flip it onto speaker, slamming it into the dock on Emma's center console. "Mom?" I ask and wipe my eyes. Something about seeing her name on my phone makes this feel more real, more consequential, bigger than anything that has ever happened before.

"Carter, you better have a good excuse for—"

"It's Emma."

"What?" She must hear the panic in my tone, because hers changes immediately.

"She collapsed. I'm going to the hospital."

"Is she there with you?"

"No, the ambulance has her. I'm following in her car." I drum my fingers on the wheel as I roll through a stop sign after looking both ways quickly. There's no headlights in any direction. "I don't know what happened," I add. My voice is a crushed whisper in the dark.

"I'm on my way." There's a pause on the other end of the line as she lets out a huff. "What have told you about using your phone and driving?"

"I know, but this—"

"I love you, Carter. I'll meet you there." She hangs up from her end, and my phone beeps from the disconnection. I want to laugh and cry, because this is exactly how my mom would react. All business and heartfelt at the same time. My gut twists, because this is real. It's not some alternative reality; this is happening.

Emma collapsed, and I have no idea what's wrong with her.

My fingers tighten on the wheel, and I clench my teeth. Rage boils along my limbs, and I want to blame her parents for this. The bruises on her wrist, how timid she acted combined with how out of control she was. I don't want to think her parents are hitting her, but that's where my brain keeps going.

Emma, who has never hurt a single person in her life. Emma, who gave me a chance despite all the odds. Emma, who trusted me enough to offer me that part of her, even if it wasn't the best decision at the time.

It's not right. I chew on the inside of my cheek until I taste blood. It's coppery and bitter. I turn onto the last stretch of road, and the streetlights grow closer together as I approach the hospital. The ambulance is already gone, presumably onto the next emergency. I pull into a parking space for visitors and cut the engine. I breathe once, twice, and try to pull all the tendrils of myself back together, pack myself back up into a human skin that is supposed to contain all of me.

The anger I have cannot be contained, though. It flicks out in sparks from my body, threatening to ignite the world around me with the viciousness I feel inside.

I slam the door shut behind me and march up through the entrance to the registration counter. The night nurse behind it gives me a cursory glance.

"Carter?"

"Yeah," I stumble over the word, because I thought I would have to explain it to him. I was ready for a fight, but this has thrown me off.

"They said you'd be on your way. We can't tell you anything medically, but I'll tell you she's alive. She got here, okay?"

I swallow. "You can't tell me anything?"

He shakes his head, a sympathetic half smile creasing his brow and lips. "I wish I could, kid, but regulations. It's patient confidentiality."