Barefoot Bay: Fish Out of Water (Kindle Worlds Novella) Read online

  And then Justin put ice on her ankle and it felt as blissful as it did horrible and she looked into his brilliant gray eyes and remembered to breathe. He told her everything was going to be okay…or maybe his eyes had just said that, but she would have sworn she heard it anyway.

  And then she’d been tossed in the van and taken to the hospital and everything was out of her hands. She tried to relax and concentrate on not being in pain. Surely they were making a big deal about nothing. The doctor would give her an aspirin and tell her to elevate it and put more ice on it and that would be that.

  Tetra prayed that the x-rays didn’t show anything.

  She prayed harder that the hospital didn’t have a machine that measured stupidity.

  Kara wheeled Tetra’s chair around the desk so that she could answer all the questions for the receptionist. Name, address—she’d finally remembered their new street address, but she might have gotten the zip code wrong—nature of emergency. The receptionist took Xander’s name as the party responsible for bringing her in. Beside that, without even asking, the woman checked the box that said “family.”

  Tetra was so touched by that notation that she almost cried right then and there. Right now the members of 10mm Conspiracy were more than just idols or friends. They were her family. People who took you to the hospital and stayed with you were family. A checked box on an electronic form. Such a small thing. But in that brief moment, Tetra forgot about the pain.

  The receptionist directed them to Billing next, just as a short man with thick black hair and a white coat popped his head through the swinging door. “Tetra Scott?”

  They all looked to Xander.

  “Take her in,” said Xander. “I’ll settle up with Billing and meet up with you after.”

  Tetra braced herself as Kara took the handles of the wheelchair and guided her in. Liam held the door open for them. The short man looked at Liam, then Kara, then Tetra. He tapped and swiped on his tablet a few times.

  “Are you allergic to any medication?” asked the doctor.

  “No,” Tetra answered.

  “Are you sure?” asked the doctor.

  “No,” Tetra clarified. “I don’t get sick very often, and I’ve never been to an emergency room before. So there might be a medicine out there I’m allergic to, but if there is I haven’t taken it yet.”

  The doctor seemed satisfied with that answer. He tapped the screen of his tablet a few more times. “Did this accident happen on the job?”

  At sixteen, she supposed it was possible that she could have been working the night shift at a restaurant or movie theatre. It was more likely that the doctor was just asking the required questions in the order they popped up on his screen, so Tetra gave the answer that did not include the smart-ass retort she so badly wanted to say. “No.”

  “Are you pregnant? Or do you plan to be pregnant in the near future?”

  Tetra suppressed the giggle that threatened to escape and bit her tongue once more. “Nope.”

  The doctor tapped the screen again. “And whom should we call when we need to pull the plug?”

  This time, Tetra, Kara and Liam all burst out laughing.

  The doctor managed to keep his stern expression, but he winked at Tetra.

  “Malcolm Scott is my emergency contact. That’s my dad.” Tetra relayed her father’s cell number, hoping that the hospital wouldn’t call him before she had a chance to do so herself. “Just do me a favor and break the news to him gently.”

  “We always do.” The doctor’s tone remained completely deadpan. “Now, let’s get you to x-ray.”

  Kara and Liam helped transfer Tetra onto the gurney that would deliver her to x-ray and promised they would be waiting for her when she returned.

  “This is so surreal,” Tetra said to the large man whose sole job seemed to be the pushing of gurneys. “I mean, I’ve watched hospital shows on TV hundreds of times…in a way it feels like I’m inside the television.”

  “You should say something technical,” said her transport.

  Tetra smiled and opened her mouth, willing some of the polysyllabic medical jargon to trip off her tongue as easily as it did the actors in those shows. But all she could think of in the moment was, “STAT!”

  The man chuckled.

  “Granted,” said Tetra, “That was maybe more Gilmore Girls than Grey’s Anatomy.”

  “Still qualifies as something that’s said in a hospital,” said the man. “Works for me.”

  Getting the x-ray was an incredibly painful process. Tetra would have thought that by the twenty-first century, hospitals would be able to photograph a patient’s bones without requiring them to contort into a bunch of excruciating positions.

  When the man wheeled her back into the hallway outside emergency reception, Kara and Liam were indeed waiting for her, as promised. Tetra noticed that Kara held a cloth napkin in her hand—the one that Justin had filled with ice for her. It didn’t occur to her until now that Justin hadn’t accompanied them into the hospital.

  “Where are Xander and Justin?” Tetra asked casually.

  “Xander wandered off to find a soda,” said Kara. “Justin stayed outside with the van.”

  “I imagine he doesn’t like hospitals,” said Liam. “After all he’s been through with his mom.”

  Tetra didn’t have time to ask what Liam meant because Xander rounded the corner with a canned drink in his hand. “You have to walk about ten miles to find a vending machine in this place,” he said to all of them. And then to Tetra specifically, “Are you thirsty or hungry? Can I get you anything? Anything at all.”

  Even if she had been hungry or thirsty—which she wasn’t—she wasn’t about to make Xander retrace ten miles worth of steps to fetch her something. “I’d love some more ice,” she said instead. “Mostly, I’d really just like to get out of here.”

  “What are we waiting on now?” Xander asked as he sidled up beside the gurney. Tetra scooted over so he could sit down beside her.

  “X-ray results,” said Kara.

  “Just cut it off,” said Xander.

  Tetra laughed at that, and then noticed Liam. “Did you just take our picture?”

  Liam smiled. “Proof that you have the ability to smile under the greatest adversity,” he said.

  “And a photographic record of what you looked like before you lost a leg,” Xander teased.

  Tetra punched him in the arm playfully. “If I end up in a cast”—god, she hoped she didn’t end up in a cast—“you are all going to sign it for me. That’s non negotiable. But they’re not going to chop my foot off.”

  “In a few months, you might wish we had,” said the black-haired doctor. “For now, here are some pain meds.”

  Tetra took them obligingly. With any luck they would kick in quickly, or knock her out, or both.

  “So what’s the prognosis, doc?” asked Liam.

  “I can’t find any evidence of a break,” he said, “but that doesn’t always mean there isn’t one. From the bruising and swelling I’d guess you still might have a hairline fracture that’s beyond my ability to detect.”

  “You mean all doctors aren’t born with superpowers?” asked Xander.

  “Some are,” said the doctor. “They all get the day shift.”

  “I like this guy,” said Xander.

  The doctor resumed talking to Tetra. “I don’t want to put you in a full cast, but I think you need more than just a wrap, so I’m going to give you a ‘half-cast.’ We’ll put cast material along the bottom of your foot and up the back of your leg, and when that hardens, we’ll wrap it all into place. Okay?”

  Tetra didn’t see that she had much of a choice. “Okay.”

  Getting the half-cast was even more terrible than the x-ray. The doctor wrapped up her entire lower leg from the knee down. At one point, Tetra thought she might pass out from the pain. Kara took her hand.

  “We could still ask him to cut it off,” Xander whispered in her ear. “It’s not too late.”
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br />   The doctor got her situated with crutches while Xander signed the discharge papers. Then he ordered them to remain in the lobby while he fetched the van and brought it around.

  “Do you still have that bag with my stuff?” Tetra asked Kara. “I really should call my dad.”

  “Of course.” Kara fished the phone out and handed it to Tetra.

  Tetra took a deep breath before dialing her father. He was either going to freak out, or he wasn’t. It was all out of her hands now. The toughest part was going to be explaining it all.

  “Hello?” Dad said in a not-to-sleepy voice. Good. She hadn’t woken him. “Tetra, honey? What’s up?”

  “There was a problem getting the ransom money,” she said, smiling at the odd looks Kara and Liam were now giving her.

  There was a pause, and then Dad said, all serious, “What did you do?”

  Tetra took another deep breath. “I crashed a private concert and sprained my ankle really badly, but the band took me to the ER and I’m spending the night with Donny Z. so I won’t be alone tonight. The doctor doesn’t think it’s broken, but he says we should have an orthopedic doctor look at it, but we can worry about all that when you get home. It looks way worse than it is. The important thing is that I’m fine, and I’m totally being taken care of. Oh, and I made a new friend!”

  There was another long pause. “Tetra, I realize you and I have a special relationship,” said her father, “but I can’t actually tell if you’re kidding or not right now.”

  The whole situation did sound like the sort of imaginative nonsense she and her father joked about all the time. “I promise it’s for real, Dad. Cross my heart. I’ve got a cast and crutches and everything. But you shouldn’t freak out because I’m fine.”

  “And the part about Donny Z.?”

  “I’ll introduce you tomorrow. His daughter lives here. I think you’ll really like him.”

  “So is he the new friend you made, or is it someone else?”

  “Someone else.” Tetra smiled into the phone. “You did tell me to have an adventure and get into some trouble. Technically I’m only following orders.”

  Dad chuckled, a sound that was the exact opposite of freaking out, and Tetra was exceptionally glad to hear it. “Only you, kiddo. Only you.”

  12

  It seemed like forever before Xander returned to the van with Tetra and everyone else in his wake. She was on crutches now, and in a cast that covered half her right leg, the strangest cast Justin had ever seen. What on earth had she done to it? And why was Xander making her use crutches instead of a wheelchair?

  The concern on his face must have been evident, for as he slid open the van door Tetra said, “It’s not as bad as it looks, I promise.”

  “It looks pretty bad,” Justin said. At a look from Xander, he shut his mouth and helped Tetra carefully into the backseat.

  The trip back was much quieter—now that the adrenaline of emergency had worn off, everyone seemed to be feeling the exhaustion of the day. Xander pulled the van as close as he could to Donny’s bungalow. Donny and Ona weren’t back yet, but the door was unlocked and the sheets on the bed in the guest room had been turned down. They got Tetra all settled with her leg propped up on four pillows and a bag of ice.

  “Do you need anything?” Xander asked Tetra for what must have been the hundredth time. “I want to make sure you’re all settled before we leave. Food, drink, small pony…you name it.”

  “You guys go ahead. I’m good.” Tetra yawned. “I’m just going to lay here and let that pain pill they gave me kick in.”

  Xander kissed her on the forehead and bid his farewell. Kara set Tetra’s phone on the table beside her bed. “Your bag is right down here and I programmed all our numbers into your cell. If you need anything, call us. I’m serious about that.”

  “I’ll be fine,” said Tetra. “Mostly I’ll be asleep.”

  “Just promise.”

  Tetra smiled. “Okay. I promise.”

  Kara closed the door to the bedroom and they headed to the front door…but Justin hung back.

  “I’ll stay here for the night,” Justin said quietly. Kara was the only one who turned around—Xander and Liam were already halfway back to the van.

  “But all your stuff got moved to the staff quarters along with ours,” she said.

  Justin shrugged. “I’ll get it in the morning. It’ll just be easier for everyone this way. I can look after Tetra, and you can get a good night’s rest without any added drama.”

  Kara raised her eyebrows. “Unless I decide to punch Xander for being a world class idiot. I’m so sorry, Justin. I have no idea what got into him tonight.”

  “I do,” said Justin. “Me. Trust me, that’s enough.”

  Kara sighed. “I’ll bring your things by in the morning, early enough so that you at least have time to shower and change before we leave.” Then she leaned in and gave him a quick peck on the cheek. “Call us if either of you need anything. I mean it.”

  “I will.”

  Justin closed the door behind Kara and rested his head against the cool surface, drinking in the blissful quiet. This was the first time he had been alone since the flight over…if one could consider a flying steel tube filled with two hundred people “alone.”

  He poured himself a glass of water and settled down on the couch in the main living area, a far more comfortable spot than the chairs he and Donny had faced off in earlier. It was entirely possible that Donny would kick him out as soon as he and Ona got back from the party. The soft cushions convinced Justin to leave worrying about that until it happened.

  The next time he opened his eyes, the bungalow was completely dark. The door to Donny and Ona’s room was closed. From behind the other door, Tetra was sobbing.

  Justin slipped off his shoes and quietly padded across the cool tiles. He stood outside her room for a long while, still as a statue, guarding the door as she cried.

  Justin had learned a lot about tears from his mother. In the main, tears were a normal human reaction to a lot of different things. But tears could also be histrionic. Some were manipulative. Some existed for the express purpose of creating more tears, and keeping the weeper buried in sadness. Some were present simply because there was someone else within earshot and nothing else to do that day.

  Part of Justin was relieved to hear Tetra cry. The overwhelming emotions of the day, the unbelievable pain she was undoubtedly in and would continue to be in for some time, and the blow to her pride on top of everything…hell, Justin would have cried for less.

  But the other part of him heard her despair, a sadness that came from a darker place with which he was all to familiar. He waited for the heaving breaths to subside and—before she could work herself up again—he gently knocked on the door.

  “Come in.”

  Justin waited another beat for her to wipe her tears on the bedsheets before he turned the knob and let himself in. He walked straight past her bed and into the bathroom, where he grabbed a box of tissues. “Here,” he said as he handed them to her.

  “Thank you.” She wiped her face and blew her nose. Justin moved a wastebasket to within her reach, and she thanked him again.

  “Can I get you anything? Glass of water? More ice for your ankle?” Either the previous bag had fallen to the floor beside her bed or she had tossed it there—either way, the contents had long since melted.

  “I’m fine,” she said, in a tone of voice that was anything but fine. “I’m so sorry I woke you. I was just…overwhelmed by my own stupidity and I guess I got a little carried away.”

  Justin pointed at the empty half of the giant bed where the sheets were still smooth. “May I?”

  “Of course. Please. I’d welcome the distraction.”

  Justin pushed the door closed so that their conversation wouldn’t disturb Donny and Ona and then sat down beside her in the dark. Shadows of the leaves outside the window danced across their legs as they were tossed about by the ocean breeze.

 
“You don’t know me at all, so you’ll just have to trust me when I say what I’m about to say,” he said seriously.

  “Okay.”

  “Whatever stupid things you have done in your life—up to and including the events of today—I can beat them all put together. My entire existence has been nothing but a series of stupid decisions and stupider consequences.” Including this one, he thought to himself but did not say out loud. But right now, Tetra needed someone to talk to. And though he never would have admitted it, so did he.

  “What happened?”

  That one simple question covered a multitude of sins, so Justin went with the most obvious. “A bad girl, some drugs, way too much alcohol, and a prank that resulted in Xander losing a lot of equipment, a lot of cash, and the guitar his father gave him.”

  “Wow,” said Tetra.

  “Yeah. Not my finest hour. A lot of time and money was spent putting my sorry ass through rehab.”

  “Did it stick?”

  Justin shrugged, not that Tetra could see the movement in the dark. “That’s sort of what this circus act is all about. It’s officially my last chance to prove I’m on the straight and narrow before I’m completely cut off. My fate is in Xander’s hands now. He and I used to be best friends, you know.” He had no idea why he felt compelled to tell her all this. The room was just so comfortable and dark and she didn’t want anything from him but conversation, so he gave it to her.

  “How long ago was that?”

  “Pretty much since we moved to California. I was maybe four or five when we left Australia. My mum has a history of ending up in bad scrapes and worse relationships.” Justin scooted down into the pillows and folded his arms behind his head. “I take after her a lot in that respect.”

  “I take after my dad,” Tetra said to the ceiling fan. “He’s a nut.”

  “The best of us are,” said Justin.

  “My dad’s special,” said Tetra. “Not all dads would run away from home with their daughters.”

  “Not all boys would befriend a funny-talking kid from another country.” Justin turned to her and propped himself up on his elbow, still far enough away to resist touching her, but close enough to whisper their shared secrets. “What were you running from?”