Page 106 of Avoidance

“It was so hard to see in the dark, but beams in the ceiling were falling. That can’t be good structurally.”

“Did you see Donnie there last night?” Chase asked.

Dave shook his head.

My eyes widened, remembering Donnie’s pregnant wife. I thought about Chad, lying there in the midst of the debris; then I thought about Philip, and Brooke. I looked at Chase. “Can you text Philip?”

“I texted all of the guys while I was waiting to be brought into the examination room.” He shook his head. “No responses yet, but that doesn’t mean anything.”

“Is there anyone you need us to call?” I asked Dave.

“I texted my mom when I woke up. She already booked me a flight back home. She’s freaking out. You guys need a ride anywhere?”

Chase ran his fingers through his hair. “When are you heading to the airport?”

“As soon as they let me out of here. My flight leaves at noon.”

Immediately, Chase took out his phone. “I’ll get us the earliest flight I can.”

My eyebrows shot up. “Back to New York?”

He was quiet while he tapped on his screen. When he had finished, he looked up at me and smiled. “Done. We leave at two.”

“You can drive my car,” Dave offered, patting his sling.

“We’ll have to go back to the apartment to get our things.” A lump formed in my throat as I thought about having to go back there.

Chase’s fingers intertwined with mine, and he carefully kissed my swollen hand. “We’ll be quick.”

I bit my bottom lip to keep it from trembling. I didn’t want the boys to see how terrified I was after what had happened. Though their injuries could have been much worse, they were fortunate enough to be knocked unconscious for the duration of the earthquake. I remembered every detail as it ran through my mind on a constant loop. I couldn’t wait to be flying hundreds of miles away from this place.

Chapter Eighteen

It Hurts But I’ll Live

In the daylight, we were able to see the full magnitude of the damage that had been done. The street we rode on had cracks running throughout it; one road we passed was soaked with water from the shift in the underground pipes; firefighters attempted to put out a fire in one of the buildings we drove by. People walked the streets to capture pictures of what they saw, stepping over the fallen bricks and chunks of cement that lined the sidewalk. If you looked quickly, most of the stores and buildings looked intact. Looking more closely inside, however, looked like a tornado had ripped through each building. The palm trees stood tall and brave amidst the broken city.

Chase, Dave, and I were quiet as we rolled to a stop. My hands were throbbing, and I was still wearing torn yoga pants. All three of us were filthy, bruised, and cut up. We looked exactly like the natural disaster victims I had always seen on the news; with the exception of a hurricane here and there, New York was a safe place to live. I couldn’t imagine living in a place like this, where something so scary was considered normal. I stared at the bar, my stomach twisting violently. I took a breath before stepping out of Dave’s car.

We saw Donnie as soon as we walked inside. He looked unscathed, and I hoped his wife looked the same. “It’s good to see you guys,” he said, hugging each of us. He paused after he let me go. “Wait. What are you doing here?”

“She came back in the nick of time,” Dave said. “She pulled me and Chase out of this mess last night.”

“How’s Rachel?” I asked.

“She’s fine. She’s at her mother’s house.” He looked around the bar, heaving a sigh. “This place is a wreck.”

“How long do you think it will take you to get it up and running again?” Dave asked.

“It has never been this badly damaged before.” Donnie looked at me. “What does it look like upstairs?”

“It… it was dark. Everything happened so fast.”

“I looked up into the stairwell. Shit’s a mess in there. Good thing you got out of there.”

Chase hugged me to his side. “She was trapped in there for a while.”

Donnie’s eyes surveyed my appearance. “The door was broken off the hinges.”