Before I Forget

Lady Midnight

"Come on, let's get out of here—" Cody rasped, and took Sky's hand, pulling her with him as he made his way through the crowd, out of the kitchen.

Sky followed.

Her breathing was coming in short, shallow exhales. She barely realized the tears that kept flowing down her face. There was blood on Cody's face, on his hands, his blood, and Hawk's blood, and Sky smelled the heavy, rich scent, could almost taste it on her tongue, the blood that was on her hands.

I caused this—

It's my fault they fought–!

She couldn't breathe, a horrible weight was crushing her chest. Cody led her through the crowd, up the stairs, just to get away from the people, from the music, from the party that was still going on, and from Hawk - away from Hawk, whom they had left on the floor, bleeding, lying in the middle of beer and shattered glass.

Sky's heart hurt.

Yes, it had been Hawk who had started the fight, he had attacked Cody who had done nothing wrong, but still—

It hurt to see Hawk getting beaten up like that. Sky hadn't expected the sharp, brutal violence of Cody's response. She hadn't known he could fight at all.

It was because of me. He did it to defend me.

And then they were in a quiet, dark room and Cody slammed the door behind them, collapsed against it, and let out a series of sharp, strained exhales, as if he was trying to breathe the fight out of him, the shock, the adrenaline. He kept clenching and unclenching his bloodied fists, and Sky noticed he was trembling. There was blood on his face, on his lips, on those soft, beautiful lips.

Sky's legs almost gave in as she leaned her back on the wall. The shock of what had happened was only now hitting her full force - first seeing Hawk with Maya, then the fight—

She started sobbing uncontrollably, ragged breaths breaking through her aching chest. She had been so happy, she'd been having so much fun, and now—

Everything was ruined!

"Shit—" Cody cursed, and then he was standing in front of her, gently pulling her hands off her face so that he could see her. "Sky, are you– are you hurt?"

She managed to shake her head, tears streaming down her cheeks.

"I– I didn't mean for you to get hurt— I'm sorry, I'm so sorry—"

"It's okay—" Cody said, taking her face into his hands. "Look at me, Sky. I'm fine. You don't have to be sorry."

"But you—" she sobbed. "You're bleeding—"

With a frown, he brought a hand to wipe the cut on his lip, as if he'd already forgotten about it. "This? Hey, it's nothing. It really is. I've had worse."

"You— you sure?"

"Yes, I'm fine," he assured her, his voice soft and gentle when he brought his hands back to her cheeks, to brush away her tears. "And Hawk is fine too. He's going to be okay. No one is hurt."

Sky tried to get her breathing under control, but it was impossible. She was still sobbing, her body was trembling, as if even here in this quiet, dark room, there was a wind blowing through her, chilling her bones.

"I— I don't care if he's hurt. He— he fucked Maya Riley in the bathroom," The tears were making her voice wet and thick, and saying those words out loud made the pain in her chest a thousand times worse. "Screw him! I— I don't wanna talk about him, I don't wanna even think about him—"