When New York and London Collide

Chapter 26

Chase Kennedy

Ella must be really tired. Usually she's a morning person, but now it was well past 9, the time she usually woke up at, and she was still fast asleep. I smoothed her hair and left the room for a while. Celine told me that she'd be here for Ella's discharge since she had nothing else to do, so I decided to buy the both of them some breakfast. Ella hated the food here so much, she'd willingly go hungry an entire day. I remembered there was a cafe nearby, so I walked over to get some ham and cheese sandwiches.

While I walked, my mind couldn't help but drift to my conversation with Celine yesterday. I knew Liam hadn't told her a single thing, and I even contemplated spilling the beans on everything there and then. But I decided not to eventually. On one hand, I thought I shouldn't stick my nose into someone else's business, even if the situation was beyond fucked up. On the other hand, I didn't want to be the cause of Celine's pain. Even if it was Liam who had hurt her, breaking the news to her would shatter her. And I didn't want to be the reason for her breaking apart, even partially. I wanted no part in her pain, even if I did find her insufferable. Slightly less after getting to know her, but still insufferable.

Although my heart clenched at the thought of her being hurt, I brushed it off. No one, other than psychos and sadists, enjoyed inflicting or watching someone else in pain, I told myself. My heart clenching, that was just confirmation that I'm neither a psycho nor a sadist, and there was nothing more to it.

That's what I told myself, over and over and over and over.

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When I finally bagged a few sandwiches, I walked back into a more chaotic hospital than the one I had left. Doctors were running around and I saw people being pushed in on stretchers. I took a closer look and gasped inaudibly. I could recognise that head of blonde hair anywhere.

It was Celine. Hurt, unconscious, on a stretcher. The mere thought of her physically hurt made me sick to my stomach. I wasn't sure why, I didn't care for the blonde. But the feelings of worry stayed, so I didn't push them away. I tried to ask the nurses about her, but they insisted that I wait until she was ready for visitations. Which meant that I had to wait until she was conscious.

Taking quick steps to Ella's ward, where she was now awake, I acted like everything was fine. Even though it really wasn't. I handed her some sandwiches and watched her eat happily. My mind constantly went back to the image of Celine.

Hurt. Unconscious.

I kept my eyes on the clock for thirty minutes until I decided to fuck it. I had to know if she was okay or not. Telling Ella I had to fill in some forms about her discharge, I walked to the front desk and asked about Celine.

"Celine Haufftner. Do you know which ward she is in?"

Luckily, the nurse let me visit her, telling me she was no longer unconscious, which meant that she was okay. Awake at least, which was a good sign.

My feet, as if it had a mind of it's own, took me all the way to Celine's ward. I took a peek through the window of her ward and saw her sitting alone, calling someone - Liam for sure. My heart tugged once more, but I ignored it.

"You really are trouble, aren't you?" I pushed the door open silently and tried to mask my worries with a lame joke. Though I wasn't really joking. Celine had only been in New York less than a month and she'd already gotten in so much shit. If she wasn't trouble, then she was certainly a trouble magnet. Everywhere she went, trouble, her dear companion, seemed to follow.

"How long were you out for trouble?" l asked after scanning the room, keeping my eyes on her head where the injury was. I only realised that I had been staring longer than I thought when Celine spoke and I was snapped from my trance.

"Maybe almost an hour? I'm not too sure."

I pulled out a chair and assured her that Ella was fine and happily entertained with some ham and cheese sandwiches for now after she spoke about me needing to be with her instead.

"What about you? Are you okay?" I made sure to ask. From my point of view, she only had external injuries. Thank god. And she certainly didn't seem concussed or confused, so that had to be a good sign.

"I'm alive, so I guess," she smiled. Happy that she was still able to make jokes because it meant she was fine, I laughed along. We stared at one another for a little longer before Celine cleared her throat.

"Wait here. I have some things I need to take care of." I told her, even though she remarked that there really wasn't anywhere she could go anyway. I rolled my eyes. Celine was definitely not concussed.

In my absence, I did three things.

One, after finding out about the Porsche, I quickly phoned Jonas, Liam and I's high school friend. I explained the situation and was not surprised to hear a mild gasp from the other end. He loved his cars almost as he did his wife. I offered to pay for any damages, knowing Liam couldn't afford to, but he refused. Again, I'm wasn't surprised. Jonas was always too nice for his own good. But luckily for him, he was rich. If he were poor, I'd call him an idiot.

Two, visited Ella and made sure she was okay before explaining that I'd be gone for a while but that I'd be back in less than an hour tops.

Three, I called Liam to find out where the fuck the idiot was and what he was doing while his girlfriend was in a hospital ward after being in a car accident.