Read Before & After for Free Online Page A

he continues
to murmur softly. It takes a few minutes, but when I can breathe again, he sits
back on his heels and looks past my head, to whomever is standing behind me.
“Don’t fucking do that,” he snarls, and I shiver. There is real anger there, a
kind of bone deep dislike that I haven’t seen from Rike before now, and it
chills me.
    I
don’t like this side of him.
    “Then
don’t fucking disturb her,” the other man snaps. His gaze skates over me, and I
see the flash of fury in his gaze before his expression goes smooth and blank.
“What are you doing here?”
    “She
wants to see Lindsay.”
    The
other man snorts. “ Now she does.”
    “Scott,”
Rike growls, and I finally shake myself.
    “Can
I have a few minutes alone with her? Please?”
    They
both stare at me for a moment and I force my chin up, a defiance I don’t
actually feel in the face of their anger that makes no sense.
    But
I was right. Seeing her helps. If only because it confirms what I knew.
    “Please,”
I say again.
    Scott
huffs and stalks past me, throwing an order over his shoulder. “Don’t fucking
wake her up. She was up all night with the fucking
nurses.”
    I
wonder if he knows any curse words besides fuck.
    “Shit.
And damn. And hell. As in, I don’t give a damn what the hell you want. Your
shit doesn’t concern me.” He points at the bed. “She does. Don’t fuck this up.”
    I
flush, heat crawling in my cheeks, and he laughs as he walks out of the room.
“At least that thinking out loud thing hasn’t changed. “
    I
look at Rike, a searching stare, but he’s ignoring me, stalking after Scott and
letting the door swing close behind them.
    And
there is nothing but the girl sleeping in the bed to distract me.
    I
nudge myself closer to the bed, and stare at her.
    I
don’t know her. Except—I do. I don’t know who they are, these people, but I
know them, or I knew them. And they don’t fit who I imagine I was.
    “What
the hell were we doing? Why was I with you and where were we going?”
    “I
can’t tell you.”
    She’s
staring at me and I didn’t even realize she was awake. Her eyes are tired, glassy,
a too dull brown, and sad. She winces as she shifts, twisting a little to stare
at me.
    Her
words are sinking in, slowly. Too slowly. I narrow my eyes at her. “What do you
mean, you can’t?” I demand.
    Her
gaze darts past me for a minute and she licks her lips. A nervous habit.
    How
the hell do I know that’s a nervous habit?
    “Lindsay,
what the fuck does that mean?”
    “I
promised, Peyton. I promised I’d let him do this his way. I—I can’t tell you
anything.”
    “Do
I know you?” I demand, and lurch forward. Agony sings through me, but it’s
amazing what you can ignore when something else is at stake. Pain is
fleeting—it’ll be gone soon. My memory will stay gone, and she knows something.
    “Who am I?”
    She’s
sobbing, and I’m clutching her leg, shaking her. “I promised, Peyton. I can’t.
I’m so sorry.”
    “Who
the hell would you promise that to?” I shout. “This is my life you’re fucking
playing games with!”
    The
door slams open and she breaks down, sobs shaking her as Scott shoves my
wheelchair aside and cradles her against his chest.
    “I
told you to leave her the fuck alone.”
    “ She fucking knows me,” I scream.
    “Get
her out of here, Rike,” Scott yells, and the nurses are all around us.
Lindsay’s machines are going crazy, and I can feel Rike pulling me away from her,
can hear the apologies he’s almost shouting as we’re all but thrown out of ICU,
and I can hear Lindsay crying and Scott cursing, but it’s all distant. A long
way away. Muffled and distorted as I scream after her.
    She
knows me. She knows who I am, and where I come from. She knows it all. And the
bitch won’t tell me anything.
    I
feel a prick in my arm, and the world swims as icy heat flood my veins.
    Rike
is crouched in front of me, and I can see the apology in his eyes. He’s
murmuring and