Just Say Yes (Just Say Yes #2) (2 page)

My head throbbed and my body would not cooperate with me when I wanted to move. I could not force my eyes to open, and people spoke quietly around me.
“She should be awake by now…Oh God, please let her wake up…”
Andy’s cologne permeated the darkness of my mind. I sensed his presence nearby.

From somewhere to my left, I heard my mom praying in Spanish and I envisioned her clutching the rosary beads she’d had since she was a child. I recognized the voices of my family and friends all around me.

Whatever happened to me, it had to have been bad.

“Andy, you need to go home and get some rest.”
Justin’s voice was sympathetic and concerned when he spoke to Andy.

“I can’t leave her, mate. I need to be here for her when she wakes up…”

Why won’t she wake up?
The question repeated over and over in my head, with a different person’s voice asking it each time. Through my closed eyes, I was aware that the room was bright. From the obvious scent of the liquid cleaner used to keep everything sterile, to the steady beeping sound of my own heartbeat coming from a machine near my head, I could tell I was in the hospital.
Why am I here?

Andy held my hand, rubbing his thumb back and forth across it. His warm lips brushed mine.
“Zoey,
please…
” he whispered, pleading for me to do something…anything.
“Please wake up, Beautiful. I need you to come back to me. I can’t lose you, too.”

Why couldn’t I talk? He needed to know I was okay.
Shit, am I okay?

It was nearly dark in the room when I finally opened my eyes. My legs tingled and ached like they were asleep. I tried to move them but couldn’t.
Oh God, why can’t I move my legs? Am I paralyzed?
Fear ripped through me and I forced my head up to glance down at my legs.

The light from the hallway outside the open door illuminated the room just enough that I could barely make out Andy. He was sitting in a chair so close to the side of my bed, his upper body and arms were sprawled across my legs. He was sound asleep, faced toward me, with his cheek on my knee. Relieved that his weight was probably what caused my legs to feel the way they did, I slowly lowered my head back down onto my pillow.

Just in case, I forced myself to make sure my legs worked properly, straining to wiggle my toes. I couldn’t see them past Andy, but they moved. I was in so much pain, an involuntary whimper escaped from my mouth. I squeezed my eyes shut, hoping I would pass out again and not feel anything. I’d only closed them for a split second when the weight lifted from my legs and I heard the sweetest sound.

“Zoey, you’re awake. Oh, thank God. I’m calling the nurse. Don’t move, okay?” Andy jumped from his chair and fumbled around with something next to my bed. He let out a long, trembling sigh then took my hand in his. I couldn’t bring myself to close my eyes, so they remained on Andy. A few moments later, a nurse came into the room and flipped on the overhead light.

“Miss James? My name is Maxine. How are you feeling?”

“Not good. Everything hurts. What happened?” I whispered as she checked my pulse. My eyes closed part way as the words left my mouth. My throat was dry and scratchy, and it felt like I was going to cough. I attempted to swallow any saliva I had in my mouth, but it just made it worse. Maxine noticed and filled a cup with water from the small pitcher on my bedside table.

“We’ll explain everything in a few minutes, sweetie. I’ll go get the doctor so he can get you something for your pain after we get you a sip of water for your throat,” she said as she added a bendy straw to the cup and held it to my lips. My eyes closed again as the cool water soothed my dry mouth and throat.
Ahh, heavenly.

Maxine set the cup on the table and left the room to get the doctor. Gradually, I reopened my eyes to see Andy sitting next to my bed in the chair. He was rubbing his jaw–his eyes were bloodshot and tired. For as handsome as he was, he looked like hell. His face was pale with dark circles under his eyes.

“What happened?” I remembered talking with Jess and Sasha outside of dance class, but nothing else. “Did Rob do something to me?” I asked, scared that maybe he’d hit me with my own fucking car. I didn’t know why my first thought was that he’d hurt me, because he wasn’t like that. But, with him following me and causing trouble, I just wasn’t sure what he was capable of anymore.

Andy stood over me to push my hair gently away from my face. The simple light touch from his fingertips brushing across the side of my head comforted me.

“No, it was a freak accident. All we know is the police were chasing a guy on foot near the dance studio and he came around the corner then ran in to you from behind. He knocked you in between your car and the car in front of yours. You crashed head first in to the bumper of your Audi. When you landed, you ended up smacking your head on the road too.”

“That’s it? That’s what hurt me? A person? How stupid!”
Well, technically it was my Audi and the road, but still.

Pain spread like wildfire through my body when I made an idiotic attempt to sit up, so I stayed motionless.
Who gets knocked over by a man and ends up in the hospital? Apparently me…

He inhaled deeply and let it out, along with a little chuckle at what I’d said. Before he spoke again, he breathed a long, sigh of relief. “God, Zoey, when Jess called to tell me what happened, I thought I’d lost you. She was crying so hard she could barely speak. All I knew was you were hurt and lying on the road.”

His eyes watered and I didn’t want to see him upset like that. I tried to reach out to him, but a flash of pain shot through me, causing me to wince. He cringed but didn’t take his eyes off me.

“Please, don’t move,” he begged.

The doctor arrived at that moment with Maxine hot on his heels carrying an IV bag in her hand.

“Miss James, I’m Dr. Waits. How are you feeling?”

Like shit.
“I’m in a lot of pain. Is anything broken?”

Maxine hung the IV bag on the stand then hooked the tube from it to an IV port that was sticking out of my arm. Some type of clear liquid was being pumped into my body through the tube that was already hooked up. I assumed it was the standard IV fluids instead of pain medication since every part of my body hurt like hell.

“You’re very lucky, Miss James. You hit your head twice. Your hip, shoulder, and ribs are badly bruised because they took the full force of your weight when you landed on the street. You’re going to have some pain and discomfort for the next several days, but nothing was broken. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

Thank God the doctor was using small words because I didn’t think I could comprehend anything with my head pounding so badly. I mumbled something that might have sounded like a yes then gave him a curt nod. Not a good idea. It hurt like hell, making me dizzy and sick to my stomach. I winced again, making myself so queasy I wanted to throw up.

“We’ll keep you here for a day or two because of the head trauma you suffered then send you home with medication to keep your pain level at a minimum. You will need to take it easy for a week or two, so nothing strenuous. No work, no heavy lifting. Just try to rest and let your body heal.”

Maxine finally did something to the tube coming out of the IV bag next to my bed. Within minutes, the throbbing pain slowly started to subside.
That’s some good shit in that bag,
I thought and tried to chuckle. Another bad idea. I flinched as pain shot through me again.

“Just press this button when the pain gets too much, it will administer a dose of pain medication for you,” he said, handing me a round tube-like thing with a button on the end. “I’ll be back to check on you later, Miss James. We’ll run more tests in the morning to see how you’re healing and we’ll go from there.” Once I thanked him, he and Maxine left the room, leaving us alone.

“Andy?” I whispered.

“I’m here, love. What do you need?”

“My purse…I need a mirror,” I answered, not quite sure if I wanted to see myself. My head hurt like hell, so I could only imagine what I looked
like.

“Zoey, you hit the side and back of your head, not your face.”

I did?
“But I tasted blood.”

The pain meds were taking effect, making me a little confused. Andy found my compact in my purse, opened it, and handed it to me. My face was pale with purplish-black, puffy bags under my eyes.

“Holy shit, I look like death.”

He frowned and looked away, making me feel terrible for my choice of words. I ran my tongue over the inside of my cheek, finding it lumpy and very sore. Apparently, I bit it at some point, causing it to bleed.

Carefully, I pulled my hair back on the side of my head where it hurt, discovering a large bruise on my scalp. Running my fingers across the back of my head where it bounced off the ground, I found a large, very sore lump.

Andy dropped onto the chair at my bedside then raked his hands up and down his jaw. He did the same uneasy gesture any time we talked about his family. I’d seen it several times and recognized it instantly.

“Hey, don’t do that. I’m fine.” I reached out for his hand but didn’t care how bad it hurt that time. I needed contact with him, to comfort him so he knew I was okay.

“I’m just relieved you’re awake. When Jess called, she said you were hurt and unconscious…” He trailed off as a sickened expression washed over his face. He swallowed hard then didn’t finish what he was saying.

“How long have I been here?”

“Since Thursday night.” Andy’s gaze dropped to the floor and he ran his fingers through his hair, making it stand on end, even as short as it was.

“What day is it?” I whispered, completely confused.
How the fuck long have I been here?

“Saturday.” He flipped his wrist to look at his watch. “Two a.m. It’s been a little over twenty-four hours.”

“I’ve been out for that long?” I was completely flabbergasted and a sudden surge of adrenaline moved through my body from the shock.

“Yes. Jess said the man who hit you was the size of an NFL linebacker. They said he knocked you several feet before you hit your car.”

“Did they catch the guy?”

Andy nodded. “Yes. After he collided with you, he lost his balance then fell down. The police weren’t too far behind him, so they were able to tackle him back down to the ground when he tried to get up. He was twice my size so it took five cops to keep him down. They arrested him and hauled him off to jail.”

Holy shit, that’s a big motherfucker.
Andy was six-foot-three and two hundred twenty pounds of sexy, muscled man, so the guy must have been a giant.

Thoughts of my family began running through my head. Oh God, my parents. They were probably freaking out.

“My family…” I trailed off, wondering where they were. “Where are they? Do they know I’m okay?” I didn’t want to move and had no idea where my phone was to call them.

“Everyone went home, Beautiful. The hospital wouldn’t let them stay past visiting hours because they crowded your entire room. The doctor convinced them you needed to rest so they would go home. Somehow your mum persuaded them to let me stay with you.”

“She did?” Tears pricked my eyes because of her thoughtfulness.
Dear God, thank you for giving me such a wonderful mother
. “Can you call her?” He nodded as he stood to pull his phone out of his pocket. “Wait,” I said. “How long have you been here?”

“Since Thursday night, I couldn’t leave you,” he replied, his voice faltered when he spoke. Just looking at him, I could tell he was exhausted. The only sleep he’d probably had was when he was sprawled across my legs.

“Come here,” I whispered. Without moving my arm, I patted the bed with my hand. Andy shook his head just slightly to say no, but I could tell how tempted he was to crawl onto the bed with me. All I wanted was for him to lie next to me and get some sleep.

“Zoey, it’s not a good idea. I don’t want to bump you and hurt you.”

He didn’t budge. I looked him in the eyes, pleading with him. Fine, let me try his tactics on him for a change.

“Just say yes,”
I sang quietly with my scratchy voice. When he smiled at me, I swore I heard the little beeping noise on my heart monitor speed up.

“Oh, I see how it is. You’re gonna sing Snow Patrol to
me
now, are you?” He reached out and caressed the side of my face, gently pressing his lips to my cheek.

Instead of getting into bed with me, he said, “Let’s call your mum and dad. I promised to let them know as soon as you woke up.”

He found my parents’ phone number and pressed the speaker button. The phone rang only once before my dad answered it. I forced myself to concentrate, so I could stay awake long enough to speak to my parents.

“Dad, I’m awake.”

“Baby girl, we were so worried about you. How are you feeling?” He sounded relieved and I heard my mom in the background anxiously telling him to put their phone on speaker so she could talk to me too.

“It feels like I got hit by a bus, but from what I heard, it was only a linebacker,” I joked. “I must have missed the memo about the NFL drafting me.”

My dad chuckled quietly at my joke.

“Zoey, it’s so good to hear your voice,” my mom said. “We’ve been so worried about you.” Her voice trembled as she spoke, and when she sniffled, I knew she’d started to cry.

“Please, Mom, I’m fine. Hold the waterworks or you’re going to make me cry too.”

“Sorry, Mija, I don’t want you to be in any more pain than you already are. Andy, honey, are you still there?”

He tilted his cell toward him. “Yes, I’m here.”

There was a moment of silence. “How does our girl look?” she asked. “Is she really alright?”

He looked over at me then smiled slightly as he laid his warm hand on mine. “She’s beautiful. The doctor gave her pain meds, so she’s about to fall asleep, but she’s fine.”

“Thank you, Andy. For everything,” she said, her voice cracking again. “We’ll come see you in the morning, Mija. Andy, you go home and get some sleep, okay? You’ve been at the hospital almost as long as Zoey has.”