Southern Belle

Niall's POV

Beep, beep, beep.

The constant beeping of a machine filled my head as I tried to regain consciousness. My eyes felt tired and remained closed despite me wanting to desperately open them. My head was overtaken by a dull headache. I turned my head towards the beeping sound trying to open my eyes to see what was going on but they kept closed.

“Niall, baby!” I heard my mother cry out. I tried my hardest and fluttered my lids open to see my mother sitting on the side of the bed I was on holding tightly to my hand. “Niall, oh my! thank god you’re awake!” She continued.

I wanted to say something but my mouth was too dry. All I could do was take in the scene before me. I was in a hospital. The machine beeping was the heart rate monitor. Images of what happened started to come back but even thinking was painful at this point.

“Wa... water..” I managed to get out to which my mother responded immediately and brought me a bottle that was on a table nearby.
“Here you go, sweetie.” She said as she opened it and brought it to my mouth.

Once I took a few sips, my throat no longer burned and I could speak more clearly.

“What happened?” I asked my mother who immediately breathed deeply and furrowed her brows but before she could answer my father came in.

“Son, I’m glad you’re awake.” He said taking off his cowboy hat and setting it on the ugly hospital sofa chair across my bed. “Maura, why don’t you give me a moment with my son.” He asked my mother who gave my hand one last squeeze before leaving the room.

“Dad, I fucked up.. I’m sorry.” I rarely felt remorseful of my bad behavior but this time I really did go beyond being irresponsible.
“You could’ve gotten yourself killed, Niall!” His voice thick with anger as he took a seat at the foot of my bed.
“I know, I KNOW. How’s Regan? She’s going to be so pissed.” I asked shaking my head in shame as she must be just as banged up as me.
“She... she’s gone. She didn’t survive the impact.” My dad delivered the news making my stomach drop and a knot form at my throat. This whole situation suddenly become an even worse nightmare.
“She’s... dead? Fuck. Fuck. FUCK!” I yelled squeezing my fists tightly. “Am I gonna go to jail?!” I knew I had been pretty drunk and driving so it was my fault.
“I don’t know but probably not. Listen, there’s something you need to know.” My father informed me with a stern face and immediately different scenarios raced through my head. I liked none of this. “Roger happened to have driven by the scene of the accident. He was driving back to the ranch with pastures for this morning. He realized it was your truck and pulled over. He called me and I met him there.” He continued and I wondered where he was going with this. “Lucky for you, this happened in a road hardly travelled so me and Roger...” he trailed off and the suspense was killing me.

“You and Roger what, dad?! What’s worse than me killing Regan? Just say it!” I demanded growing impatient.

“We...” he started again and then lowered his voice. “We switched you around.” He confessed at last making my head spin even more.
“You mean to make it seem as if she was driving?” I asked suddenly feeling even more disgusted with myself.
“Yes. To the authorities she was the one driving. I spoke to Sheriff Baker and I fibbed a bit. Told him that Regan always drove when you were drinking. I’m not sure he fully believed me but it definitely swayed him a bit.” He continued to explain the seriousness of the situation.
“I’m not so sure about this... I killed Regan! They’re gonna know..”

“This brings me to another point. I think it’s important that you not be here for a while.” He said standing up from the foot of my bed.
“Where else am I going to go?” I wondered as I looked around the room trying to process all this information.

“To Texas. With the Kings.”

The Kings. Suddenly staying in this shithole of a town facing possible charges didn’t sound so bad. Going to King Ranch would be the end of any little sanity I had left.

Notes

MelissaStylesInStyle here! Sorry we've disappeared for like a month, but we are back and still very much excited about this story. It looks like Niall and Ember will be meeting very soon!

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