I Love You More Than I'm Afraid (Our Forevers #2) by Rebel Hart (the first e reader .txt) 📕

Aria came here looking for you and got hurt,” he snapped. “She got caught in the middle of a huge mob and cracked her head on the ground.”

“Is she okay?” I asked.

“I don’t know.” His chest was rising and lowering in mixed fear and frustration.

“Tristan, I’m so sorr—”

“I don’t really wanna hear it right now, Arden,” he responded. “Can you call Aria’s mom for me please? I’m gonna see her off, then I’m headed to the hospital.”

“Yeah,” I said. “Can I ride with you?”

“Sure,” He responded, and I was glad to see that, at least for how much he was probably holding me at fault for Aria getting hurt, he didn’t hate me.

“This is all my fault,” I mumbled quietly.

“You and Hannah,” he said, and I tilted my head. He turned and looked at me and a few fresh tears fell from his eyes. “She called Aria and told her you were here.”

“She was just worried about me,” I said, surprised that I was defending her.

But he shook his head. “No. I saw her here with Ceradi,” he said. “I’m pretty sure Hannah set Aria up to get hurt on purpose.”

An actual gasp came out of my mouth as I stumbled backwards from where Tristan was standing. Hannah set Aria up to get hurt on purpose? I knew that she was struggling with her lately, but I couldn’t imagine that she would actually cause this amount of damage on purpose, that simply wasn’t like her.

Stepping back from Tristan, I turned around and saw Suli and Codie standing there talking to the security guard. As soon as they saw me coming over, they left him and came over to meet me.

“Is she okay?” Suli asked.

I shook my head. “Um, we don’t know yet, but she hit her head on the concrete, so even if she doesn’t… you know. She’s gonna be hurt pretty badly.”

Codie held out a hand and put it on my shoulder. “Do you want a ride to the hospital?”

“No, I’m gonna ride with Tristan, but I need my phone. Suli, can you go grab it for me?”

She looked like she was on the edge of tears. “Yeah. I’ll be right back.”

Codie and I watched her go, and when she was far enough away Codie groaned. “She’s gonna blame herself for this hard.”

“She can join the club,” I responded.

He wrapped his arm around my shoulders and pulled me close to him. “Hey, listen. Everyone made their own decisions. I promised Aria I’d keep you away from here, and here I am partying with you. Aria maybe could have trusted you a little more to take care of yourself? This isn’t all on anyone?”

“None of it would have been an issue if I’d kept my promise,” I said. “Everything she’s done for me and this is how I repay her.”

“I think this means that every single one of us has to take a hard look at what we’re doing,” Codie said. “Even if we all had the best of intentions, it doesn’t change the outcome that it led to.”

“It sounds like someone may not have had the best of intentions,” I said. “Tristan, Aria’s boyfriend, says that he thinks Hannah set this up on purpose.”

“No way,” Codie said. “Is he sure?”

“Tristan is Hannah’s best friend. He wouldn’t say something like that if he wasn’t sure,” I replied.

“What does that mean for you?” Codie asked.

I shook my head. “If Hannah damn near killed my best friend on purpose?” I asked. “I have no idea.”

Suli came back and her eyes were red as if she’d been crying. She handed my phone over to me and said, “I can bring your gifts home tomorrow.”

“Thanks,” I said. “Wish me luck, I need to call Aria’s mom.”

“I’m gonna head back inside and update Darton and Polly,” Codie said, then he put a hand on my shoulder. “Please update me soon, okay?”

I nodded. “I will.”

Codie walked away and Suli looked at me. “Arden…” She sniffled in, but it only made her start crying harder. “I’m sorry.”

“This was my choice,” I said, then I put my hand on her head. “Please don’t blame yourself.”

She laughed. “Easier said than done.” She gave me a quick hug and then she walked away, wiping tears from her eyes as she went.

I looked down at my phone and my stomach twisted with frustration. I hated that I had to make this call, but I dialed Aria’s mom’s number and waited.

“Hey honey,” she said. “It’s a little late. Is everything okay?”

I immediately started to cry. “No. Serene, please don’t hate me.”

“Hate you? Why would I hate you?” she asked. “What’s wrong?”

“I came back to the club that Aria didn’t want me coming to and she found out. She came to get me and this huge fight broke out. She cracked her head on the concrete and is on her way to the hospital,” I explained.

It was totally silent, which was more painful than if she’d let out a scream. “I need to go speak to my boss,” was all she said when she finally did speak.

“Okay,” I said. “I’m sorry.”

But the line just went dead. It killed me knowing that I’d let her down as well. Aria and her mom had been nothing but wonderful to me and had only asked one thing of me in return. What was I doing?

The blare of the ambulance made me turn around and the truck was pulling away from the curb. Though I was nervous to do so, I walked over to Tristan and stood next to him, not saying anything until he chose to talk to me. We stood there silently and watched as the ambulance pulled down the street and then turned the corner and eventually out of sight.

“Why are you here?” Tristan asked. “I thought you were having dinner with your friends.”

“I swear to god, Tris, I didn’t know. Suli planned this whole thing for me, and she planned it here. There was no drinking or drugs or anything, even they weren’t