Puck (Kickstarting My Heart #3) (COMPLETED)

Never Too Late

It didn't take long to spot Chase leaning against the wall of the overpass.

Cars continuously swerved to avoid hitting him, half of them honking and screaming profanities out the window. I parked my best friend's car in the dirt just before the entrance on to the freeway, trying my best to keep myself out of the road as I grasped the concrete wall beside me for stability.

"Chase!" I called. He staggered forward, almost falling face first. I inhaled deeply and edged closer to him. "You need to get out of here before one of these cars hits you."

He didn't hear a word I said. "I didn't think you'd actually come."

The closer I got, the sicker I felt. He had most definitely taken something or drunk something, or possibly both. His eyes were bloodshot and half open, breathing just as staggered as his movements.

"Chase, please." A car horn sounding behind us earned a fearful cry out of me. "We can talk about this. Come to the car."

He moved a little closer but stopped suddenly.

"You all wondered why I did it the first time, right?" he pointed at himself. "Everyone has a reason to live, a reason to wake up every morning and keep going. For me, that was my mom. Once she was gone, I had nothing. No brother or sister, no girlfriend, no real friends, not even a father. I had no reason to live, Veronica. "I know everyone thought I had it all. I was the Golden boy, everyone loved me. But sweetheart, I could be replaced in a heartbeat. Nobody loved Chase Parker, they loved Puck. Nobody actually loved the real person beneath the helmet and gear, they loved the idea of who they thought I was."

He stopped to catch his breath, then continued.

"I tried everything I could. I tried talking to a few friends outside of school, but they were too involved with their goddamn selves that they didn't want to hang out. I tried getting a girlfriend, but they all just wanted sex and to say they'd slept with me, none of them wanted anything real. I tried it all. I wanted to be like everyone else; living each day happy and smiling. But my anxiety, my thoughts, they started to become too much. I started to beat myself down further and further every day until I finally couldn't take living with myself anymore. I hated who I was and I knew nobody would really miss me."

He smiled then, a sadistic smile I felt deep in the pit of my stomach.

"And when I actually did it, look what happened. Everyone continuously beat me into the ground further. I would be better of dead, Veronica. Don't you see that now?"

I heard the sound of tires squealing and squeezed my eyes shut, hugging Jordan's jacket as tight as I possibly could around me. Instead of feeling the impact of a car or even hearing the thud of Chase hitting the ground after being hit, I was immediately wrapped in a warm embrace, my best friend's warmth enough to cause reality of what could of just happened to hit me.

"If she didn't care about you, I'd kill you my fucking self." Jordan growled over my head. "You are a selfish piece of shit. Making her risk her life to save yours. You want to be dead so fucking bad, do it, kill yourself."

I shook my head against his chest, starting to hyperventilate. "Jordan, stop. Please."

"I'm handing you to Chelsea for a second so I can get this dumbass off the road. I'm right here, mi vida. I'm right here."

I immediately felt myself being passed into a softer embrace, fake acrylic nails digging into my back. "Are you ok, Ronnie?"

I lifted my head, nodding slowly, wanting to reassure the kind girl that I was fine. Instead I turned to find Chase was in and out, hardly coherent, as Jordan threw him down against the fender of Chelsea's rusty old Buick. The sound of sirens nearing didn't calm my nerves in the least bit, if anything it spiked my anxiety. Chelsea rubbed my back comfortingly while Jordan made his way back over to me.