Jade’s POV
Ryder suddenly burst out laughing.
Not a chuckle. Not a restrained breath. A full, loud, boisterous laugh that echoed against the sterile hospital walls like he’d just heard the funniest joke of his life.
I froze.
My eyes snapped to him, confusion knotting my brows, my chest tightening for a completely different reason than the wound stitched beneath the bandages. He leaned back slightly, one hand running through his hair as he laughed, shoulders shaking as if he couldn’t help himself.
Renzo, on the other hand, didn’t move.
Not an inch.
He stood there like carved stone, cold, blank, unreadable. The sharp contrast between them made Ryder’s laughter feel even crueler.
“I’m sorry,” Ryder said between laughs, wiping at the corner of his eye, “but it’s just really funny hearing you lie to our faces like that.”
Lie?
My lips parted, but no sound ca out.
“Virgin?” he continued, a grin tugging cruelly at his mouth. “Please. We literally know all the guys your slutty ass has slept with in school.”
What?!!!
I stared at him, stunned, my mind scrambling.
What guys?
Who said that?
Why would anyone even make that up?
And why did they believe it so much?
I’d barely spoken to anyone in school, barely existed to them beyond whispers and mockery. Yet here they were, so sure, so convinced, looking at like I was sothing filthy pretending to be pure.
I opened my mouth to argue, to scream, to defend myself....
And pain suddenly exploded across my chest.
A sharp, blinding agony ripped through , stealing the breath right out of my lungs. I gasped, my body curling instinctively inward as a broken sound slipped from my throat.
A whimper.
Before I could stop it.
Renzo noticed imdiately.
I saw it, the split second where his mask cracked. His body shifted toward , his hand lifting, concern flashing raw and unguarded in his eyes....
Then he stopped himself.
He just... froze.
His arm dropped back to his side like he’d rembered sothing ugly, sothing he didn’t want to feel.
I swallowed hard and forced myself to look at both of them.
“At this point,” I said, my voice shaking but firm, “I don’t even care what you lot think about anymore.”
My throat burned.
“I just want to go ho.”
I swung my legs over the side of the bed, ignoring the warning ache in my chest, the dizziness already creeping in. I planted my feet on the floor and pushed myself up.
Big mistake.
The room tilted violently.
My knees buckled, my vision blurring at the edges, and I felt myself falling....
Strong arms caught instantly.
Ryder and Renzo moved at the sa ti, desperation overriding hatred without a second thought. Ryder grabbed my left arm, Renzo my right, hauling back upright before I could hit the floor.
My heart slamd painfully against my ribs.
My wolf stirred weakly, purring despite herself at their touch, at the warmth, at the familiarity that shouldn’t have existed but did.
I hated her for it.
I hated myself for it.
Renzo released first, his jaw tight, eyes dark.
“You’re foolish,” he said flatly. “Absolutely foolish.”
His gaze flicked down to my chest, then back to my face, sharp and cutting.
“If you want to drag your injured self back to your struggling mother like this, then suit yourself and die. I don’t give a fuck.”
The words were brutal.
But they did what nothing else could.
My mum.
Her tired face flashed in my mind. The way she rushed out every morning, pretending she wasn’t exhausted. The humiliation she swallowed daily just so I could stay in school. The way her hands trembled when she counted coins at night.
What would she do if she saw like this?
Broken. Bleeding. Dying.
What if I didn’t heal?
What if I died?
The thought hit like ice.
She wouldn’t survive it.
She would bla herself. She would crumble. And eventually....
She would follow . She would kill herself.
No.
No, no, no.
That was a risk I couldn’t take.
I couldn’t do that to her.
Renzo had already turned away, motioning sharply to Ryder.
Ryder hesitated for half a second, then followed.
The door handle was already turning.
“Wait!” I cried.
They stopped.
Slowly, both of them turned back to .
My chest hurt. My pride hurt more.
But none of it mattered.
“Save ,” I said, my voice breaking as I t their eyes. “I don’t care anymore.”
The words tasted like lust and surrender.
“I don’t care if you have to fuck to do it,” I continued hoarsely. “Just.... just bloody heal .”
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