“Let’s do this.” Trey pushed off and pedaled through the parking lot toward the trailhead. All his dreams of having Ella on the ride and her sticking by his side were not coming to fruition, as she stuck at the very rear of the group next to Johnathon. She grinned at Johnathon, and the guy said something to her that made both of them laugh. Trey’s hackles rose. He used to like Johnathon.
Trey heard the screech of brakes, and he could swear Ella screamed his name as something slammed so hard into his right side that pain radiated through his leg and his arm. He flew off his bike, and all he could think was, Is Ella watching? He slammed onto the pavement. His helmet should’ve taken the brunt of the impact, but his head was ringing as if he wasn’t wearing a helmet.
He rolled over onto his back with a groan. The pain throughout his right arm and leg were excruciating, but his head was worse. Had he really just run into something? Or maybe something had run into him? He couldn’t quite remember how it happened. He was the mountain-biking extraordinaire expert, but he’d been so focused on the beautiful Ella that he’d been staring back at her and not watching where he was going. Great safety example.
Closing his eyes against the ache in his head and the bright sun, he could hear people rushing around him, panicked voices chattering, and knees hitting the pavement as people knelt next to him.
“Is he okay? Is he okay?” the blonde, he thought, was wailing over and over again.
“Can’t believe the instructor just hit a car.” Definitely Marcus’s snide voice. So he had hit a car?
“Trey, Trey.” Johnathon seemed afraid to touch him, but he was so close Trey could feel his breath on his face. “Call 911!” he hollered.
“Don’t call 911,” Trey forced out through teeth gritted against the pain in his head. “I’m alive.”
“He’s alive!” Johnathon yelled just as loudly as he had before, increasing the ache in Trey’s head. It was pounding so hard he could hardly stand the pressure. “Don’t call 911?” he asked.
“No!” He frowned in frustration at how he couldn’t picture the impact of the accident, maybe he’d just been too focused on his longing for the beautiful Ella. Man, his head hurt. “Just give me a minute.”
“Trey?” It was her, his sweet, sweet angel’s voice.
Trey blinked his eyes open. Ella’s beautiful face was haloed by the sun behind her. Her long hair trailed over her shoulders, and she was leaning so close her soft hair was tickling his neck and her peaches-and-cream scent was tantalizing his senses. If only he didn’t feel so horrible. “Heya, beautiful.” Had he just slurred those words?
“Oh, Trey, where does it hurt?”
“Everywhere.”
“What do you need?”
His head was ready to explode, but he managed to get it out: “You to kiss me better.”
“Oh, Trey.” She gave him a soft smile and her shoulders relaxed. “You tease. You’re going to be fine.”
Trey thought he returned the smile, but then … everything went fuzzy and then black.
Chapter Five
Ella watched Trey pedal off at the front of the group, sickened by the way she’d just lied to him. She thought they were like brother and sister? Gross, and such a lie. She’d loved Trey her entire life, and definitely not like a brother—and now, when he was finally giving her the attention she’d dreamt of, she pushed him away.
Dang Gavin. If only he wasn’t trying to protect her from heartache. If only he wasn’t right. Trey had much more world and dating experience than she did, and most of all, he was not the type to ever settle down. He’d proved that point by leaving the valley the day after he graduated high school. If she let herself fall harder in love with him than she already was, and spent this week flirting and kissing, she’d never recover. Dang him more than she danged Gavin.
Trey turned around on his bike and stared at her as she laughed at something Johnathon had said. She wasn’t even sure what Johnathon had said; she just laughed so she wouldn’t cry at the fact that she couldn’t be with her dream man.
Ella saw the sport utility gun backwards out of a stall just as Trey reached it. “Trey!” she screamed, watching in horror as the car slammed into Trey’s side and his body went flying. It seemed like slow motion, yet he landed quickly on the unforgiving pavement.
“No, no, no!” she kept screaming over and over again. Ditching her bike, she ran for him, but a group had formed quickly around him and everyone but Marcus was freaking out as much as she was.
She pushed people out of her way until she could kneel next to him. His eyes were closed, and his forehead furrowed as if he were in pain. There were some cuts and scrapes on his arms and legs, but he didn’t look as bad as she’d feared. Yet he could be paralyzed, have internal injuries, or have a concussion. Life was fragile, and they’d all been a little more cautious since her dad’s injury ten years ago.
“Trey?” she asked cautiously.
“Heya, beautiful,” he slurred.
“Oh, Trey, where does it hurt?”
“Everywhere.”
That made her stomach churn. She couldn’t stand the thought of him hurting. “What do you need?”
“You to kiss me better.” He gave her a loopy smile.
“Oh, Trey.” She smiled, and the tension in her shoulders lifted. If only she truly could kiss him better. “You tease. You’re going to be fine.”
His eyes rolled back in his head, just like she’d seen in the movies, and his body relaxed.
A hush settled on the group as they all realized he had passed out. Then everyone started talking at once. The roar of their concern and speculation rolled over Ella, and she turned to Johnathon. “Is the ambulance coming?”
“No ambulance,” Trey’s voice came from below her.
“Oh, Trey!” She glanced down quickly. He was awake again. She wanted to kiss him better as requested but was afraid she’d hurt him worse.
“I’m fine.”
“You’re not fine,” she said. “You got hit by a car.”
“I think it was a sport utility actually,” he said. He pushed to a seated position, wincing; pain was written all over his face.
“Trey,” she begged. “Please stay down.” At least he wasn’t paralyzed, but he could damage his own spinal cord if one of his vertebrae had been displaced or broken.
“Just give me a minute,” he murmured. “Need my head and stomach to settle.”
The whole group was staring at him, waiting in anticipation to see if he really was fine.
Trey took some long, slow breaths and then met Ella’s gaze, but he couldn’t hold his head still and he looked dizzy or drunk. “See, love? I’m great.”
She shook her head. “You need to get to the hospital.”
“That’s …” She thought he was going to contradict her, but even though his gaze was a little unclear, it suddenly became a little conniving also. “I guess you’re right, love. Will you drive me, please?”
“Um …” With Trey possibly injured, how could she say no to any request he made? And if they spent more time together, how could she not allow her heart to fall further in love with him?
“Yes, that’ll be perfect.” Trey looked to Johnathon and a dude with a serious camera, sounding much better and all confident and in charge of the world again. She’d always wondered how he and Gavin were such close friends when they both had to be top dog all the time. Men. “You take the group on the ride,” he instructed Johnathon. “You take some pics of everyone,” he said to camera guy. “I’ll have Ella run me to the clinic downtown, and old Doc Mullen will fix me up. I’ll be back to do rides tomorrow.”
“If you’re sure?” Johnathon asked, looking from Ella to Trey a few times.
“Yeah. It’s just a few cuts and bruises. Maybe I need something for my head.” Trey took off his helmet and set it to the side, touching the side of his head gingerly. “You don’t mind driving me, do you, love?”
Ella didn’t think she could refuse him without looki
ng like the biggest brat ever. “No problem.” She looked up at Johnathon as well. “You do the ride, and I’ll get him to the clinic. Oh! My car is up at Gavin’s house.”
Johnathon fished his keys out and handed them to her. “Just take my Pathfinder. It’s right in front of the ski shop. It’s actually a work car so I’m sure that’ll be great.” He nodded to Trey. “Get better, okay, man?”
“For sure. Thanks for taking the ride for me.”
“No problem.” Johnathon stood and ushered the group back onto their bikes, and thirty seconds later, they’d all started up the trailhead.
The two of them were alone. Ella focused on Trey.
“Now, where were we?” he asked, grinning wickedly as if they’d been kissing and needed to get back to it.
Ella shook her head at this crazy man. “I was going to help you up and get you to the clinic, unless I can talk you into an ambulance instead.”
“No ambulances. Do you have any clue how many times I’ve had pointless rides in an ambulance?”
“No, I don’t.” Here was the root of the problem. Even if she could trust that he could ever settle down to one woman, she simply didn’t know Trey anymore. He was an extreme athlete, and she was just a girl fresh out of college with all of real life’s experiences ahead of her.
“Way too many, I’ll tell you that. Somebody sees a wreck off a double backflip on a mountain bike or snow skis and they automatically assume you’re paralyzed. Stupid.”
“That you do double backflips on a mountain bike or snow skis? Yes, I’d agree that’s stupid.”
Trey flashed her that irresistible grin, but it looked a little wobbly and he put a hand to the side of his head. “I really don’t feel so good, though. What happened again?”
“I bet you don’t feel so good.” Was he teasing her, or did he really not know what had happened? “You were hit by a car, and then you slammed into the pavement, and then you passed out. Guaranteed you’ve got a concussion or worse.”
He shrugged. “It’s mostly my head and my right leg.” He glanced down, and they both winced at the blood trailing from his leg onto the pavement.
“Please let me call an ambulance.”
“No. Doc Mullen will do just fine. I just need some high-quality painkillers and maybe an X-ray to make sure nothing’s broken or torn.” He groaned and started pushing to his feet.
Ella scrambled to try to help him. As he stood, his right leg sort of buckled and he leaned into Ella to stop from falling. Ella wrapped her arm around his waist. His very trim and very firm waist. She could actually feel the ridged muscles of his abdomen. How in the world was she supposed to stay strong and detached while touching something as perfect as Trey’s abs?
“Whoa. It might be broken.” Trey winced. “Can you help me get to Johnathon’s car?”
“I hope so. Lean on me.”
“Gladly, beautiful.” Trey wrapped his arm around her shoulders and leaned against her, and they shuffled toward the rental office. Luckily, it was only about half of a football field lengths away, and she could see the logoed Pathfinder parked right up front. She tried to focus on supporting Trey’s weight and getting there, not notice how delectable his sandalwood-and-musk cologne smelled or how amazing his strong abdomen against her side and his well-built arm around her shoulder felt. She had to help him. It was the sisterly thing to do. If only she had any sisterly feelings for him.
“Am I hurting you?” Trey asked.
“No, I’m tough,” she threw back at him, secretly loving that he was concerned for her when he had to be feeling miserable.
“I can tell that.” Trey’s hand gently squeezed her shoulder. “You look fabulous, Ella.”
“Fabulous?” She laughed. “You’ve been hit harder in the head than I thought.”
“Because I complimented you?” His brow wiggled, and she didn’t know if it was the pain from his head injury or because she’d teased him.
“No, because I never thought I’d hear the tough Trey Nelson say ‘fabulous’ all silly like that.”
He smiled, but then he grimaced and said, “Can we stop? I’m going to …” He broke off, turned away from her while balancing on one leg, and spewed all over the parking lot.
“Oh, Trey!” she yelled. The poor guy. He must be so sick and hurting, but of course he was so macho he was trying to act like nothing was wrong. She tried to move closer to him.
He waved her off, stuttering back away from the vomit. “Stay back. It reeks.”
“I don’t care about that,” she insisted.
“Well, I do.” Trey tried to push her back and move away himself, but his injured right leg must not have been able to take it, as he slid to his knees. He wiped his mouth clean, braced his hands on the pavement in front of him—luckily far enough away he wasn’t in the puke—and muttered, “Humiliation complete. Just send a lightning bolt and finish me off, Lord.”
Ella laughed and dropped to her knees next to him. “There’s no reason to be embarrassed.”
He turned to her with such a sad expression in his beautiful blue eyes. “How could you ever be attracted to me now?”
She grunted. Attraction to him was not the problem at all. “You are so nuts. This isn’t about me being attracted. We need to take care of you.”
Trey shook his head, then put his hand to it. “Dang, it still hurts like Gavin hit me with a two-by-four. Is that my punishment for checking you out?”
Ella smiled. He was so cute. She wanted to ask if he truly had been checking her out, or if it was the head injury talking. She was teetering away from listening to Gavin’s advice already. She wanted to help Trey, hold him until he felt better, and then flirt with him and kiss him—after he brushed his teeth. Oh my. She was sliding down the Trey express faster than even she could’ve believed was possible. Gavin had said he’d understood because he’d loved someone his entire life too, but he’d also said he knew that person wasn’t right for him. Was it true that Trey could never be right for her? The thought stung worse than any bike crash she’d ever had.
“Can you make it to the car, or do I dare leave you here and run get it?” she asked, rather than asking him if they had a future.
“Leave me. See if I care.” She knew he was teasing, but he sounded so dejected and miserable. “Please, go get the car. I won’t move unless another car comes to hit me and finishes me off. That is what happened, right?”
She chuckled at that but surveyed the parking lot. Nothing was moving, and the Pathfinder was close. She wondered briefly what had happened to whoever had backed into Trey. So weird how the person had just disappeared.
“Okay. Don’t move,” she cautioned. “Unless someone tries to run you over.”
He gave her a flickering smile and rotated over onto his rear, giving her a thumbs-up. “Got it.”
Ella sprinted for the Pathfinder, not an easy feat in bike shoes that clacked and skidded with each step across the asphalt. She clicked the unlock button as she approached the vehicle, then scrambled into the driver’s seat and pushed the start button. This was a company car? Sheesh, it was brand new and way nice. Maybe she needed to forget her job in Utah and come work for Gavin.
Quickly dropping it into gear, she backed out of the stall using the backup and three-sixty cameras and then drove over to where Trey was sitting. She jammed it into gear and hurried around, opening the passenger door.
Trey was struggling to his feet. Ella hurried to him, and he nodded. “Thanks.” Leaning into her, he shuffled to the Pathfinder, making a wide arc around his vomit. He gripped the “oh, crap” bar and lifted himself in easily, the muscles in his arms all rippling with the movement.
“Good thing you’re tough, or I would’ve had to lift you in like a grandma.”
Trey arched his eyebrows. “Good thing you’re cute, or I’d have to kiss you to stop demeaning comments like that from coming out.” A grin grew on his face. “Maybe I’ll kiss you anyway.”
“Trey Nelson, you stop it.”
He smiled on, unrepentant.
“What?” she demanded, planting her hands on her hips.
“Just the image of me kissing you took all the pain away for a second.” He reached out quickly, wrapped his hands around her hips, and tugged her against him. “Can you kiss me for real and we’ll see if the pain all just disappears?”
Ella’s breath was coming hard and fast. Even injured and probably out of his head, having recently thrown up, Trey was irresistible.
“Oh, shoot. I need to brush my teeth first. Rain check?” Trey released her, his blue eyes begging her to agree.
Ella backed away quickly and shut his door, before she could agree to kiss him for no reason at all. She walked around the car, muttering to herself, “Stay strong. He’s just a player. Stay strong.”
She opened the driver’s side door and glanced at him. His eyes were shut, and he was leaning his head back against the headrest. His strong, lean body lay sprawled in the seat. He looked so good, and he was obviously hurting. Helping him right now was definitely the right thing to do, but if he asked her to kiss him again or pulled her close like that … sheesh, she’d be a goner.
Chapter Six
Trey had to close his eyes against the bright light and the pain shooting through his skull after Ella shut his door. Dang, he’d been so close to kissing her; he could feel it. Curse him not being able to hide how awful he felt and puking. Was she disgusted by him? He wouldn’t blame her.
“What happened again?” he asked when she climbed in, needing to nail down the details. There was definitely something wrong with his head: he could remember everything before and after he’d been injured, but he couldn’t quite remember the accident and exactly why he felt so crappy.
“You were hit by a car.” Her voice sounded so concerned for him. He liked that.
The Strong Family Romance Collection Page 5
