by Lynsay Sands
Jake glanced down and grimaced at the state of his clothes. The left leg of his jeans was sliced through and hanging from the inside seam, and they were now black all the way through with his blood. His shirt was pretty bloody as well, although Jake suspected that was just transference. The air bags had cocooned his upper body from serious injury.
“Here.” Tomasso pulled a shopping bag from the front of the van. “Dante and I did some shopping while we followed you around the mall. There are joggers in there you can borrow.”
Jake accepted the bag with relief and quickly sorted through the contents until he found a jogging suit. The twins were built like linebackers and he had no doubt he would be swimming in them, but beggars couldn’t be choosers.
He’d thought the worst of his healing was over, but as Jake stripped his jeans and pulled on the jogging pants, it became clear that wasn’t the case. While his leg had reknitted where it had been almost amputated, and there was a large healing scab no doubt most of the way around his upper leg, it hurt like the devil to move it. The muscles and tendons and bones were no doubt still reknitting inside the leg. But Jake merely ground his teeth together and kept moving. He had to see Nicole. She should have regained consciousness by now.
The leg buckled under him when Jake opened the van’s back door and started to get out. Fortunately, Tomasso immediately grabbed his arm to support him, keeping him from falling. He kept that hold on his arm as he got out behind him, and closed the van door. He then walked him into the hospital, half holding him up. Once inside, Tomasso grabbed a wheelchair, urged Jake into it and wheeled him into the elevators and up to Nicole’s room.
Dante was seated in a chair next to the hospital bed when Tomasso wheeled Jake in. Since Dante’s chair was on the side closest to the door, Tomasso wheeled Jake around to the far side so that he could get him as close to Nicole’s face as possible.
“How is she doing?” Jake asked worriedly, leaning forward to peer at Nicole’s pale face as Tomasso moved back around the bed to Dante’s side.
Dante hesitated and then simply said, “The nurse keeps coming in and flashing a light in her eyes, but she hasn’t stirred yet.”
Jake frowned and brushed the hair off of Nicole’s forehead. She had an ugly bump and bruise on her right temple and he eyed it unhappily, thinking of about a million things he could have done differently to have avoided her getting hurt.
“You did the best you could,” Dante said quietly. “She’ll come around.”
Jake didn’t respond and after several moments of silence had passed, Dante stood up. “I’m going to go find the food court and see what’s available. Do you two want anything?”
“I’ll come with you,” Tomasso said as Jake shook his head.
“We’ll be back,” Dante assured him and Jake nodded without glancing around as they left.
He seemed to have sat there, repeatedly brushing his fingers over Nicole’s cheek for a long time when someone entered the hospital room. Expecting it to be Dante and Tomasso, or the nurse, Jake glanced toward the door and froze briefly, shock rippling through him when he saw who it was.
“Neil.” The name slipped from his lips, barely a breath of sound.
“Why so surprised?” His younger brother smiled crookedly. “You should have known Dante and Tomasso would call and let us know about the accident. We’re family.”
A breathless laugh slipped from Jake now, some of the tension that had claimed him slipping out with it. “Yeah. I guess I should have known.”
Neil nodded and moved forward. “How are you?”
Jake shrugged. “Okay now, but I got banged up pretty good. My side of the SUV was crushed like a stomped-on pop can. I lost a lot of blood and I was trapped, but Dante and Tomasso weren’t far behind us and pulled me out.” He smiled crookedly. “They peeled the metal away as easily as peeling an orange. My leg was sliced pretty much straight through, but they managed to get me out without it coming off completely, and then they put me in their van while they handled the scene. Fortunately, they’ve been keeping their blood in the back of their van since arriving at Nicole’s, and they started feeding it to me the minute they could get away from the police.”
Neil’s eyebrows rose. “Hell, I didn’t know the accident was that bad. I’m glad you didn’t lose the leg.”
Now it was Jake’s turn to raise his eyebrows. “Wouldn’t it have grown back? I’d think the nanos would feel that two legs were necessary to be at peak condition.”
Neil looked surprised at the question. “I don’t know. I’ve never heard of an immortal losing a limb. I know a couple who have suffered a bad enough wound the limb was hanging by a bare thread of skin and it healed. But I don’t know if the nanos are capable of actually replacing a whole limb.” He smiled wryly, and added, “And since the only way to find out is to cut off a limb and wait, I don’t think I really want to know.”
“No,” Jake agreed.
Neil hesitated, and then said, “Actually, when I asked how you are, I didn’t mean physically. I can see you’re recovered from the accident.”
“Oh,” Jake flushed. Neil meant was he over the snit he’d been in since waking up to find he was an immortal . . . or really since he was eighteen and found out about immortals. Had he accepted the turn and emotionally adjusted to it? Was he willing to be welcomed back into the fold of the family and stop shunning them like lepers?
“I’m sorry,” Jake said finally. “I realize now that I acted like an ass and you guys deserve better.”
Neil tilted his head slightly. “So you’re okay with everything?”
“Yeah,” Jake said slowly, “I think I am.” Smiling apologetically, he admitted, “Having to explain everything to Nicole helped me see things more clearly.”
Neil glanced to Nicole at the mention of her name and Jake did as well.
Reaching out, he brushed her cheek. “I’ve been running around thinking you all were monsters and that I was too now that I was immortal. But telling Nicole that I hadn’t changed inside and that I was still the man I used to be before the change, with the same beliefs and feelings as I had before . . . Well, I realized that was true . . . and that it was probably true for all immortals. I mean, Mom was still a great mom, and Roberto was a good father to us both and you were a good brother. The only thing that changed when I found out about immortals, and that you were all members of that select group, was me. You didn’t change in your attitude to me, but my perspective and how I treated you guys changed. Explaining it to Nicole made me realize that immortals are just people, but with some extraordinary gifts.”
“Then thank God for Nicole,” Neil said with feeling.
Jake chuckled and reached out to take her hand where it lay on top of the sheets and hospital blanket. “Yeah. Thank God for Nicole.”
Neil moved closer to the bed and peered down at her face silently for a moment, and then announced, “She’s pretty.”
“She’s fricking beautiful,” Jake corrected and added softly, “The most beautiful woman I’ve ever met.”
“Yeah, you’re in love,” Neil said with amusement and when Jake glanced to him with surprise, he shrugged and said, “She’s pretty bro, but I’ve seen prettier . . . and so have you. So it must be love that is making her the most beautiful woman you’ve ever met.”
“Love,” Jake murmured with a frown as he peered back at Nicole. He liked and cared about her. Nicole was a good person, with a big heart and an almost naïve trust in the goodness of people. She was also creative, talented, and funny. Jake found he was often smiling or laughing with her. He had fun with Nicole. Hell, he’d even had fun shopping with her today and Jake wasn’t a fan of shopping. But in love?
In lust, maybe. He would accept that. The woman was hot. She smiled and he got a semi erection. She touched him, even just a brush of her fingers on his arm, and that semi turned into a full-on nuclear erection. But when she kissed him? Forget about it. His blood immediately went south leaving his brain a bloodless
blob incapable of functioning.
“Isn’t the combination of all of that what makes up love?” Neil asked quietly, obviously reading his mind.
“Maybe,” Jake allowed, and then argued, “But we’ve only known each other a matter of days. It can’t be love already.”
“Man,” Neil said with disbelief. “You’ve spent most of your life around immortals, have even been one yourself for seven years now, and yet still think like a mortal.”
“I’m not sure—” Jake began.
“Time means little to immortals and absolutely nothing when it comes to life mates,” Neil said, interrupting him.
“Ah.” Jake smiled crookedly. “So Dante and Tomasso told you about that too?”
“About Nicole being your life mate? Yes.” He peered at her and then said quietly, “I’m happy for you . . . envious too,” he added with a small smile. “But mostly happy for you. Especially since her arrival appears to have helped you deal with things.”
“Do I need to apologize again?” Jake asked wryly. “I probably should. I haven’t been fair with you and Mother, or Roberto and the others.”
“We understood you were struggling with it,” Neil said quietly. “We wished we could help more, and were sorry you felt you needed to be alone to handle it, but we understood.”
“Thank you,” Jake said quietly.
“Mind you, you’ll pay for it where Mom is concerned,” Neil added dryly.
“How?” Jake asked warily.
“Well, after seven years of your absence, she’s going to want to spend time with you . . . a lot of it. I suspect she’ll show up and plant herself for a while until she’s reassured everything is okay and her oldest baby boy is her baby again.”
Jake managed not to wince. He loved his mother, always had, even while being afraid of her. But he knew her well enough to know Neil was right. The woman would no doubt head out here from whichever home base—
“Are they coming from Italy?” he asked.
Neil shook his head. “California.”
That made Jake’s eyebrows rise. “Then I’m surprised she didn’t fly out with you.”
“I was in Toronto. Business,” Neil added. “I would have been here sooner, but I was in the middle of a business meeting when Dante called and didn’t call back to find out what was happening until it ended. Then I had to arrange for a flight.”
Jake nodded. It was now two o’clock in the morning. The accident had taken place around five. It was only an hour and a half from Toronto to Ottawa by flight so it must have been an important meeting. That or it had taken quite a while to arrange a plane to bring him here. Either way, Jake had no doubt his brother had got here as quickly as he could.
“I called Mom after I got off the phone with Dante, that was about three hours ago,” Neil said, hesitated, and then added, “She and Dad are on a plane right now, headed this way.”
Jake stiffened at that news, his eyes shooting to his brother. “No.”
Neil nodded, looking almost apologetic.
“Damn,” Jake muttered, glancing to Nicole and worrying about what that might mean. He wasn’t sure she was ready to meet his parents. Good Lord, they’d only met themselves days ago.
“Look on the bright side, you’ll have extra help keeping her safe,” Neil pointed out.
Jake nodded. That would be good, he supposed. Once their flight landed, he’d have his parents and Neil there as well as Dante and Tomasso to help keep Nicole safe and they obviously needed the help. Her soon to be ex would be desperate when he knew this latest attempt had failed.
Thoughts halting, Jake glanced at Neil. “Dante told you about Nicole’s ex?”
“Marguerite did. I’ve been in Toronto for almost a week. I was there when the hot tub incident happened. I was going to drop everything and come out here then, but she cautioned against it. She thought it would be better if Dante and Tomasso came alone.”
Jake smiled crookedly. “She was probably right. I wasn’t really ready to be pulled back into the fold yet, but those two are . . .” He shook his head helplessly. The twins were not generally the talkative sorts to start with, so hadn’t bombarded him with arguments for why he was being an ass. They’d just stood by, strong, silent support while he’d figured it out for himself. Neil would have tried to talk him around and Jake hadn’t been ready for that.
Marguerite was apparently a brilliant strategist, Jake thought, and then glanced to the door as Dante and Tomasso entered.
“We brought you a coffee,” Dante announced, crossing the room and moving around the bed to offer Jake a cup of Tim Horton’s coffee, even as he glanced over to take note of Neil’s presence.
“Sorry, Neil. We didn’t bring you one,” Tomasso said. “Didn’t know you were here.”
“That’s all right. I don’t drink coffee,” Neil said.
“Caffeine makes him bounce off the walls,” Jake told them. Some immortals simply couldn’t handle coffee. Neil was one of those and that was why Jake had avoided coffee since being turned. He’d been afraid he might react the same way. They were half brothers after all. However, it seemed that sensitivity to caffeine came from Neil’s father, because Jake had been drinking coffee since meeting Nicole and hadn’t noticed it affecting him much at all.
Dante nodded and then glanced to Nicole. “How’s she doing? Any change?”
Jake opened the tab of his coffee lid and shook his head. “She hasn’t stirred at all.”
“It’s probably for the best. She’s going to have one hell of a headache when she wakes up. Better to sleep through it,” Dante said.
Jake grunted as he sipped at his coffee. He didn’t mind her sleeping through the headache . . . so long as she woke up. He was very aware that Nicole was a fragile mortal, and mortals had been known to die from head wounds. That thought had him peering at her worriedly. “Maybe I should turn her.”
“She’s fine,” Neil said quietly.
“You can’t turn her,” Tomasso rumbled. “She needs to give permission.”
“What if she doesn’t wake up to give that permission?” Jake asked grimly.
The twins exchanged a glance and it was Neil who said, “Why don’t we just wait and see what happens? You remember how you reacted to being turned without giving permission. You don’t want that with Nicole.”
Jake grimaced as he realized he was thinking of doing exactly what Vincent had done and which he’d resented so much. He was just so worried that she wasn’t waking up . . . that she might never wake up.
“We’ll wait and see what the doctors say. If it doesn’t look like she’s going to come around, then we’ll consider turning her,” Neil said patiently.
“Do I smell coffee?”
Jake stilled at that weak question, and then turned his head sharply to Nicole. This time her eyes were open. Her nose was also working, sniffing the air with interest, but then she frowned and asked, “Why does my head hurt so much?”
Fifteen
Nicole yawned sleepily and opened her eyes to stare at the ceiling. It took one glance to recall that she was in the hospital. The slightly antiseptic smell helped.
“How is your head, dear?”
Nicole turned to peer blankly at the woman at her bedside. She was young, with short blond hair, and a nice smile. From the way she’d addressed her, Nicole had expected an older woman, but they were about the same age.
“Er . . .” she murmured, uncertainly, wondering where Jake was. He’d been sitting where the woman presently was when Nicole had finally fallen asleep. That was after the doctor had been informed she was awake and had come to see her. He’d quickly examined her and then announced she seemed fine, but he wanted to keep her overnight for observation. Since it was three in the morning by the time he announced that, it hadn’t seemed worth arguing over.
Nicole had managed to stay awake for a bit, long enough to learn what had happened after she’d passed out, and that she had Dante’s using mind control to thank for the private hospita
l room she’d woken up in. Those mind-control skills of theirs were really very impressive, she thought. But then there was a lot to be impressed by with these immortals, or at least with Jake. Well, she supposed Dante and Tomasso were impressive too, but Jake was special. The man was smart, which she wasn’t sure could be attributed to the nanos, but they probably didn’t hurt. Aside from that, though, he was strong and funny and the most amazing lover ever. All the man had to do was kiss her and her toes curled. As for the sex itself, that was mind-blowing . . . and he had a cute ass too. Jake had thought her tendency to slow down and lag behind at the end of their shopping trip was because she was tiring, but the truth was Nicole had just enjoyed looking at his butt in his tight jeans as they walked.
A choked chuckle came from the blond. The unexpected and unwarranted sound made Nicole peer at her warily, suddenly worried that she was a patient who had wandered down from the psychiatric department. Was that possible? They wouldn’t just let psychiatric patients wander the hospital, would they?
A startled laugh slipped from the woman now, and she shook her head, “Oh dear, I’m sorry. I should have introduced myself.”
When the woman then held out her hand, Nicole eyed it with trepidation.
“My name is Elaine Colton Notte. I’m Stephano’s mother.”
“You’re Jake’s mother?” Nicole gasped, sitting up and gaping at her. She also finally took note of the woman’s silver-teal eyes. Oh yeah, this was Jake’s mom. It was like his eyes were looking back at her out of the woman’s face. Good Lord, Jake’s mom, she thought. It wasn’t the fact that Elaine Notte looked so young that stunned Nicole. It was her being there at all that had her staring at her, tongue-tied and amazed.
“Yes, dear.” Elaine reached out and patted her hand reassuringly. She might not look older, but she definitely acted like a mother who could be a grandmother if only her children would cooperate. “We headed out as soon as we heard about the car accident. We would have come after the hot-tub incident had anyone bothered to tell us,” she added grimly.
