Hate So Good: A High School Bully Romance (The Hate Series Book 2) Nina Lincoln (latest novels to read TXT) 📖

“What’s your name, hon?” a nurse asks.

“Finn,” I mumble.

“Finn, what?”

“Huhart,” I say with a laugh, moaning when it pulses in my temple.

On my first day at Northside, I fumbled over my new last name, and my dick teacher called me Ms. Huhart ever since, his evil genius.

“Can you tell me who your emergency contact is?”

“Aunt Maggie.”

“What’s her number?”

“I don’t know, lost my phone,” I mumble.

“Is she at home? Can we call her there?”

“No, at work, I don’t know.”

“Do you know someone who does?”

“Yes, Colt. Call Colt. At bookstore, Book Nook.”

*****

I rouse several times, the nurses poking and prodding at me every time, and despite their orders that I shouldn’t sleep, I fall back into it as soon as they leave the room.

The older lady who found me sits with me quietly, and I don’t know how much time passes before a ruckus ensues, and I open my eyes to find Colt arguing with a nurse just outside my room.

With trembling lips, I whisper his name, and his blindingly beautiful pale eyes swing my way before he brushes past the nurse with a snarl and stops by my side, his eyes running over my head grimly.

“Fuck Finn, I thought,” his voice cracks, “I almost lost my mind. I was halfway to the damn cemetery when my mom called me from the bookstore. The police went out there but found nothing and chewed me out for calling in a prank.”

Smiling softly, I grab his hand clenched in a fist by my side and say, “I’m sorry.”

“Why are you, sorry? Baby, this is Ben’s fu-fault,” he says, looking over at my visitor curiously.

She smiles benignly and stands, patting my hand, “I’ll go, dear. I see you’ve got your gentleman here.”

“Thank you,” I say softly, to which she smiles, pats Colt on the back, and leaves.

“Who’s she?”

“She found me,” I murmur. It’s the last thing I remember before falling asleep again.

After which, I’m awakened what feels like every ten minutes, spying Colt seated beside me before fading away every time.

The slow, steady beep of my monitor wakes me later, and this time I see Maggie seated beside me with a concerned expression on her face.

Glancing around worriedly, I find Colt wrapped uncomfortably on a chair near the door, sleeping soundly on the tiny furniture.

Smiling slightly, I whisper, “Maggie.”

She looks up and smiles tiredly, leaning forward and taking my hand. “Helluva way to celebrate your birthday, kid.”

I chuff and wince, tears prickling behind my eyes. “I miss her.”

“I know, kid,” she says softly.

Turning my gaze to my hands, I say through watery tears, “I let her down. I didn’t help her when I could have. I watched her watch me, and I let her down. She was begging me to help her, and I was too afraid.”

“Oh kid, if I know my sister and I do, she was looking at you with all the love she had to give because she knew it would be what you took with you after. Mary would’ve wanted you to survive and move on, not worry about her. You were too young to fight back. Besides, what would it have gotten you? Dead. Mary wanted you to live. I know it doesn’t seem this way now, but you were allowed to be there for her as she left this cruel world. You gave her a gift. Never regret it.”

Nodding silently, I cry into my hand covering my mouth, mourning her death, but as Maggie said, celebrating her life. Perhaps that’s why she stared at me so intently - she was giving me her goodbye in the only way she could while taking comfort in the fact she wasn’t alone.

I can never go back, but I can remember, and it’s what I try to do every damn day.

*****

The police interview me the next day, asking me dozens of questions until I’m exhausted all over again. Ben made the mistake of assuming I was compliant, and now he will be facing charges for his stupidity.

Although I relayed his insistence about my stalker, they were skeptical about the story Ben fed me, sure he’s the one who’s been harassing me, and maybe he is. I don’t know, but I’m not sure Ben is the end game - it makes no sense for him to make up someone else as my stalker.

This means I’m likely still in danger from a faceless person who’s willing to use psychopaths like Ben to get to me. Colt’s grim through the explanation, and I know if he had his way, he’d be the one putting Ben away, permanently.

I’m discharged and sent home, finally given pain meds that make me spacy but reduce the throb to a dull ache.

Colt argues with Maggie, but she wins, and he goes home but not without a sweet kiss goodbye that I dream about as I doze all the way home. Once there, I balk at the thought of sleeping in my bed, blacking out on the couch instead.

Over the next few days, it's just Maggie and I since she took a couple of days off and barred any visitors, including Colt. When he’s finally allowed over, he enters with an exasperated glare for her, to which she ignores as she lectures me about setting the alarm and not leaving the house before heading off to her shift at the plant.

Ben’s MIA, and until he’s arrested, she’s particularly uneasy. I am too, but I know he’s only a piece of the problem. The root is dug deep, and I have no way of pulling it loose.

“Are you okay, Princess?” Colt asks, rounding the couch and slipping in behind me.

I snuggle into his warmth and nod sleepily. It’s all I’ve done since I got home, and with a new dose of meds, I’ll be back to it in no time.

“Sleepy,” I mutter.

“Sleep, Baby,” he says softly, kissing my temple. “Would you be more comfortable in bed?”

Convulsing under him, I shake my