The Secret of Ella and Micha

I’m as good as new.”
    Kissing his forehead, I take a deep breath, hating to leave him as I back out of the car. Ethan’s walking up the road toward me with Benny at his side. He’s still clutching his arm and there’s a little bit of a limp to his walk.
    “Someone’s got to have two good arms to pull it out,” he says to Benny and I see him glance at me with concern in his eyes.
    Benny nods and hops into the car, while Ethan and I wait impatiently on the outside. Cars start to pull up, headlights lighting up the accident as people rubberneck. One of the cars is a Camaro and Mikey stands in front of it, laughing with his girlfriend at his side.
    “Fucking asshole swerved at us,” Ethan tells me as he glares at Mikey.
    Rage engulfs me and this time I let it take me over. I march up to him and shove him hard so he stumbles back into the front end of his car.
    “You think this is funny?” I shout. “They crash into a tree because of you and you keep driving. What the hell’s wrong with you?”
    His eyes darken and he steps toward me. “I won and that’s all that matters.”
    Shaking my head, I lift up my leg and knee him in the balls, hard. He groans, his face reddening as he hunches over and his girlfriend runs to his side to coddle him. I start to leave when he straightens back up. Cradling his injured guy parts, he charges, ready to hit me.
    Ethan blocks him and shoves him back with his good arm. “If you touch her, I’ll slam my good fist into your face.”
    This is not the first time he’s had to say that to someone on my behalf.
    Mikey backs down from the fight, muttering something about it not being worth it as Benny helps Micha out of the car. The branch is out of his shoulder. Left in its place is a hole, which is bleeding down his arm and shirt, but he’s alive and breathing and that’s all that matters.
    We get him into the front seat of Benny’s GTO and then Ethan and Lila get in the back. Micha has me sit on his lap, and he nuzzles his head into my chest. I hold onto him tightly as we speed off into the night.

Chapter 21

    Micha
    The hospital lights are bright and the air is a little cold, but Ella’s warm hand in mine is comforting. The doctor doped me up with a sedative to ease the pain and then I lay down on the bed, waiting for them to come clean the fragments of the branch out of my wound.
    I was scared shitless when I crashed into that tree, worried I was going to die and leave Ella behind with no one. But now, I’m feeling pretty good.
    Ethan peers over me and scrunches his nose at the wound. “It’s gnarly looking.”
    I shove him out of the way and pull Ella down beside me. “Hey there, pretty girl, come sit with me.”
    She giggles, then glances at someone and laughs harder. “I think you might be better off trying to shut your eyes,” she tells me.
    I shake my head from side to side. “No way, all I want to do is stare at you all day.”
    She snorts a laugh and then smoothes my hair back from my head. “Quit talking, before you say something embarrassing.”
    I search my brain, not finding anything embarrassing stashed away inside. “I’ll be fine.” I reach over with my good hand and find her leg. Grabbing hold of it, I pull her over toward me so she falls onto the bed.
    “Micha,” she says, her green eyes so wide I can see my reflection in them. “There are people everywhere.”
    I glance from left to right, not seeing anything but blurry shapes. “I think we’re good.” I move into kiss her and she gives me a quick peck on the lips, before leaning away.
    “How about you rest your head in my lap,” she says. “And I’ll rub your back until you go to sleep.”
    “But what if I wake up and you’re not here?” I ask, sounding like a little baby, but not giving a shit.
    She presses her lips together and sighs. “I’m not going anywhere.”
    “You promise?”
    “I promise.”
    She sits up and I rest my head on her lap. She rubs her fingers up my back and through my hair. I hold onto her as I drift into unconsciousness.

    Ella
    Micha is lying on my bed without a shirt on, fiddling with the bandage covering the hole where the branch stabbed into him. The doctors couldn’t stitch it up because it was too wide of an injury, so he has to keep it covered and is not allowed to take showers, something he had jokingly griped about at the hospital as he winked at me.
    It’s been a few days since the accident and the Chevelle is parked out in his garage in