Run, Girl (If You Can)

Keeley was asleep in Aaron's arms by the time Carlton arrived. He raised an eyebrow.

"My goodness, what happened?"

"Long story," Aaron said grimly. "I need to get her out of here without anyone seeing though. Do you have any ideas?"

The driver thought about it before suggesting they take the staff elevator and sneak out that way. Apparently his brother used to work at this hotel as a bellhop so he knew where it was.

Carlton went first, making sure the coast was clear on the way to the staff elevator as Aaron followed behind with Keeley riding piggyback, unconscious.

It was a miracle they made it to the car without being spotted by any of the prom goers.

"Master Aaron, is this the girl you bought those craft supplies for?" Carlton asked once they were in the car on their way to the hospital.

He sighed. Was he that transparent? "Yes."

"Can you tell me exactly what happened tonight?"

His tone wasn't accusatory but Aaron still felt defensive.

"I didn't do this! Someone sent me a text message about where she was; I found her like that. She was drugged. I already called her father to meet us at the hospital."

"Why would someone do that?" he asked, astonished.

Aaron couldn't answer. He attracted psychopaths, that's why.

Well, not all of them were psychopaths. Keeley wasn't. She was a good person—maybe even the only truly good person he knew.

She didn't deserve this. She didn't deserve anything she went through at Lacy's or his father's hands.

He wanted to be happy with her in this life but he never stopped to think about whether or not she would be happy with him. Misery followed in his wake yet again, dragging her down.

He looked down at the sleeping girl in his arms with deep regret. "I'm not strong enough to protect her."

"If I may be frank, you are still a high school student. You did your best. That girl was better off being found by you tonight than by someone else."

The very thought filled him with rage. Any other man might not be able to resist having a beautiful, intoxicated woman throw herself at him. If he hadn't gotten to her first…

"I'd rather not think about that."

"I only meant that you shouldn't be so hard on yourself," Carlton said wisely. "I believe you will achieve what you want in due time."

Aaron went silent after that, deep in thought. He needed to become stronger so he could protect what mattered to him.

It had been unfair of him to drag Keeley into his life without having proper precautions in place.

In order to avoid making the same mistakes he did in his first life, he ended up making entirely new ones that caused different damage.

Keeley wanted him to leave her alone? He could do that while he gained enough power that no one could ever touch her again.

When they arrived at the hospital, Robert was already in the emergency room waiting area. He jumped up when he saw Aaron carry his daughter in, calling for a nurse to get a gurney because she was unconscious.

Another nurse questioned him about what happened as Carlton and Robert stood to the side. A few months younger than Keeley, Aaron wasn't eighteen yet and needed adult witnesses.

"Describe her symptoms, please," the nurse said crisply after taking his statement of how he found her.

Aaron glanced nervously at Robert. He might not take this well.

"When I first found her she was curled in a ball on the bed hallucinating vividly. She was going on about vines and clowns and planets for quite a while. Her emotions were all over the place and she was very feverish. After that…she…um…"

The last thing he wanted to do was talk about how he made out with Keeley in front of her overprotective father. He seemed to catch on.

"Go on, son, I won't be mad. Tell her what she needs to know."

He wouldn't meet anyone's eyes.

"She tried making out with me and taking my clothes off, still hallucinating. She thought I was the planet Neptune for some reason…and talked about penguins and glaciers. Eventually I managed to pry her off me and call for help and then she passed out and has been unconscious ever since."

The nurse scribbled a few things down on her clipboard before looking up and giving him a gentle smile.

"You were very brave to help your friend like you did. We'll give her a thorough checkup to make sure there are no repercussions and run blood tests to see exactly what she was given. I called the police; you'll need to give your statement and show the text messages as evidence when they arrive."

Aaron nodded mutely before joining Robert and Carlton on the plastic chairs in the waiting area. He hung his head in his hands.

Tonight was such a nightmare and he still had to deal with the repercussions of ditching Alice.

She probably hadn't noticed his absence but the longer he was gone…at the very least he had to go back and take her home or his parents would know something happened. But he didn't want to leave without knowing what was happening with Keeley.

Robert laid a fatherly hand on his shoulder and spoke in a choked up voice.

"Thank you for taking care of my daughter. She's all I have left…if you hadn't found her…"

"I'm sorry Mr. Hall, I should have known something was wrong sooner," he said miserably.

It wasn't just Keeley he was hurting. If anything happened to her, it would destroy this man who already lost half his family. He could see that now.

In all his time trying to win Keeley over, he never once thought about anything from her side of things. Her goals and dreams. Her family. What she wanted out of life.

He had been apart from her for so long that he would do anything to have her back and disregarded everything else.

For someone praised for his brain since he was young, it was an incredibly stupid and shortsighted thing to do.

"You couldn't have known," Robert said comfortingly, not knowing how wrong he was. "The important thing is that you acted as soon as you got those texts."

Aaron didn't have the energy to argue. He checked the time and saw that the dance would be ending soon; sending Carlton to go back and pick up Alice.

He couldn't leave since the police were on their way. The nurse had his contact information but the last thing he wanted was for them to come to his house asking questions.

What if his parents found out? It was better to stay and get things over with here.