My Kind Of Country: The Complete Series

by Michelle Thomas

  “Chad...can you hear me?” She didn’t know if it was a silly question, but she’d heard many stories of people in comas who claimed to have heard the words of their visitors, so it was worth a shot. She felt desperate to see some sign of life from him, anything that would let her know he was still in there fighting. Only the constant beeping of the monitors continued.

  “Chad, I need you to fight through this, okay? I am so sorry. This is all my fault. I know you were coming to find me. Chad, I am so sorry.” Tears flooded over her eyelids again, squelching her rambling thoughts. She sniffled, swallowing hard as she brought her hand up and touched his index finger. She half expected him to flinch. But no bruising covered the largest portion of his hand, so she cautiously slid her hand into his.

  “I need you to listen to me, okay? I’m going to do whatever it takes to help you get through this. Please, you just have to fight. You can’t leave me, Chad. I love you too much for that. Is that not what you told me? I love you too much for that.” She bowed her head against the side of the bed, letting her tears spill onto the sterile sheets.

  “How is he?”

  Katie jumped, startled at the sound of the voice at the doorway. She snapped her head upward, her eyes narrowing at the sight of him. “What are you doing here?”

  “I wanted to see how you were.” Jay’s tone was neutral, emotionless.

  She carefully slid her hand out from between Chad’s fingers and stood. “You shouldn’t be here.”

  “The nurses let me in, it’s okay.”

  “You always could talk your way in or out of anything. Get out.”

  “I’m just checking on you—but I did hear your little confession. It’s him, right? He’s the one you want?”

  The One. Katie stared up at him defiantly. “It’s always been him. That’s no secret, Jay.”

  “Katie, I am not here—”

  Jay didn’t sound angry. She was actually quite relieved to hear a tinge of sadness in his words; that meant he had a heart pumping somewhere deep within him. Unfortunately, it was too late for a display of emotion.

  “Jay, I’m going to tell you once more to get out. And while I’m at it, I’m going to tell you that I can’t play your games—I won’t.” Her voice came out in a loud hiss. “No more. There will not be a wedding, and you will not hold my love for my son over my head out of egotistic fury just because I love this man more than I ever loved you.”

  He arched an eyebrow, but she continued.

  “If you want to take me to court for custody, that’s fine. But you had better be ready for one hell of a fight, Jay, because I’m not going to hand him over to you without one.”

  “Katie, we have already—”

  “Already what? I’ve heard your little spiel about using that picture and article against me. Again, if that’s something you feel you need to do, fine. But, please be advised that I’ve had a little heart-to-heart with your ex-lover—you remember her, don’t you? Liz?—and she has agreed to back me up and even testify regarding the details of your affairs—and I say that pluralized because she informed me there was more than just the one with her—if you decide to proceed with going to court, especially since you’re doing it purely out of spite.”

  Jay stood, motionless, his mouth gaping open as he processed what she said. “Liz...”

  Katie nodded in confirmation. “Yeah. Liz. I told you, I’m not going down without a fight.” She pointed to Chad’s still form on the bed beside her. “And neither is he.”

  “Chad has—”

  “Chad is fighting for his life!” She exclaimed. “And why is that? Because you talked to him at some point this morning, didn’t you? And said God knows what to him! You told him where I was! You goaded him! And look what you and your selfish pride did! I have stupidly forgiven you for a lot of things, Jay. This is not going to be one of them. Now, get out.”

  His eyes widened. “This is not my fault, Katie.”

  “I said, get out.”

  He opened his mouth to protest, his gaze flitting back and forth between her and Chad.

  Katie counted the monitor beeps in the silence that spanned between them.

  One, two, three...

  She was still standing there, unable to move in case she fell from the trembling that wracked her body, when Jay disappeared from the doorway following the fifth beep.

  PART THREE

  WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE

  CHAPTER ONE

  KATIE

  Katie paced across the waiting room outside the Intensive Care Unit. She didn’t know what else to do now, just as she hadn’t known what else to do for the last sixteen hours. Sleep evaded her, though she managed to doze off for brief periods at a time once Barry offered to take Mason’s sleeping form back to his place for a few hours to let him get some real rest.

  At first, she’d been reluctant—she didn’t know Barry that well, after all—but when the doctor came back out to the waiting room to inform her that Chad’s condition seemed stable, and that nothing had changed, the hushed chatter had managed to wake the boy. Mason had quickly started to cry, the reality of why he was there in the hospital washing over him all over again.

  After that, she relented. She couldn’t bring herself to call Jay and ask him to come and get him. Jay hadn’t offered when he’d graced her with his presence earlier, anyway.

  It broke her heart to see her son so gutted, so hurt and worried for his friend. Katie could relate, but there was something so absolutely crushing about watching a young boy weep for a grown man.

  Now, without Mason to focus on, the walls may as well have been closing in around her. The copious amounts of coffee she’d drank over the last few hours weren’t helping, and she wasn’t sure she had ever been so helpless in her entire life. If drinking coffee and staying awake in case something changed or Chad’s family showed up was the only way she could do something for Chad, then that’s what she would do.

  She was just about to head back to the cafeteria to get another cup of terrible coffee when a voice caught her by surprise.

  “Katie?”

  She turned, coming face to face with a woman who, though shorter and sporting longer hair, definitely resembled the man who must be her brother. “Jillian?”

  The woman smiled, a crooked but polite twitch of the lips, and it struck Katie how much the mannerism mirrored Chad’s own little grin she’d come to adore. She was still staring awkwardly when she realized the woman was holding out her hand.

  She shook it, not really sure what to say. Jillian knew her brother was in critical condition, knew she’d gotten her contact information from Liz, and realized that Chad and Liz were no longer together. At least, she did now. When Katie initially called her, she’d been awkwardly forced to inform her of that fact, only making the conversation more humiliating by not knowing what to say when Jillian had quickly questioned who she was. Katie ended up describing herself as his good friend, feeling like it would be some kind of betrayal to Chad to call herself his girlfriend after everything that had happened. The situation was only bound to get worse.

  “Yeah, I’m Jillian.” She pulled her hand away slowly, shoving it back into the pocket of her denim jacket. “My mom and dad should be here in another few hours. Their plane was delayed.”

  The way Jillian’s eyes scanned her, up and down as though searching for some kind of answer, made Katie nervous. She knew what the woman was thinking. Who are you to my brother?

  “Good. I mean, visiting hours are in a few hours, but I’m sure they’ll let you see him if you want to.” Katie’s voice sounded uneasy, even to her own ears. She felt like a teenager under the scrutiny of a parental figure, about to face punishment for sneaking out her bedroom window without permission. If only that was all that had happened. If only it was that easy to confess.

  She was relieved when Jillian left her standing in the waiting room by herself to go talk to the nurse. Lucinda, the nurse Katie had been contacted by, and whom she’d come to have a passing
acquaintanceship with, had finished her shift hours ago. Otherwise, she would’ve directed Jillian to her.

  She kept herself busy by checking her cellphone. The ringer was off, wanting to be respectful in the hospital setting. Good thing it was, too. She’d missed two calls from Jay. No other missed calls or texts waited for her, and she tucked the phone back in her pocket, not wanting to have to face the text from Chad she’d been unable to delete.

  Katie, don’t you dare do this. I’m coming to find you downtown. Just...do not marry him. I love you too much for that.

  Chad’s words weren’t only a reminder of the love she’d almost thrown away. They were also proof that this—his accident and his injuries—were her fault. He’d been on his way to find her, frustrated with her misguided decisions, and preoccupied with the hurt and anger from his cruel-tongued conversation with Jay. Her actions—her bad decisions—had led to Chad almost being killed.

  And he could still die, yet.

  Fear gripped Katie’s heart at the thought. Please, no. But entangled in her fear was another emotion, stronger and just as deeply rooted within her.

  Anger.

  Anger at Jay, for his manipulating ways. His disgusting sense of entitlement. His sly and unneeded underhandedness.

  Anger at Chad, for not being careful. For not being okay. For making her fear that she may lose him for good.

  But mostly, anger at herself. For letting Jay manipulate her time and time again. For hurting Chad repeatedly. For ever putting Chad, the man she loved, in a situation where he could wind up fighting for his life.

  There was no other way around it. This was all her fault.

  And Chad was paying the price for her mistakes.

  ***

  Katie slipped silently to the cafeteria, bringing back two Styrofoam cups of coffee. She thought it was best to leave Jillian alone with the nurse and let her break down or deal with her emotions however she sought fit, without the watchful eyes of someone she barely knew. When she came back into the waiting room, though, Jillian was sitting there alone, bent forward with her elbows on her knees, her gaze fixed absently in front of her.

  “I brought you coffee.” Katie’s voice sounded loud in the sterile silence. “I mean, if you drink coffee. I guess I should’ve asked.”

  Jillian looked up, obviously expecting her return. She offered her a wry smile. “Who doesn’t drink coffee? If they don’t, I wouldn’t trust them. Uncaffeinated freaks.”

  Katie’s lips twitched upward, relieved at the joke. She could feel the tension lift a little between her shoulder blades, and she handed her the coffee cup before taking a seat on an orange vinyl chair across from her. There was a small rip on the armrest, and Katie focused on it. “Did you get to see him yet?”

  Jillian pulled the plastic tab back on the lid of the cup, nodding. “I was only in there for a minute or two. Told him to keep fighting, and that I was going to kick his ass when he was feeling better for making all of us worry like this.”

  There was that little smirk again, and Katie let out a long breath. “You guys get along well, then, I take it?”

  “Better than he and Dad do, that’s for sure.”

  Katie let the silence grow between them again, unsure if she should ask her to elaborate. In the end, she figured she’d either find out now, or find out when Chad’s parents arrived. It was probably better to know what she was about to contend with before they showed up. “Chad and his father...there’s tension there. He mentioned it once to me, but I don’t know the particulars.”

  Somehow, it made her feel better to clarify that Chad had never divulged his family secrets to her, and she thought maybe Jillian wouldn’t see her as someone who was trying to be part of a family she had no part of. But after the words were out, she wondered if his sister would see her lack of insight as a sign of the distance between her and Chad, and that maybe Katie and Chad weren’t truly as close as she’d thought they were.

  “That doesn’t surprise me,” Jillian stated simply. “We’ve all fought tooth and nail with him for years, trying to get him to talk about anything that actually matters.” She gave a hollow laugh, making Katie swallow hard. “If he even mentioned our dad to you at some point, that’s saying something. He’ll usually avoid the subject like the plague, if he can.”

  “Like I said, he never said much.” Only that his father sold his only guitar out of spite and didn’t back him up when he left for Nashville. It felt like an invasion of privacy to admit she knew that, though, so Katie remained quiet.

  She was about to stand and head outside beyond the emergency room doors for a little fresh air and a quick phone call to Barry to see how Mason was doing, but a sharp cuckoo sound of a bird rang loudly from Jillian’s pocket, catching her attention. Katie watched as she pulled her phone from her jacket.

  “Shit, I forgot to turn the ringer down.” She swiped her finger across the screen, and Katie could see the woman’s eyes move from left to right as she read whatever was displayed there. “They’re here. I should go meet them. Don’t want Dad getting lost on his way from the rental car to the building.”

  They’re here. The words struck her with the force of a crushing blow. She wasn’t sure she wanted to meet his parents. Not like this, anyway. What was she supposed to say? Hi, I’m the woman your son is in love with—the woman who loves your son—but after toying with his emotions, I was going to marry my ex-fiancé, whom I despise, just because it was easier on me. Oh, and your son is fighting for his life because of me, because I broke it off with him via a damn text message, and I was too much of a coward to tell him about my plan to marry someone else.

  Yeah, that would go over really well.

  Either way, Chad’s parents were there. And there was little Katie could do about what they did or didn’t think of her.

  She watched as Jillian rose and disappeared out the heavy glass doors that led to the parking lot. Katie ran her hands down her face.

  Let the judgement begin.

  CHAPTER TWO

  KATIE

  She wouldn’t deny that she was a coward. She’d been a coward when she sent Chad the text message saying she couldn’t be with him—no real explanation, no phone call or face-to-face meeting—and she was being a coward now. Instead of waiting for Jillian to return with her parents in tow, she disappeared down the other corridor, heading back toward the cafeteria. It was the opposite direction in which Jillian had gone.

  It wasn’t that she didn’t want to meet them. In all honesty, a small part of her was curious about the people who’d raised such a headstrong and talented man such as Chad. But, to see them, to have to look them in the eye and know what she’d done to their son...

  She was a coward.

  She tugged her cellphone from her pocket, huddled in the corner of the cafeteria. The room was almost full, a vast difference from when she’d made the room her refuge in the middle of the night. Then, she’d cried, a flood of hot tears she thought would eventually drown her from the inside out if she didn’t release them. There hadn’t been a soul in the room to witness her breakdown, and she was thankful for it. Now, however, the loud murmur of voices was fortifying. She wasn’t alone, but she wasn’t being watched or assessed, either.

  Katie let the blanket of sound fade into the background as she took a minute and called Barry’s number, filling him in that Chad’s condition had remained stable overnight. She spoke with Mason, the young boy’s voice giving no note of concern at being with Barry. He’d been allowed to play in the recording studio earlier that morning while Barry drank a coffee. Mason was excited to let her listen to what he’d recorded. A get-well-soon message for Chad, he called it.

  The thought made her heart constrict. It was such a childlike thing to do, and Katie wished for a fleeting moment that she was as optimistic as her son was about Chad’s recovery. In the end, Barry hung up, advising that he and Mason would be heading back over to the hospital in an hour or so, once he’d dealt with the massive amount of phone
calls, emails, and flesh-and-blood reporters staked outside his place wanting comments or details on Chad’s medical status.

  The media would be eating it up. She hadn’t thought of that angle. Chad had many people who knew him, worked with him, and cared for him, but he also possessed a fanbase, people who didn’t know him directly but would hang on every word the newspapers, television, and radio stations reported, purely out of loyalty to Chad Ashton.

  The thought of newspaper reporters vying for any scrap of information they could get caused bile to rise in her throat. The damn newspapers had been what got them into this mess in the first place. If she’d known one strategically angled photo and a few paragraphs of presumptuous words could ultimately cause such a series of catastrophic events, Katie wouldn’t have given those reporters the chance. She didn’t regret going to Chad’s apartment or being with him in any way, but she would have been more careful, saving their embrace and soft words for somewhere other than the busy sidewalk where anyone could see them. Somewhere where those tender touches and consoling whispers couldn’t be used as ammunition against them.

  Damn you, Jay.

  Katie couldn’t bring herself to contemplate that train of thought more. She had enough to concentrate on right now. Chad’s parents were only a few hallways away, and meeting them was something she could only avoid for so long.

  She slipped out the cafeteria door and made her way back down to the waiting room. Jillian was back, with a middle-aged man and woman seated on either side of her.

  Katie was already intimidated by the thought of Chad’s father. But a man who would sell his son’s prized guitar in a spiteful bid for alcohol was someone she couldn’t help but wonder about. And fear, just a little bit. He evoked that same level of intimidation in appearance, too; taller than Chad, and stockier in build, with hair that may have once been a solid sand color but was now mostly gray, and lines that etched into his facial features around hardened, cautious eyes.