Kissing my Scars and Bruises

chapter sixteen

Valery, Hadley, Madi, and my dad all visited me the afternoon I woke up.

Val had definitely changed since I last saw her. Her face grew into a mature, grown up, face. She no longer dressed in her badass clothes, though she kept the leather jacket. Val was still confined to a wheelchair. She wore leather fingerless gloves.

"Hey Sades." Val smiled at me.

Her whole body twitched. I knew that the incident had left her with a tremor. It also left her with speech problems.

"Val? You've... changed." I whispered.

The wound in my chest still made speaking a hard task. They had taken me off the breathing tube and gave me a canola for breathing. I still couldn't move my body, only small movements were achievable.

"Yeah, mom was really worried about me the first month I moved. You know, I'm in college now." Val smiled.

"Sades, I just found out that I'm moving to the same town Val lives. We can be in contact, all three of us." Madi smiled.

"Oh, which reminds me, here's my number." Val gave me a slip of paper.

On it, in her jerky handwriting, read a cell phone number. I memorized the number. I couldn't put it in my phone because they wouldn't let me have my phone.

"Can I have a moment with Sadie?" Hadley asked.

"Of course." The other three people smiled.

Val, Madi, and dad left my hospital room.

Hadley nervously messing with her wedding ring.

"Hadley... I know... you feel like... this was your..
fault. I know that... but, it's no one's... fault but my... own. I made... the decision. You and Madi did... everything to try and... stop me from going... through with it... And Hadley... I did this for my own... reasons." I explained.

My speech was halting and in some places the words were barley whispers.

"What I wanted to tell you was that in Ace's absence I will be taking over as the head of the club. And that also means my second is the alpha fighter." Hadley started. "This could be a permanent position. Ace is facing seven years to life. Valery is going to testify about Ace's mentality. Along with Madison and her mom. I wanna ask you this, do you want to testify? If you do, you likely will have to reveal your position in the fight club."

I processed her words. If I testified I would have to tell them that I was in a fight club. Princeton could hear about this. I could lose my scholarship. And on top of that, I would be kicked out of fight club.

My thoughts returned to William. He had wanted me to leave the fight club. I knew he only wanted me to leave because of all the dangers it posed to my future. After what happened, he would definitely want me to leave.

Then I wondered something. If I wasn't with William, would I of done the same thing? Of course I would. Val's promise was always with me.

"I... dunno... If I do... I want witness... protection. And everything... I say has to stay... confidential." I answered.

"Then, if you testify, you have to leave the fight club. It's the only way for us to ensure it doesn't get out about the club. You can't say anything about the members of the club or your fights. I trust you understand this." Hadley said.

"I don't... wanna leave. Please don't... make me... leave." I said.

"Those are the rules. But, you're the alpha fighter. We won't make you leave, just yet." Hadley gently touched my hand.