by Carrie Elks
Jamie was pacing up and down the blacktop of the Beach Club parking lot when Aiden arrived outside. The coolness of the night time air caressed his skin. Griff and Jackson gave him a nod and walked back inside, leaving the two brothers alone once again.
Aiden took a deep breath of ocean air. He’d come back to this town in a blaze of glory, determined to show Angel Sands how he’d changed, come up in the world, become somebody. And yet somehow, in their eyes he was still that kid from the wrong side of the tracks. The scum who’d messed with Martin Newton’s golden girl.
Yeah, well fuck them. He didn’t have time for their opinions right now.
Noticing him standing by the door, Jamie stopped walking and came to a halt in front of him. Aiden eyed him warily, waiting for the anger he’d felt inside the Beach Club to descend. But it didn’t. Instead a deep, dark exhaustion clawed into every bone.
“Why are you here?” he asked Jamie.
“To see my brother.” Jamie grinned. “I missed ya, kid.”
“Cut the bullshit.” Aiden’s voice was low. “Why are you really here?”
Jamie’s mouth twisted as he lifted his hand to wipe at his nose. “Thirty thousand dollars,” he said slowly. “Is that all I’m worth to you?”
“That’s what my peace of mind was worth to me. But I shouldn’t have paid it to you anyway.”
“I need more.”
“No.” Aiden shook his head. “You’re not getting another dime from me.”
Jamie’s lip twitched. “I need it. Thirty thousand isn’t going to get me very far. I owe people money. I need somewhere to live…”
“So get a job like the rest of us.”
“You think it’s so easy, don’t you? With your pretty suit and shiny degree. Not all of us came out of this thing unscathed, brother. Some of us still bear the scars.”
As if he didn’t have scars, too. He might not have borne the brunt of his father’s beatings, but his skin had enough evidence to show they’d happened. “You want to talk about this stuff?” he said, raising an eyebrow. “Then go to therapy.”
“I could make trouble for you. I saw how you look at her. I can make things bad between you and Brooke. I have rights. I have a son. I could fuck up his life the way Dad fucked up ours.”
Aiden’s gut clenched. The thought of Nick going through what they’d gone through made his heart hurt. Jamie was a loose cannon, and the need to shield his nephew – and Brooke – from him was so strong Aiden could almost taste it.
“Sure. Hang around and see how much you enjoy it. Rights bring responsibilities. You ready for Brooke to sue you for child support? I’m pretty sure you must owe a lot.”
Jamie blinked but said nothing.
“Keep the thirty thousand,” Aiden said. “But you won’t get another dollar from me. We’re done here.” He leaned forward, his eyes connecting with his brother’s. “And if you think you can hurt Nick, you’re mistaken. His mother wouldn’t let you. She’s a wolf. She’d eat you for breakfast.”
Disbelief flooded Jamie’s face. “Yeah right.”
“Try her. See what happens.”
As though he couldn’t stand the closeness between them, Jamie stepped back and ran a hand across his head. “Yeah, well, I wanted some money. That’s all.”
“And you’re not getting it.”
The door of the Beach Club swung open. Aiden glanced toward it, expecting to see elegantly clad couples leaving and heading home. But instead he saw Ember, her face unnaturally pale as she held her phone tightly in her hand. Her eyes sought his out and he could see panic in them, as her chest rose up and down to keep up with her breathing.
“You need to come with me,” she said, her voice breathless. “There’s been an accident.”
27
Brooke ran onto the beach, stumbling as her heels sank into the soft, pliable sand. She yanked her shoes off, holding them in her right hand as she held her skirt up with her left, desperate to put as much distance between herself and the disaster she’d left behind at the gala.
It was a disaster of her own making. But that knowledge did nothing to calm her racing heart, or clear the messed up haze in her mind. It was almost impossible to think straight.
Air. She needed air. She stopped running and bent over, resting her hands on her thighs as she gasped mouthfuls in. The Beach Club was in the distance, lights spilling out from the ballroom, but it still wasn’t far enough away. She needed more space, more air, more time to think. Standing up, she sucked in another breath and followed the coastline until Angel Sands was only a cluster of buildings in the distance, and grass grew in the dunes as the coast turned the corner into Silver Cove.
Before the beach expanded into the half-built resort, there was a tiny cluster of rocks. She brought Nick here sometimes, and they’d run into the ocean and pretend there was nobody else in the world.
It was Aiden who’d first shown her this place. Their place. The one spot her father couldn’t reach them, where she could be herself and not only a Newton. And it was here that she stopped and sat on one of the rocks, dropping her shoes onto the dusty sand before she lowered her head into her hands.
Was it her fault people made decisions without asking her first? She’d grown used to it from her parents. But Aiden? She’d stupidly thought he believed in her. Enough for her to make her own decisions, regardless of how tough they were.
But he hadn’t. And it hurt. Because he saw her the way everybody else did. As something fragile to be protected, not as a partner.
Her chest felt hollow, as though somebody had scooped out her heart and lungs and laid them gently on the sand, leaving an emptiness where they used to be. She squeezed her eyes shut, her mouth trembling as she remembered her parents’ expressions of horror, Jamie’s laugh, and Aiden’s shock at everything being exposed.
It had been humiliating. Practically everybody she knew was at the Beach Club right now and they’d unwittingly purchased first row seats to the scene Jamie had created. They were probably all talking about her. Again. About how she’d brought humiliation down on her parents, how her lies ran so deep nobody knew what the truth was any more. She closed her eyes, trying to shut out the embarrassment.
“There you are.”
Lucas and Nate were walking along the beach toward her. Even in the darkness of the night they were a sight for sore eyes, dressed up in black tuxedos and white dress shirts. Brooke tried to smile at them but it came out as a grimace.
“I’m sorry. You didn’t need to come and search for me. I was going to come back as soon as I composed myself.”
“Hey, you don’t need to apologize.” Lucas sat and stretched out his long lean legs in front of him. “I was happy to get out of there. I’m not one for dressing up.” As though to emphasize his words, he pulled at his neatly knotted bow tie, letting the ends fall down as he unfastened the top button of his shirt. “Anyway, Ember was worried about you. We said we’d make sure you’re okay.”
Nate sat down on the other side of the rock, giving her a soft smile. “You doing okay?” he asked.
“I’ll be fine.” Maybe if she said it enough it would be the truth. Looking up, she caught his eye. “I had to get out of there for a while. I’m so embarrassed.”
“There’s no need to be embarrassed. You’re not the one who made a fool out of themselves.” Nate was older than Lucas – older than all of them – and had been a single dad for a while before he’d met Ally and they’d fallen in love. That was something he and Brooke had in common – bringing up a child under difficult circumstance. He’d always been more than kind to her. “Nobody’s talking about you. Well not many people. They’re too busy talking about Aiden’s brother.”
“Jamie.” Even saying his name made her throat feel tight. “I had no idea he was back in town.” She shook her head, trying to hold her tears in check. “I never wanted anybody to find out like that.”
“It’s not your fault,” Lucas said, his voice low. “You were blindsided, anyb
ody could see that.”
“Aiden should have told you his brother was out of jail,” Nate agreed. “He messed up.”
“He thought he was protecting me.” Brooke sighed, looking down at the sand. “But you’re right, he should have told me. I’m not some delicate girl who faints at the first sign of trouble.”
Something splashed out in the ocean – close enough for the sound to carry to where they were sitting, but far enough so she couldn’t quite see what caused it. A dolphin, maybe.
“I thought he knew I was strong,” she continued. “I thought he saw me as an equal. But he doesn’t.”
Thinking about it felt like a knife to the place where her heart used to be.
“He messed up,” Lucas agreed. “But we all make mistakes sometimes. And you know, a big part of loving somebody is about wanting to protect them. Nobody wants the person they love to get hurt. I’m like that with Ember all the time. Reminding her to fill up on gas, or checking under her hood to make sure she has enough oil. And when the three of you go out for the evening I’m on edge all night until she comes home.”
The smallest of smiles crossed Brooke’s lips. “You’re really good to her, I know that. But you’ve never hidden something important from her.”
“I didn’t tell her I loved her when I knew I did.”
Brooke tipped her head to the side. “Why didn’t you?”
“Because I was scared. And maybe Aiden’s scared too.”
In her rush to escape from the Beach Club, some of her hair had fallen out of her updo and lay around her shoulders. The ends tickled her skin. Sweeping it away, Brooke looked at Lucas, her eyes meeting his. “What does he have to be afraid of?”
“You want to take this one?” Lucas asked, turning to Nate.
Nate shook his head. “You’re doing a fine job.”
“Thanks,” Lucas said, raising his eyebrow as he turned back to Brooke. “I’m not an expert on relationships. And I’m pretty sure Ember would agree. But from what I can see, Aiden’s head over heels for you. And when a guy falls hard for a woman it can mess up his thinking. I’m not making excuses for him, the guy needs to pull his head out of his ass, but being afraid of losing the person you love the most can make you lose your mind.”
“You think he’s in love with me.” She swallowed hard, finding it hard to believe.
“I can pretty much guarantee it.”
She looked at Nate, who was nodding in agreement.
“But he hurt me.”
“Yeah, I know. I’m not saying you have to do anything about it.”
The tide was coming in. The rocks in front of where they were sitting were slowly submerging. A few minutes more and the ocean would be kissing her feet. “I don’t want love if it means lying to me. My parents have done enough of that. The kind of love I want is equal. Taking care of each other but always being honest.”
Lucas’s phone started to ring. He pulled it from his pocket, the screen lighting his face as he swiped his finger across to accept the call. “It’s Ember,” he told them. “Hey, babe. Yeah, we found her.” He listened as his fiancée talked, lines appearing on his forehead as his face pulled into a frown. “Um. Okay. We’ll meet you there.”
His eyes met Brooke’s as he ended the call, and she knew from the expression on his face that it was bad. The hole where her heart used to be began to expand until it felt as though every breath was being pushed out of her body.
“What is it?” she whispered.
Lucas swallowed hard. “I’m really sorry, Brooke. Nick’s been taken to the hospital.”
Lucas swung his truck into the hospital parking lot, not bothering to find a space. Driving as close to the double glass doors as possible, he hit the brakes and turned to look at Brooke. “You go in,” he told her. “I’ll park and follow you. Ember said she’ll be waiting for you in the family room.”
“Thank you.” The words came out like a whisper. Her chest was so tight it was a surprise she could say anything at all. After Lucas got the call from Ember, all three of them had run back to the Beach Club, Nate picking her up twice when she’d stumbled over her bare feet. Her heart was racing so fast it hurt.
Nicholas. Tears stung her eyes at the thought of her baby in pain. God, she couldn’t stand this. She never should have left him, and she damn sure shouldn’t have left the Beach Club without her cellphone. That thing was almost a part of her body, she took it with her everywhere in case of a situation like this.
Except for the one time she needed it.
If she’d answered Cora’s call, she would have been here at least twenty minutes earlier. Nick had to be so scared, in pain, wondering where the hell she was. What kind of mother was she to be so late?
“Can I help you?” the receptionist at the front desk asked her.
“My son’s been brought in with anaphylactic shock. His name’s Nicholas Newton.”
With an allergy as serious as his, Nick had more than his share of ER visits. But the anaphylaxis had never been as bad as Cora had described. His babysitter knew to inject him with epinephrine as soon as he showed signs of a reaction, but the little vial would only be enough to keep him going until he got to the hospital.
The nurse tapped on the keyboard, staring at the monitor in front of her. “Ah yes, he’s in a triage room. Go on through. Your family’s already in there.” As soon as the nurse pressed the button, Brooke pushed her way through the doors, and into the waiting room lined with blue plastic chairs.
Before she’d even scanned the room, Cora was running over to her, throwing her arms around Brooke. “Oh God, Brooke, I’m so glad you’re here. He kept asking for you.”
“Where is he?” Brooke’s need to see Nick overrode any other thought. She’d comfort Cora later. Right now she needed her son.
“In room three. Doctor Westbrook is with him.”
Brooke swallowed, trying to keep the tears at bay. Nick didn’t need her to break down, he needed his mom. Somehow she had to stay strong. “Was it bad?” she whispered.
Cora nodded. Tears were pouring down her face. “He couldn’t breathe.”
A wave of nausea passed over her – so strong she could taste it on her tongue. The door opened and a nurse walked in, a clipboard in her hand. She scanned the room, blinking as she took in all the people. “Nicholas Newton’s family?”
Half the room stood up. There was Ember and Ally – and Nate and Lucas who had recently arrived – along with her parents, and Max and Ellie.
Then there was the man in the corner. Aiden was leaning against the wall, in his dress pants and crisp white shirt. His hair messed up as though he’d been raking his fingers through it. His jaw was clenched, a muscle jumping in his cheek. One of his hands was clasped around the wrist of his other arm, running up and down his exposed, warm skin.
His head was angled down as though he couldn’t bring himself to look at her. She swallowed hard, her heart so full of words she didn’t know how to say. There was no time to say them anyway.
“I’m Nicholas’s mother,” she said to the nurse. “How is he?”
“He’s stable. Would you like to see him?”
Brooke nodded. The nurse led her in the direction of the treatment rooms, her voice low as she explained his treatment so far. “He’s got an oxygen mask on and an IV in for fluids.”
Brooke could barely take it in. The nurse stopped talking as she pulled the door open to Nick’s room, standing aside so Brooke could walk in.
He was hooked up to fluids, with a oxygen mask strapped across his mouth and nose. His chest was rising up and down rapidly, his breathing labored as they tried to get as much oxygen into him as possible. He was hooked up to a monitor – showing his blood pressure was low – and in the other arm he had a catheter stuck into his hand, pumping fluids into him, in an effort to stabilize his vitals.
It felt like a knife to her heart.
“Miss Newton?” a woman in a white coat asked. In her mid-thirties, with short blonde hair and a
smile, the doctor walked toward Brooke, holding out her hand. “I’m Doctor Westbrook.
Brooke took her proferred hand and shook it. “Can you tell me how Nick is?”
“Of course. You’re aware of his anaphalaxis, right?”
“Yes. We’ve been here a few times before.”
“Okay. From what we can tell, Nick ate a cookie and had an immediate reaction – worse than usual from your babysitter’s account. We’re doing what we usually do in this situation, making sure we can open his airways, and trying to get his blood pressure up. He’s dealing with it like a champ. I wish all my patients could be like this.” She inclined her head at Brooke’s son. “You can go sit with him. He’s awake.”
Nodding, Brooke walked over to the empty spot beside Nick’s gurney, gently laying her hand over his. “Hey baby, I’m here. It’s going to be okay.”
Nick looked up at her, his face pale. Almost immediately his body relaxed. He couldn’t say anything – not with his heavy breathing, and the mask covering his face – but his expression told her all she needed to know.
He was relieved she was here. He knew he was going to be okay. She’d make things better, the way she always did.
The fact she should have been here twenty minutes earlier felt like a weight on her shoulders. She’d been so selfish, so caught up in her own problems, and he’d waited longer than he should’ve for her. She felt sick at the thought of him being alone and scared.
The blood pressure cuff at the top of his thin arm inflated automatically, deflating once the reading appeared on his monitor.
“We’re going to give him another steroid injection in twenty minutes, and then let him rest. I’d like to keep him in overnight, but if he improves the way I think he will, you can take him home tomorrow.”
Home. There was nowhere else she wanted to be right now. Taking care of this little kid who meant everything to her.
“Can I stay with him tonight?”
Doctor Westbrooke smiled. “Of course.”
