by Winters, KB
The doctor walked away, probably hurrying into another surgery to save another life, bringing hopefully good news into another family’s life. My ass stayed planted in the chair, eyes glued to the swinging doors waiting for the person who’d escort me to my brother’s room. The wait felt never-ending, and my anxiety only grew worse until my sweating palms and my shallow breathing made me dizzy again.
Another hour passed before a nurse came into the waiting room and said it was time. Yes, finally I could lay my eyes on my brother’s dear face and assure myself that he was all right. Ian would make it.
“Oh, Ian!” I cried as I raced to his bedside and took his hand in mine, I held it close to my heart as tears fell from my eyes. “God, I’m so glad you’re okay.” He was still out of it but I didn’t care, he was alive. He was okay.
“Hey, sis.” His voice came out raspy, but I felt his fingers squeeze back and my tears flowed even more.
“Don’t cry. I’m okay,” he wheezed.
I froze at his words and looked up into big blue eyes that were just a shade darker than my own, urging me to stop the water works. Of course, the bright blonde hair Ian got from our mother was matted to his head.
“I’m sorry, Ian. It’s just … I thought.”
He sounded irritated, as usual. “I know what you thought, and I’m okay.”
It was the same conversation we’d been having since that terrible day the phone call came that changed our lives forever.
“Yeah, well, this time I’d say my thoughts were pretty damn justified, Ian. You were in a car accident!”
“And I’m alive,” he said, flashing his big grin, like he’d just won a bet.
How in the hell had the little boy who cut off one of my ponytails and put a bug in my cereal turned into a big, good looking ladies’ man? I had no idea. To me he would always be a twelve-year-old pest.
“And starving. Can you run to the diner down the street and get me one of those meatloaf sandwiches? Am I allowed to eat? What did the doctor say?”
“He said you were going to be fine and that you would need physical therapy. How’s your head?” I squeezed his hand a little.
“I’m still groggy, but I feel like I’m coming out of it. How long have I been here?”
“Hours. They did some emergency surgery and you’ve been in this room just a couple of hours. I was waiting outside forever.”
“Hours or forever?” He smiled again.
I flashed a grin, relief and happiness swirling inside my veins like a tornado that wouldn’t quit. “Hours to you. A lifetime for me. Do you want a side of mashed potatoes as well?”
“Yes, please. Bring me food. I’m so hungry.” His smile had returned to normal but that still didn’t stop the butterflies in my stomach. I looked at the ugly lacerations from the shattered windshield hitting his face, the bruise turning purple under his left eye, and all I could think of was how close I’d come to losing him.
“All right then, I’ll ask the nurse if you can eat. I don’t want to do anything stupid.”
I gave him a half-hearted smile and left the room reluctantly, taking my time walking through the fluorescent-lit hallways that always made me wince. Ian wanted food, so I would get him food, but I needed to take my time until my emotions were under control. I was exhausted from having the same fears over and over again.
Outside in the parking lot, the air had cooled now that the sun had gone down, chilling my skin right down to the bone. It was exactly what I needed to get myself together before I saw my brother again. Hunting down food for him was the perfect reminder that I hadn’t eaten all day, either. The hazard of being a workaholic graphic designer who worked from home most days. I sat at the computer way too long, worked for too many hours, and I did it all without taking care of myself.
It wasn’t smart, but I just couldn’t seem to help myself. That thought brought a smile to my face, but the sound of screeching tires drew my attention to the far end of the parking lot. An off-white van skidded to a stop, and the side door slid open revealing a dark haired man in a sweat-stained tank top. Then another guy joined him and they picked something up—no someone—and threw him from the van, then hit the gas and burned rubber out of the hospital parking lot.
“Hey,” I yelled as I ran over to the man. “Get back here! You can’t just leave him!”
But it was no use. The van was gone, out of sight. As I got closer, I saw the man’s skin was dark red with dried blood and ugly bruising. His eyes were closed.
“Hey, wake up!” I bent down, and lightly tapped his face until his eyes blinked, and a swirl of blue came into focus. “Wake up! Are you okay? How do you feel?”
I tried for a smile that I hoped wouldn’t frighten him as I wiped bloody hair off his forehead.
“Like I got hit by a truck,” he groaned. He tried for a smile but was interrupted by a coughing fit.
“Be careful,” I said. “You were unconscious for a bit.”
He coughed again and when blood spurted out of his mouth, I let out a scream that would make horror movie queens proud.
“Help! Help! We need some help out here!”
I’d had basic first aid training I hadn’t bothered to update since Ian turned eighteen. I spent most of every day by myself, so I hadn’t seen the point. But I remembered pressure was good on bloody wounds, so I removed my thin, long sleeved t-shirt and pressed it to the deep cut on the guy’s forehead.
“You’re going to be fine,” I said in my most encouraging voice. He had to be. I couldn’t lose anyone else.
Not even a stranger.
Chapter Two
Shae
Goddamn, my head hurt like a son of a bitch. My side too. Both sides, actually. And to top it all off, I couldn’t fucking go back to sleep because the beeping, hissing and whirring going on around me. And those damn overhead lights that were too damn bright for me to open my eyes and figure out where I was. Judging by the sounds outside the door and the relative silence in my room, though, I could pretty well fucking guess.
“The hospital,” I groaned out loud, still unable to open my eyes, so I was grateful to be alone.
A hand landed on mine. “Oh, good. You’re awake.”
The sound of an unfamiliar voice, no matter how sultry and deep, had my eyes open in two seconds flat. I was looking into big beautiful eyes, the deepest blue I’d ever seen ringed with a little bit of gray.
She smiled and it lit up her whole face. That ski-jump nose and rosy red cheeks gave her a girl next door look that might have had me running in the opposite direction under any other circumstances. Her full mouth, though, and that worried crinkle between her brows, well, they gave me pause. She wasn’t just pretty, she was beautiful. Gorgeous even. But it was the delicate hand cupping my face, the kindness in her eyes and that sexy feminine scent that settled my racing pulse.
She sat forward in the chair. “You’re okay. You’re safe in the hospital. Do you need anything??”
“Who are you and how did I get here?” My voice was gruff, worried, and I probably looked like a fucking crazy person to her. She just smiled softly.
“Uhm … my name is Ivy and I … well, I saw some guys throw you out of a van on the far side of the parking lot. I kind of saved your life,” she said with a shrug.
“Well, Ivy, the Gods must have been shining down on me to provide me with such a beautiful savior.”
Again her skin flushed and goddammit if it didn’t turn me on enough to make me forget I was in the fucking hospital!
“What did they look like?”
She closed her eyes like she was trying to remember, but her hands never left me, and I couldn’t look away.
“The only guy I saw was huge. He had long hair and a hairy chest. He wore a wifebeater meant for someone with a much smaller chest. He was kind of fat. The other guy could have been smaller but I never saw anything but his hands.” Her eyes opened and her thumbs stroked my jaw. “They just stopped, opened the door and dumped you. But I’m
glad you’re okay.”
She smiled sweetly and sat back in the chair by my bed.
It was a good thing she did because the memories came back quickly.
I’d walked out of one of our gaming rooms, head swiveling for danger as usual when I’m going to my car, but I was feeling too damn good about helping save Eamon’s girl that I obviously didn’t pay as much attention as I should have. My blue Lamborghini sat near the back of the parking lot since the place was packed. I made my way there, texting a few fuck buddies and making tentative plans for the night. That was when the first blow landed. Something hard to the back of my head.
I hit the ground and looked up into the cold, dark eyes of Frank Milano, Lorenzo’s pit bull grandson. He smiled and his foot came flying at my face, then a fist came from somewhere and another fist landed on my back. The blows kept coming; hands and feet raining down on me like a goddamn tsunami.
I tried to stand up, but everything hurt. Eventually I made it to my feet and stared Frank down, watching as he laughed his ass off at my bloody face. But when he stepped in to throw a punch, I ducked low and sent a fist flying right into his ribs and another right into his stupid fucking mouth. “You’ll pay for this shit, Milano.”
Frank grinned and dabbed at the blood pouring from his split lip. “You can try but we’re not worried.”
“I don’t give a fuck whether you’re worried or not,” I told him, swaying on unsteady legs as another hit landed on the back of my head and sent me to my knees. Whoever this crazy asshole was, he never fucking tired out. I slid one hand into my pocket and found the blade I kept there and slowly pulled it out.
“Gio, enough. We have to keep him alive.”
Gio landed one more blow before my blade slit through his shirt and then his skin like a hot knife through butter.
Gio. That young psychopath had been there, too, but that was where my memory stopped, probably because I’d passed out. I’d find that little motherfucker and make him wish his mother really had fucked the milkman instead of a mobster.
“Hey, you just went someplace else.” Ivy’s soft voice pulled me from last night’s memories and the anger boiling up inside of me. “I think some people have been trying to get in touch with you.”
Her gaze slid to the phone that sat on top of her purse. Along with my jacket. “I put it on when the ER people came running outside along with a cop who happened to be waiting in the hall.”
“And you just decided to take my phone and my wallet? Did you go through it?” My tone was harsher than it should’ve been, and she did a double take. Hurt blended with anger in her expression.
Ivy stood up defiantly. “Clearly something happened to you, and I thought your family would want to know,” she snapped. “If the cops had taken your phone, it would have been hours before they told your family something had happened to you.”
Her gaze was like cold steel. I’d offended her, maybe even pissed her off.
“Take care of yourself,” she huffed. Then she gathered her purse, left my phone beside my hand on the bed and folded the jacket over the chair she’d been sitting in.
“Shae,” I told her with a grin.
She sent back a smile but it was as fake as a fucking three-dollar-bill.
“Take care of yourself, Shae,” she said with a cool edge I couldn’t read. “Be well.”
“Thank you, Ivy. For saving me. And for saving my family from a long night of worrying.”
“Not a problem,” she replied before disappearing down the busy corridor of the emergency room.
My gaze lingered on that spot for too damn long after she’d left, but she intrigued me. It wasn’t just her curves, which she seemed to hide behind clothes that were just a little bit too big. She was sweet, and she’d helped me when it was clear I was mixed up in some bad shit, even keeping my phone so my family wouldn’t worry. That made me wonder about her. Were there people out there really that good? Wasn’t she afraid? Was this girl for real?
I needed to call Eamon and let him know what had happened so we could plot. Plan. The call went to voicemail, and I was grateful because suddenly I was sleepy as fuck and couldn’t keep my eyes open.
“It’s me, man,” I said in a hurry to get off the phone. “I’m in the hospital. Some guys claiming to be Milano jumped me. Said they weren’t leaving Rocket unless it was in a pine box.”
I hit end just as the nurse came in to take my vitals.
Chapter Three
Ivy
Once Shae woke up in the early morning hours, I left the hospital and headed to Ian’s apartment to get him a few personal items to keep him occupied until he was released. Dr. Mannheim said he’d be in the hospital for a few days, so I picked up his tablet, a change of clothes, toiletries and a few tech magazines I found stuffed into his mailbox. If I’d been thinking about it, I might have stopped at my own house for a shower or a change of clothes. But my mind was on Ian and making him feel better.
What did it matter that I still wore the same dirty jeans from yesterday? I did check to see if I had any blood on my clothes from tending to Shae in the parking lot, but after a quick inspection, I deemed myself, if not squeaky clean, at least presentable.
A quick stop by the busy diner down the street from the hospital to pick up breakfast for two delayed me about a half an hour more. So I strolled into my brother’s room just before ten.
“Hey bro, how do you feel?” I looked up and found Ian staring at me with a big, stupid grin on his face. “What? Did I spill something?”
Ian shook his head, lips curled into a disapproving smirk. “Here I am trapped in the hospital and you do the walk of shame into my room. I don’t know if I’m disgusted or impressed.”
I rolled my eyes at his silliness. Ian had a way about him that I envied. He didn’t seem to let anything get him down for too long. He was bold and brave, funny and charismatic. People always wanted to be around him, which made him an anomaly at the tech company where he developed software. “Nothing shameful about it, unfortunately.”
“Tell me about it … over breakfast?” His blue eyes cast a hopeful glance at the plastic bag in my hand. “Where’s my sandwich you were supposed to bring me last night?”
“I got you a Big Daddy Breakfast Special with lemonade, so be happy. Pink lemonade actually. They were out of the real stuff.”
Ian frowned just as I thought he would as he prepared for one of his favorite arguments.
“Hey, it’s real lemonade,” he said.
I arched a brow and shot back a familiar refrain. “Have you ever seen pink lemons?”
“Never seen aliens before either, but I know they exist.” Confident and satisfied that he’d won the argument, again, Ian unpacked the diner bag while he grilled me. “Want to tell me why you haven’t changed clothes since yesterday?”
I didn’t want to tell him, but it was more fantastical than anything I could have possibly made up, so I told him about finding Shae in the parking lot and sitting with him all night until I was sure he was all right.
“By the time he woke up it was too late to get your damn meatloaf and too early to do anything else, so I went to your place and packed some things for you, and then I picked up breakfast.”
Ian held the foam container with one hand while forking it into his mouth with the other. Enthusiastically. “He must’ve been out of this world hot if you were with him all night.”
“He wasn’t ugly, that’s for sure. But I was worried about him. It was the perfect distraction from worrying about you.”
I thought about Shae’s light brown hair, smooth creamy skin with just a hint of sun in it and that lazy sexy smile that he wore like an accessory. I wondered what he’d think about the strawberry blonde hair I’d inherited from my father, so dull compared to my brother’s. Before he’d snapped at me, I’d definitely been thinking about what it would be like to have a man so fucking gorgeous in my life.
“You don’t have to worry about me, Ivy. I’m right here and I’m
fine. See?” Ian rubbed his hands up and down his body, what he could reach anyway, avoiding his broken leg.
“I see that now, but the drive over here and then the wait before they’d let me see you was excruciating. I thought I’d pass out from a panic attack I was so worried. I thought I might have lost you, too.” My voice broke and I hated it. It brought back too many memories.
“I was in a simple car accident, girl.”
Was he crazy? “Our parents were in a simple car accident, too, but somehow they both died before we got there!”
I set his duffel bag on a chair and began to unpack it with stiff, jerky motions. I would never be able to forget how I felt when the officers called about the accident. Scared. Hopeless. I was terrified.
“You can’t keep bringing up our parents’ accident every time something scares you. It’s a terrible way to live, and it’s not what Mom and Dad would’ve wanted. Go live your life.”
Like he had one damn clue what our parents would have wanted. He’d been a kid when they died and barely had any memories of them.
“I am, Ian. I’m just sorry that wanting you around makes you so damn angry.”
Two deep shuddering breaths rushed out of me but did nothing to make me feel better.
“I’m here despite your attempts to scare me to the other side of the country. They’re gone, Ivy. Gone and they’re not coming back. Stop using them as an excuse not to live.”
I froze, a pair of navy blue gym shorts in my hands and stared at my brother.
“I know they’re gone, Ian! Jeez, you think I don’t know? My whole life changed when they died, I know they’re not here! God! I’m outta here. I’ll check on you later.”
Tears filled my eyes, and I couldn’t get away fast enough, leaving my breakfast behind.
“Ivy, come back!” I heard the guilt and sorrow in Ian’s voice but that didn’t slow me down. I couldn’t let it because there was a part of me that knew Ian was right. I did need to stop worrying so much about losing him before my fears pushed him away for good.
