Oh shit. It flooded back to me in all its painful, panic inducing glory. Jimmy. The Camry. The truck.
“Are Henry and Jake okay? Jared, what…?” I trailed off and didn’t even finish my sentence before I felt myself drift away again.
When I came to later, the sunshine had faded to night, Jared was gone, and there was a young doctor standing at the edge of my bed, scribbling in a chart.
“Genevieve.” He smiled at me when I stirred.
He looked far too young to know what he was doing, but I smiled back anyway because he looked kind and friendly with his soft grey eyes and fine blond hair.
“Evie,” I offered.
“Okay, Evie,” he repeated and smiled at me again. “How do you feel?”
“Like I’ve been hit by a truck.”
He moved to the side of the bed, leaning down to flash a pen light in both eyes. I cried out in pain as the out of control ice pick made a re-appearance, and the doctor patted my arm reassuringly.
“Sorry about that, Evie.”
I closed my eyes for a moment and whispered that it was okay. Then I heard what appeared to be a party coming from somewhere down the hallway: loud voices, shouts of laughter, arguments. Someone even yelled.
I noted the tag pinned to the doctors white coat. “Dr. Reed, are you having a party?”
He shook his head as his lips tugged up at the corners. “Sorry, Evie, but that party out there...” he nodded towards the door “...happens to be all on you. Your friends and family are out there.”
Of course they were. This didn’t surprise me in the least. I get injured and end up in hospital, and they turn it into some kind of excuse to get shitfaced and disturb an entire ward full of bed ridden and critically ill people.
“No,” I denied. “You must be mistaken. I have no friends or family. Whoever they say they are, don’t believe it. In fact, you should tell them all to move their party on elsewhere.”
He grinned. “I think the nurses are likely about to do just that.”
“When can I leave?” I asked, struggling to shift my body into a comfortable seated position.
He placed his hands on my shoulders and gently pushed me back down on the bed. “You’re not going anywhere yet. You’ve suffered a severe head injury. This is the first time you've been alert in almost three days.”
Three days? I lost three days? I should be hungry. When my stomach growled in response I knew everything was going to be okay.
“What day is it?”
He stood there scribbling in my chart. “It’s late Sunday evening.”
I closed my eyes. That meant we missed the show at the White Demon. Shit. This meant another three days of missed pills. Double shit. I told Jared I was unreliable.
He looked up at me, pen poised. “Do you remember what happened?”
I nodded.
He scribbled some more in his chart. “Good.”
He tucked the chart away and came over to stand by the bed, clicking his pen before slipping it into the pocket of his white coat. “Is there anything I can get for you?”
“I’m kinda hungry so something to eat would nice, thanks.”
“Okay.” He checked his watch. “Dinner will be around soon.”
I didn’t mean hospital food. I meant real food, but I didn’t bother to correct his assumption because I couldn’t imagine him arranging a takeaway run with one of the nurses.
“How about I send a couple of your visitors in and tell the rest to come back tomorrow?”
“Yes, please.”
“We’ve booked you in for a scan, so I’ll be back for you in a few minutes, okay?” He smiled kindly and left.
More shouting came from down the hall, and after a few moments, Coby and Henry rounded the doorway. They both looked tired and wrinkled.
“You both look like terrible,” I announced.
“You should see yourself, Chook,” Henry muttered.
I ran my fingers through a snarl of hair at Henry’s words, and Coby leaned in to kiss my forehead. Henry took up the other side of the bed and grabbed my hand.
“Thank God you’re here.” My stomach growled its agreement. “I need food. Where’s Jared?”
“We sent him home to shower and change his clothes. He was starting to stink the place out and scare all the nurses,” Coby told me.
Thinking of how he looked when I first came too, I asked, “He’s not coming back, is he? Please tell him I’m fine and to get some proper sleep okay?”
“I can tell him,” Coby agreed, “but it doesn’t mean he’ll listen.”
I faced Henry and when I noticed his arm in a sling, my eyes whipped to his in a panic. “Henry, your arm!”
“I’m fine. It’s more precautionary,” he assured me. “I’ll be back on the guitar in a couple of days. I was lucky and just cracked my elbow. You smashed your head.”
“Well, there’s no point in doing anything half-assed now, is there?” I said dryly.
“You did a pretty good job,” Henry said reassuringly. “The truck clipped the front bumper of the car on the driver’s side and spun us around. You hit your head on the side window on impact. A smaller car and we might have been crushed.”
“Jake?”
“Jake’s fine,” Coby replied. “Not even a scratch.”
“Typical,” I muttered bitterly to Henry as I leaned up a little to wrestle with a pillow. “Look how I ended up, and you two come out of it dancing the hokey f**king pokey.”
Coby helped adjust my pillow, and I flopped back down gratefully. “Thanks, Coby. How is my beautiful car? Will she live?”
Coby shook his head. “I’m sorry, Evie, but she didn’t make it.”
I couldn’t take any more. The tears began trickling down my face faster than I could wipe them away.
“It’ll be okay, honey.” Coby rubbed at my arm soothingly. “We’ve already arranged a new one under your insurance. It’s all taken care of.”
“It’s not the same,” I choked out. “Please tell me Jimmy came out worse off than me?”
Henry and Coby shared a look that told me that definitely wasn't the case.
My eyes went wide. “He’s still out there, isn’t he? After all that, he got away? How did that even happen? That’s it. Your names are officially changed to Jamieson and Valentine: Assclown Consultants,” I growled in irritation.
“Evie!”
“Sorry, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it. I’m just pissed off because all this happened, and he’s still out there. It’s just this continual black feeling that I can’t shake off.”
“It’s alright and yes, Jimmy got away,” Coby confirmed irritably. “Everyone was busy working to get you all out and then the ambulance came and with so much going on, he managed to get away.”
“Visiting hours are over,” Dr. Reed interrupted from the doorway. “This young lady is due for a scan.”
“We’ll be right outside if you need us, okay?” Coby reached out, squeezing my shoulder wearily before heading for the door.
I turned my head to Henry and whispered quickly. “Go get me a burger and chips Henry, please? I haven’t eaten in three days.”
“Tomorrow, Evie, I promise. It’s too late now,” he said quietly so only I could hear. “I just want you to know that I didn’t let go of your hand. When I saw that truck right there. God.” He shuddered. “I wanted to take your place, and then Jared was there the second the car stopped. You had all this blood running down the side of your face and you weren’t moving.” Henry let out a deep shaky breath, and I squeezed his hand reassuringly.
“What about the truck driver?”
“Fine, just in a bit of shock I think.”
Dr. Reed finally came into the room, clearing his throat.
“Burger. Chips,” I whispered fiercely before Henry could leave.
He gave me a wink and let go of my hand to follow Coby out the door.
When I woke later, having had my scan and a shower, Jared was sitting by the bed looking fresher in clean clothes, damp silky brown hair against his neck, and freshly shaven. His eyes were intent on my face, and I flushed at the thought of him watching me while I was sleeping.
“Jared,” I said, blinking hard. “You shaved?”
There was silence as he ignored my question, and when he spoke, his voice was almost a whisper. “Why didn’t you get out of the car?”
My mind flashed back to the truck bearing down, my hand shaking and seemingly unable to move, fumbling on the door handle.
“I was trying to,” I replied, “but I couldn’t get to the door handle fast enough. I don’t know. It all seem to happen so slowly except for that truck.”
He stood up at my words, putting his hands in his pockets and walking over to stare out the window into the inky blackness. “You gave us all a scare, Evie. I thought we were gonna lose you. I can’t remember ever feeling so terrified.” This time his voice shook and it made my insides churn.
I didn’t like hearing it in his voice and tried to be positive. “Well, I get to go home tomorrow.”
His eyes softened on my face. “That’s good news, baby.” He approached the side of my bed, taking my hand in his and gently running his thumb over my palm. “It’s not too soon, is it?”
“Nope. The scan came back all clear, so they’ve recommended bed rest at home, but otherwise I’m okay. Well, as okay as I’ll ever get, anyway,” I joked.
“I’ll make sure you get rest,” he said, relief overtaking his voice and he squeezed my hand tightly.
I flipped back the sheets and patted the bed in invitation. “I’ve been watching old re-runs of Friends on the tiny hospital television, and that Tom Selleck really rocks a moustache. Shame you went and had a shave,” I said in mock sadness as I gazed at his upper lip. “You’d look hot with facial hair.”
He chuckled as he crawled into the skinny hospital bed and snuggled up against me, his arms wrapping around me while we both struggled to get comfortable. With his strong arms holding me, he rested his chin on the top of my head for a moment, running his fingers gently through my hair with his eyes closed tight.
“Not gonna lose you, baby,” Jared vowed so quietly it almost couldn’t be heard. Then he relaxed his arms and bent his head to meet my eyes with a faint smile. “Don’t cut my hair. Grow a moustache. You trying to turn me into your Hairy Parry?”
I laughed. “No! I was just teasing.” I ran my fingertips down the side of his face until I reached the dimple in his smile. “It wouldn’t do to cover this up now, would it?”
“I could say the same for you and clothes.”
“Jared!”
He chuckled against my mouth, so I linked my fingers around his neck and bit his bottom lip gently. He ran his tongue across my lips, and at the soft touch, I opened my mouth to let it move against mine. My hands travelled across his wide shoulders, down his chest, and slipped under his shirt, running them across the warm, hard ridges beneath. His body was strong, his skin warm, and touching it kept getting better and better. He made me feel safe, wanted, and treasured. No one had ever made me feel that way before, and I wanted him to feel the same. I wanted to erase the fear in his eyes and replace it with heat and desire. Within the tight confines of the bed, his hard body pressing against mine, I couldn't restrain myself and inched my hand inside his jeans. He groaned and snagged my wrist.