Momentum (15 page)

Glancing up at the display, she saw the elevator was still several floors down so she dropped her suitcase on the floor and wrenched it open, grabbing her sneakers and then putting her boots inside. She had just finished tying her second shoe when the elevator dinged, scaring the hell out of her. Great, now she was jumping every time she heard a stray noise.

Natalie got down to the lobby and out of the hotel without incident and then chewed the inside of her cheek as she decided where to go now. The last thing she wanted to do was see Marco. He’d probably try to sweet-talk her into getting back together or he’d be with that woman. Natalie didn’t want to deal with either possibility. Her emotional reserves were spent and her nerves were frayed.

What she needed now was a place to sit down, think and figure out a plan. Natalie looked around, spying one of those large truck stops not too far away with a restaurant attached. Perfect.

Looking both ways, she dashed across the street and hightailed it to the truck stop. The hostess at the restaurant sat her in a booth toward the back and she ordered coffee and a grilled cheese sandwich. She hadn’t eaten since this morning, which felt like a hundred years ago, and she was starving. The headache pounding in the back of her head was probably at least partially due to hunger. Natalie hoped so since she didn’t have any drugs with her capable of even touching a migraine.

The food arrived quickly and Natalie demolished the entire meal in record time. She’d sat on the inside of the booth facing away from the door and had placed her suitcase on the opposite side to keep it out of the waitresses’ way. With her table cleared, she put her head in her hands and sighed. How could she have been so stupid? Engaged to be married? No matter what Marco said, there was obviously some sort of history between him and this woman. He’d seemed quite familiar with her when she and his uncle had first shown up; more familiar than a man who’d casually dated a woman for a few months would be. And besides, it’s not as if it could have been an arranged marriage. He must’ve known about it. Who did that kind of thing in this day and age?

With another sigh she opened her purse. As surreptitiously as possible, she counted her remaining cash. She had just over five hundred dollars. If she lived very frugally she could make it through the next couple of events, but that would put her in Boise, Idaho, or Billings, Montana. Either was far from her car in Texas. Natalie hoped to hell her money would hold out at least until she could complete her tryout for the female tour. She’d hate to have to get a job and wait for the next tryout period.

That decision made, she asked for a phone book and began to thumb through the motel listings, looking for one that wasn’t too far away. She came up with three likely candidates, but worried they’d have no vacancies with the bull riding competition in town. Luckily the restaurant had a pay phone by the restrooms and she hit pay dirt at the second place she’d called. It was a little more money than she’d wanted to spend, but beggars—literally—couldn’t be choosers. She debated calling Jessica but wasn’t sure the other woman would want to speak to her since she’d run out on Marco. He was probably livid by now.

Natalie paid for her food and stuffed her wallet back in her purse. Taking a furtive glance around, she began to cut through the parking lot in the direction of the motel. There were tractor-trailers scattered throughout the large parking lot and she made her way around them one by one. She’d just rounded the corner of a double eighteen-wheeler when her arm was yanked brutally.

“Ow! What the hell?”

A man wearing a ski mask grabbed her. “Your purse, bitch.”

She wrenched away from him and tried to turn to run, but was hampered by her luggage. Natalie didn’t want to just drop it. The suitcase had all her worldly possessions inside, including the only picture of her father that she’d kept.

“No, please,” she pleaded when the man knocked her suitcase out of her hand.

Then Natalie felt searing pan on the side of her head and realized the man must’ve hit her with something. Fighting to stay upright and conscious, she tried to pull her arm from the man’s bruising grip while holding on to her purse with her free arm.

“Don’t make me hurt you. I will, you little cunt,” the man threatened.

When she still didn’t give in he swung her around and she lost her balance, falling on the cold, hard concrete and barely managing not to hit the back of her head. She tried to roll, but he kicked her in the stomach.

Natalie saw stars as the pain roared straight into dizziness and nausea. Her arm went slack and the man was reaching down for her purse when she heard yelling. With a final kick to her head, the man grabbed her purse and ran, and the last of Natalie’s strength left her. An older man knelt down, but she had a hard time concentrating on what he was saying. Natalie felt something warm on her head and knew it was blood. Her ribs hurt and the small of her back where she’d taken most of the weight of falling felt scraped raw and bruised.

“Call 9-1-1,” the man barked to someone else, who immediately scurried away. “You’re okay,” he crooned as tears sprang to her eyes. “You’re okay, darlin’. Help is coming.”

Natalie tried to form words, but between the dizziness, nearly overwhelming nausea and the pain in her jaw, nothing came out but nonsense.

“Shhh, just rest now. An ambulance and the police are on their way.”

She tried to tell him she couldn’t go to the hospital because she had no insurance, but her voice came out scratchy and weak. Cursing herself about a thousand different ways, both for not being able to communicate and for being stupid enough to take a shortcut in the dark, she tried again.

“No ambulance,” she wheezed out, turning more onto her side in a vain attempt to find a place the man hadn’t assaulted.

“Honey, you’ve been beat up pretty bad. You need to be seen by a doctor.”

“No. No ambulance.” She coughed, and only through sheer force of will did she not vomit all over herself and him. “No insurance.”

Natalie heard a bevy of sirens as the cavalry arrived, but the noise just made her more dizzy. She closed her eyes.

“Sugar, open your eyes. You need to stay awake,” the man commanded. When her eyelids drifted open he said, “My name is Jed, what’s yours?”

“Nat.” It was what her father had called her and about all she could get out.

The paramedics rushed to her side and the man moved back, but remained where she could see him. Her eyes closed, but were pried open as the paramedic did his examination. “Can you tell us what happened, ma’am?”

“Mugged.” Was this man an idiot?

“Where does it hurt?” Natalie began to laugh at the ridiculous question, but pain coursed through her ribs and jaw and she winced. “Everywhere, I know. But if you can, try to tell me where he got you. I can see your head, what else?”

“Ribs.”

“Ribs?”

Natalie gave a slight nod. Her eyes were open for the time being but she had no idea if she’d be able to stay awake. She saw the two paramedics exchange a look and she started to panic.

Jed put a gentle hand on her shoulder. “Nat, try to calm down. These guys are going to help you.”

His tender manner and the care of the paramedics opened a door she’d slammed shut the moment she’d found out her father was dead. In that moment, she’d wanted to be dead too, and that didn’t seem like a bad option right now. The pain, the nausea—it all needed to go away. And then it did, and the world went black.

When Natalie forced her eyes open again, she was on a gurney being loaded into the ambulance.

“No!”

The paramedic glanced at her. “What’s wrong, ma’am?”

“No hospital.”

His expression turned wary. “Ma’am, you may have serious injuries.”

She tried to sit up and discovered she was strapped tightly to the gurney with a backboard between her and the gurney itself. Then she noticed the neck immobilizer. How long had she been out?

Natalie heard a commotion and looked around as best she could. Conner was striding over, talking a mile a minute on his cell phone. “I’m going with her,” he told the paramedic.

The man turned to her. “Do you know him?”

“Yes.” Behind Conner, Natalie noticed Jessica straining to see better. She wanted to tell her not to worry, that everything would be okay, but couldn’t find the reserves to.

“Follow us, Jess. And get Leah and Brady started calling the others.”

The ambulance doors slammed and Natalie’s eyes began to close. She’d never been so tired in all her life.

“Ma’am, try to stay awake. I know you want to sleep, but fight it for me, okay?”

“Natalie.” Her eyelids lifted at the tone of Conner’s voice. “Listen to me, darlin’.” A tear escaped and he reached down to wipe it away, his expression a mixture of worry, relief and maybe even caring. Her mind reeled. She hardly knew these people. “Marco is meeting us at the hospital. Just hang on.”

“Hates me…” she murmured as another tear rolled down her cheek.

Conner leaned in until she could see his entire face clearly. “He does
not
hate you. We’ve all been out lookin’ for you. He’s worried sick about you, but he definitely doesn’t hate you.”

“Family. His family.”

Conner broke out into a grin then. “Told ’em to go to hell.”

A wave of relief, along with remorse at what Marco had turned his back on, flooded her. Unable to process everything, she let her eyes close again.

She woke up when the stretcher was being hauled out of the ambulance. Natalie was sure they were trying to be gentle, but every little jostle was another special look into hell. The paramedic must’ve started an IV line, as several bags appeared to be lying to her right near where the IV went into a vein near her elbow. For the first time, Natalie felt lucid enough to wonder if she was going to die.

Her eyes sought out Conner, the only link to the world that made sense. He was walking next to the stretcher, her hand firmly encased in his. She squeezed and he turned.

“Might not make it—”

Conner’s expression turned so fierce she would’ve shrunk back if she could’ve moved. “You are
not
going to die, Natalie. You need to be strong now, sugar. I know it’s hard, and I know it hurts like a bitch right now, believe me. I’ve been there. But you need to fight.”

“For what?”

His mouth dropped open just for a second before he said, “For yourself. For Marco. Because you deserve better than this.”

Natalie heard a scuffle and then Marco’s panicked voice. “Wait!”

She put her good hand on the paramedic’s arm. “Stop for just a second.”

The paramedics glanced at each other. “Talk as we move her, sir.” Marco appeared at the foot of the stretcher, breathing hard as he trotted beside her. “Oh my God,
tesora
.” He looked heavenward before returning his gaze to hers. “I will be right here,
cara
. I will not leave you. I will never leave you.”

Tears sprang to her eyes. “I’m sorry,” she choked out.

“Stop for just a second, please. She is upset.” Marco skirted around the side of the stretcher and ran a very gentle, shaking hand down the side of her face. Through the tears clogging her eyes she saw so many things in his. “Shhhh. Rest now,
cara
. I will not leave you,” he repeated. “I love you.” Natalie couldn’t stop the stream of tears rolling down her cheeks, and Marco cursed. “I didn’t mean to upset you. We’ll talk later. Let them take care of you.” His gaze lifted to the paramedics and nurses stationed around the stretcher. “Do everything you can for her. I don’t care what it costs.”

“We will,” the nurse promised before punching the button to get the heavy double doors back to the emergency room treatment area to open. Natalie was whisked in, and as orders were given and more diagnostic testing and examinations were done, she tried to come to terms with what Marco had said. Could it be true? Her head hurt too much to put deep thought into it, but as the pain drugs they’d administered sank in, she fell asleep with a strange feeling of contentment.

* * * * *

Marco watched as the doors closed behind the woman he loved. His knees began to buckle and Conner and Paolo each grabbed an arm. Together they shuffled over to the waiting area. Marco was deposited in a chair and his friends and brother gathered around him. Balancing his elbows on his thighs, he leaned forward and put his face in his hands. A sound dangerously close to a sob escaped him.

“If something happens to her, I will never forgive
mio padre
. Never.”

“Just let the doctors work, Marco.” It was Jessica, and her gentle tone was his undoing. He’d never cried in front of other men, but he found himself burying another sob. Jumping up, he stalked away from the group to compose himself.

A few minutes later, Paolo joined him. Placing his hand on Marco’s shoulder and squeezing, he said, “You don’t need to be strong for us,
amico
. We know you love her.”

“What if—” He choked on the words and Paolo shook his head.

“Don’t think the worst. Wait to see what the doctors say.”

“Easy for you…”

Paolo took a deep breath. “It’s true I don’t know Natalie the way you do, but I care about her. And if you do love her and want to be with her I will do everything I can to support both of you.”