Infraction Read Free Page A

want you to get better.” He paused, his expression torn. “That includes him,
     you know.”
    I nodded, and he squeezed my fingers before turning and walking to the door. “Hey
     Drew?”
    “Hmm?”
    “Thank you.”
    “You’re welcome. Now get some rest. I know you haven’t been unconscious enough today,”
     he said with a wink and a wave goodbye as he disappeared.
    It was quiet then, the beeping of the machines and the aching pain the meds didn’t
     dull down my only company.
    I stared at the ceiling and contemplated Nathan’s request to hear him out and wondered
     if I could. I didn’t have anything else left to lose; he’d taken what little there
     was of me. So what harm would it be? Maybe then I could understand and begin getting
     over him. I still didn’t believe he wanted me. He felt guilty, was all.
    Doubt crept into my mind as I replayed his frantic pleas in my head and the three
     words he had spoken most vehemently.
    “I love you.”
    The words swirled around in my head, and I didn’t even notice the nurse when she entered
     to take my vitals. I did, however, notice the new meds she slipped into the IV, because
     my eyelids grew heavy, and I drifted back into unconsciousness.

C HAPTER 2
     

     
    I t was a fun-filled morning in the driest sense.
    I awoke in pain—something I knew was going to be my constant companion for the months
     to come. As soon as the nurses knew I was awake, they pumped me full of more pain
     meds. The drugs helped, but made me a little on the loopy side.
    Not what I needed to be when my first guests of the day arrived: police officers.
     They’d come to take my statement in regards to the accident, and unfortunately I was
     unable to recall anything. The last thing I remembered was running out to my car in
     the rain and then waking to Nathan calling my name in the hospital halls.
    They asked me where I was headed, did I see the van, was it still raining, what color
     was the light? Standard questions, but I was getting more and more annoyed with their
     attempts to get some answers out of me other than the only one I had: I don’t remember anything . They weren’t going to jog my memory.
    Got in the car, woke in the hospital. End of story.
    It surprised me when the officers questioned me about the call I had made to Nathan
     before the paramedics arrived. I had no recollection of it at all, but I remembered
     Caroline mentioning the previous night I had done so.
    After a few minutes, they grew frustrated with my non answers and left, stating they
     would be in touch. I knew they would, but I still didn’t have any answers on how I
     ended up here besides what I’d been told.
    An hour after the police left there was a light rapping at my door, and I looked up
     to find the older woman with the gray-streaked brown hair standing in the doorway.
    “Good morning, Lila. Might I join you?”
    I blinked up at her. “Who are you?”
    “I’m sorry we haven’t been properly introduced. I’m Sarah Thorne, Nathan’s mother,”
     she said.
    I was a little hesitant, but she had a sweet, infectious smile. My head tilted as
     I looked at her, taking her in before speaking. “It’s nice to meet you. I take it
     you already know who I am?”
    She nodded. “And I must say, after George told me about you, I dreamed of meeting
     you. However, I never envisioned our first meetings to be with you in a hospital bed.”
    “You dreamed about meeting me?” I asked in wonder.
    “Of course! We’ve all been waiting for Nathan to return, and when I heard he was in
     a relationship, I couldn’t contain myself.” Her smile faded. “Though I never thought
     our first meeting would be while you were in a self-induced coma because of my son.”
    I scrunched my brow and thought back to that time. There was a faint memory of an
     unknown voice. My eyes widened. “Oh! That was you?”
    She blinked at me. “You remember me?”
    “I remember a voice that spoke to me in a different