Bombshells ~ Complete

Chapter Nine: What's Going On Here

The car ride was long, silent, and awkward as all get out. I was sitting between Carter and Xavier, both of who were adding to the palpable tension in the car.

Carter had apologized several times for running into me and causing me to break my ankle, and Xavier still hadn't forgiven him. Funny how that works, isn't it.

I'm the one with the broken bone and those two are apologizing and not forgiving each other. Some would call it endearing. I called it annoying. Those two acted like the world revolved around them. Grade A narcissists is what I called them, along with annoying.

"Hi, my step-daughter got tripped up by one of my friend's sons and broke her ankle. Do you think someone could see her soon?" Lila asked the lady at the front desk. Kade was holding me in his arms this time, an angry scowl on his face. Jaydon was worrying over me like a mother hen.

I wondered how they would react if I had told them that my father had been breaking my bones since before I could remember? Probably best not bring that up now, I reminded myself.

We finally got called back, after what felt like forever. Kade was simply standing in the middle of the sterilized room, looking slightly out of place. I felt my foot jostle against a nurse's side, who came in to look at it, and I let out a pained yelp.

Kade yanked me out of harm's way, without even breaking a sweat. That's unfair.

"I'm sorry, Ms. Steel. Why don't I take you back to the x-ray and get a better look at what's going on here?" The nurse asked kindly, her lips pointed up in some semblance of a smile. She looked like she had been running around all day. She probably had.

"That's really not necessary. I'll be fine in a day or two." I mumbled, picking at my fingers that were in my lap, even though I was still in the arms of Kade. The nurse looked at my ankle and raised an eyebrow in my direction.

"Let's get you down to x-ray right now." She ordered, frightening me a bit. Carter offered to take me again, but Kade just tightened his arms around me. Is this how baby's felt when they were getting passed around?

Jeeze, was this ever going to stop?

The x-ray was loud and uncomfortable and I had to lay in several odd positions.

When I got finished in the dark room, the nurse rolled me back to the room I would be staying in for the next few hours. The doctor came in a good hour later. Her face was dark and sad, which was not the look that the Steel boys and company were expecting.

"May I speak to Ariel's guardian? Privately?" The doctor asked. I kinda hoped that Lila would take responsibility over me and listen and ask me what happened. Then I would tell her, she would never marry my father, and he would surely kill me.

Was it sad that all I had to look forward to in life was dying?

"Her father should be here soon. I'll go call and ask how far out he is." Lila stood and anxiously twisted her fingers. Everyone looked more than a little bit nervous due to the doctor's words. Everyone but me. I was completely calm.

"Is everything alright?" Jaydon asked softly. The Doctor gave him a tight smile, not answering, before exiting the room. But before she left, she shot me a glance.

She knows.

I could feel my face drain of all color, could feel someone take my hand, I could hear them ask what was wrong, could see the boys start to crowd my vision, could see Lila come back into the room.

Was this what shock felt like?

She knows.

"What do you mean she just went ghost white and stopped responding?" Lila asked, sounding worried and slightly frantic. She took my shoulders in her hands and shook me a little. I snapped out of my episode then.

"What?" I asked, trying to clear my throat of the tears I could already feel building up. Now that the shock (or whatever it was) cleared up, I could feel myself start to react. And it wasn't in any good way.

"You went into a trance or shock or something." Lucas told me, watching me carefully. I think he was trying to spot if I was going to faint or something. I really hoped I wouldn't. That would be embarrassing.

"I... I'm sorry. I didn't realize." I lied quietly, trying to regain my bearings. It is a lot harder than it sounds.

"It's alright. But your father just made it through the front door. Poor Eli sounded so panicked when he heard you were here. The relationship you two have is so cute!" Lila smiled at me.

Cute is not the word I would use.

I shrugged, but didn't answer because then the door slammed open. Almost like she summoned him, I thought with a brief moment of surprise.

"Ariel, are you okay? What hurts?" Dad asked, looking me up and down. My dad was really smart, which kinda sucked for me. What he was doing was checking to see if I was in hospital garb to make sure I hadn't been tested for anything.

Horrible hospital gown, check.

Angry dad, double check.

"Can I have a moment alone to restart my heart?" Dad gave a hearty chuckle. Everyone filed out of the room, with some strange looks pointed towards my father. God, I hoped this didn't end with me having more broken bones.

'Yeah, doc, i'm sure you just missed that broken rib and broken femur in your x-rays. The father that you suspect has been beating me, the same man who was just alone with me for several minutes, had nothing to do with it.'

The door closed and dad was in my face, making me flinch back with a whimper.

"You let some boy trip you up so that you could get sent here and I could get figured out? Oh, oh, oh! I'm gonna have to punish you for this one. Big mistake, there sweetheart. You could never outsmart your old man, you dumb, piece of shit whore." Dad spat.

I wasn't shocked by the comments, necessarily, but it didn't mean his words still didn't have some bite to them.

"I didn't mean for this to happen. I didn't even want to come. But Carter picked me up and took me against my will!" I argued quietly with tears streaming down my face.

"Carter, huh? You're on a first name basis with this guy?" Dad asked, sounding almost surprised. Was it that shocking that people may actually like me once they got to know me? Was it that shocking that I could make friends? Or at least learn the names of my soon-to-be-step-brothers friends?

The door opened and dad's concerned mask slipped right back over his face. He wiped my cheek with his thumb and shushed me comfortingly. The doctor had come back into the room and was holding a clipboard, along with some of those weird x-ray pictures.

She slipped the pictures on the lit up boards and I flinched when I saw all the breaks and fractures my young bones had sustained. Yikes.

"I think we both know what's going on here. Why don't we start with that?"