Iris

A steady beeping noise broke through the blackness first. I focused on it, trying to make sense of it. Was it my alarm clock, and if it was, why couldn't I move my arm to shut it off?

The pain came next. A beat in the base of my skull that pulsed in rhythm with the beeping noise. With every thump, it spread further, moving to the front of my face, and growing worse across my cheekbone.

"Iris?" Minh's voice blasted through the noise and pain. My eyes snapped open, and I saw blurry brown eyes staring back. "She's awake. Ivy."

A loud smack sounded, and my sister grunted. "I can see that."

"Then go get her doctor."

"Minh." My tongue felt too big, and my bottom lip stung. I touched the sore spot gently with my tongue, and a coppery tang bloomed on the tip. "Minh."

"Shh, here."

She pushed a sliver of ice through my lips. As soon as it melted, I motioned to her for more, and only after a half dozen pieces of ice did I feel capable of speaking more than a single syllable.

"What happened?"

The legs of Minh's chair scraped against the tile floor as she pulled it closer to my bed. No. Not my bed. A hospital bed. The beeping came from monitors, and a half filled bag of liquid hung from a hook. The liquid dripped steadily into the long tube that ended at the top of my hand.

"You don't remember?"

"I was walking...and then..." I squeezed my eyes shut as a wave of nausea went through me. "Paul attacked me, but Garrett showed up. Oh my god! Where is Garrett?"

The last thing I remembered before Paul struck me was Garrett challenging him. What if he hadn't won? It was unimaginable to me that he might lose to someone as scrawny and mousy as Paul, but crazier things had happened. Not to mention, Paul was the type to fight dirty.

"Last I heard, he was still at the station. They took him in for questioning."

"Who?"

She played with a piece of her hair and winced. "The police."

"But he's okay?"

"If you mean, is he injured? He's fine. But I wouldn't say he was okay. Iris, he beat the shit out of the guy who attacked you, and if he hadn't already called the cops when he saw what was happening, he might have killed him."

As much as I wanted to say Paul deserved whatever he got, I couldn't. Not because it wasn't true, but because it would have ruined Garrett's life. Everything he worked so hard for would be gone in an instant. His mother would lose her son. All of it ruined because of me.

"Don't cry. Hey now," Minh muttered, grabbing for a box of tissues as tears rolled down my cheeks. The salt water burned the scrapes, and my vision grew blurrier.

"Iris, are you okay?" Ivy asked, rushing into the room and taking the spot on the other side of the bed. She touched my shoulder and looked helplessly at Minh. "What happened?"

"I fucked up so bad, Ivy," I blubbered.

"Stop it. It's all my fault. If I hadn't begged you to trade places, none of this would have happened."

Minh nodded. "And if she didn't have such god awful taste in men, it wouldn't have happened."

Ivy glared. "Hey. I don't need your help with this."

"None of that matters. It won't change the fact that Garrett is sitting in a police station because of me."

"About that." Minh and I swung our attention to Ivy as she played with the edge of my blue blanket. "Lexi called me while I was looking for your doctor. They let him go. No charges are being pressed. Apparently, there were some cameras in that alley, and the footage caught everything. Your attack and the fact that Paul charged Garrett first. They're letting him go as self defense."

The news unleashed a torrent of fresh tears. Thirty minutes later, after a lot of comforting words from Minh and Ivy, I'd finally stopped crying. A harried looking doctor stopped by to ask a few questions and let me know that my scans had come back clear. They were going to keep me overnight for observation just to be careful, but in all likelihood I could go home tomorrow.

Minh and Ivy stayed with me until the sky grew dark outside the window and my eyelids started to droop. Only then did they give me a gentle hug and kiss on my forehead, which was the only part of my face that wasn't bruised.

"I'll take you down to the station after they release you," Ivy promised as she grabbed her bag. "Unless you want me to pretend to be you?"

She wiggled her eyebrows, and I rolled my eyes. "I think our days of swapping places are over, don't you?"

"Yeah, yeah." Minh walked out. Ivy paused in the doorway, and when she looked back at me, her eyes glittered with unshed tears. "Love you, Iris."

"I love you too."

I stared at my phone for the next twenty minutes, willing it to ring or get a text message. Any sign from Garrett would be nice, but I wasn't foolish enough to believe that just because he saved me, that meant he wanted me. Any decent human would have stopped Paul. It didn't mean anything. Unable to stay awake any longer, I set my phone on the table and gave into the exhaustion.

The next time I woke, the room was pitch black, besides the glow of the digital numbers on the monitors. I had no trouble recalling where I was or what had happened. A quick glance at my phone revealed it was two in the morning. Why had I woken up?

A rustle drew my attention to the doorway, and I gasped when I saw the dark outline of a man leaning against the frame. Heart pounding, I swiped up on my phone, preparing to dial 911, only to stop when he flipped on the hallway light.

"Garrett."

"Hi, Iris," he said, his expression guarded. "We need to talk."