Settling Ashes: A New Adult/College Romance (The Ashes Series Book 2) (11 page)

“We got blindsided,” I said heavily, placing my head in my hands. “It was so fast, I don’t even know if I saw the car that hit us. It ran the light on Main and Second.”

“Shit,” Drew breathed. “If they ran the light, they must have been flying. What does your car look like?”

I shook my head. I hadn’t looked at my car after Paige and I had escaped it.

“It flipped,” I answered, pulling another gasp from Gillian. “We rolled a few times. I was conscious the whole time, but when we stopped and I tried to talk to Paige...she didn’t answer.”

“So how did you guys get out?” Tima asked gently. “If you were upside down.”

“Upside down and down a ravine,” I said. “I used my knife to cut Paige out of her seatbelt and pulled her through the window I kicked out. Then I carried her up the hill and the paramedics took over from there.”

“Oh, man,” Rob said, shaking his head. “Clay, that’s crazy. I can’t believe you just went through that.”

“You saved her life,” Gillian said softly. “You pulled her out.”

I shook my head. “I should have seen that car coming.”

“Don’t be ridiculous, Clay,” my mother scoffed. “You did the best you could. Did the car hit on your side or Paige’s?”

“Paige’s,” I said, my voice breaking. “It slammed right into her side of the car, which is why I was able to walk away and she wasn’t.”

My head sank back into my hands as I thought about the pain she must be feeling. I shuddered, feeling a knee-jerk reaction to rise from this chair and go running into the room where they were working on her, just so I could hold her hand and let her know I was with her.

“Seems awfully lucky,” Beau spat. “One girl you’re dating gets murdered while you lay sleeping in the bed next to her, and now Paige is hit by a crazy person in a tank while you walk away without a scratch. Convenient.”

“Dude,” said Rob, eyeing him with a cold, hard expression. “You sound stupid. If you knew Clay, you’d know how much he loves Paige and how far he’d go to protect her.”

“Not far enough,” Beau muttered. “Apparently.”

I’d had enough of him. He could blame me for the accident, but he wasn’t going to sit there an accuse me of not caring enough about Paige to protect her. I stood, fisting my hands at my sides. And then my attention was turned from Beau to the doorway, where a doctor in blue scrubs had suddenly appeared.

“Are you Paige Hill’s family?” he asked somberly. “I have news.”

“We’re her family,” I said firmly. “How is Paige?”

Everyone in the waiting room was now on their feet, staring at the doctor. Gillian was clutching Drew’s arm, and he was holding onto her with both hands. Rob and Tima were holding hands, and Beau stared at the doctor with hot intensity. My dad placed a hand on my shoulder, and my mother brushed an invisible speck of dust off her impeccable suit jacket.

“We’ve stabilized her,” he said, and a collective sigh of relief echoed around the room.

I wanted to sink to my knees again, this time out of gratitude, but my father’s hand steadied me.

“She sustained a serious injury to her head,” the doctor continued. “Which was the primary cause for her loss of consciousness. We gave her a coma-inducing drug so that we would have a stable environment in which to work on her head safely. Her wound is closed and bandaged, and her other injuries are workable. She has two broken ribs and a third is badly bruised. She also has a broken ulna, so we’ve put her arm in a cast. Overall, she was very lucky. It was good she was removed from the car as quickly as she was, or she would have lost a lot more blood from her head wound.”

My father squeezed my shoulder at the doctor’s words, but I didn’t hear anything past the fact that Paige was going to be okay.

“Can I see her?” I asked immediately.

The doctor narrowed his eyes. “How are you related to her, again?”

Gillian spoke up. “He’s her boyfriend. I’m her best friend. Paige has no immediate family; she lost her parents in a fire a year ago.”

The doctor furrowed his brow, and then he nodded. “Alright. We are bringing her around to consciousness now, and then you need to give her an hour or so to avoid shocking her system.”

“No,” I said firmly. “No. She’s not waking up in that room alone. I need to go in, now. I promise I’ll sit quietly; I won’t disturb her. I just don’t want her waking up alone.”

I pleaded my last words, and the doctor focused on me intently for a moment. Then he nodded, gesturing for me to follow him back to Paige’s room.

“Tell her we’re here, and we love her,” Gillian requested as I began to follow the doctor.

I reached back to squeeze her hand. “I will.”

I glanced at Beau as I walked away, and the look in his eyes as I left to see Paige was murderous.

Eleven

Paige

I knew immediately I was waking up in another hospital room, and I was instantly filled with limb-numbing panic as the realization turned my stomach. I leaned over the side of the bed, heaving, and cool fingers anxiously brushed my hair back from my forehead. A soft
beep
sounded somewhere in the room, and Clay’s voice murmured beside me.

A nurse rushed into the room with a cool cloth and basin, and I vomited into it. She wiped my mouth and assured me that I was going to be all right. Nimble fingers fiddled around my IV.

“What are you giving me?” I murmured, a raw burn scalding my throat when I spoke.

“Something for the nausea,” she answered. “It should be gone in a minute.”

She retrieved a thermometer from a cabinet next to the bed and inserted it into my mouth. After a minute it dinged and she took it out and read it. She nodded briskly and entered some information into the computer in the corner.

“Welcome back, Paige,” she said kindly.

Then she hustled out again, promising to send my doctor in to check on me.

I stared at the ceiling, blinking away tears as I assessed my body. A heavy cast burdened my right arm, and when I tried to sit up, a searing pain in my chest knocked the breath out of me.

“Baby, don’t do that,” Clay said with alarm. His hand reached out for my face, and he stroked it softly. I slid my eyes over to him, and as he came into focus I breathed a sigh of relief.

“You’re here,” I said, speaking in a whisper this time so as not to irritate my throat again.

“Always,” he said. “How are you feeling?”

I shook my head, indicating that I wasn’t feeling the best. The slight movement invited a wave of dizziness to wash over me once again. He nodded and an aching expression overtook his features.

“I’m so sorry, baby,” he croaked.

Was something wrong with his voice too? He looked to be in so much pain I reached out for his face so that I could take it away. He leaned forward, meeting my hand halfway and allowing me to caress his cheek.

“For what?”

“We were in an accident. Do you remember?”

I focused hard, trying to recall being in an accident. A flash of bright headlights burning my vision just before the car hit the side of Clay’s SUV blazed into my brain, and I gasped.

“Oh, my God,” I said. “That car ran the light and hit us. And then it’s all dark after that.” I looked at him, alarmed. “Are you okay?”

My eyes zeroed in on the reddish-brown stain flowering his shirt and I gasped. “You’re hurt!”

He glanced down at himself and then back up at me. He bent over and kissed my lips gently. “Don’t worry, babe. I’m okay. I mean, I think I hurt my shoulder and maybe a rib or two like you, but that’s it.  I’ve been worried about you. You were unconscious and we didn’t know…it was rough there for awhile.”

His voice was gruff and a little desolate, so I reached for his hand and squeezed it. “I’m fine. But ugh, I’m back in the damn hospital.”

He sighed. “Yeah.”

“I never wanted to see another one of these places.”

“I know,” he commiserated. “They said you only have to stay a couple of days for observation, and that you were really lucky. I’ll stay with you every second, I promise.”

“I’m holding you to that,” I smiled up at him.

Knowing that he would be here with me made the prospect of staying in a hospital again more bearable. Last time, I was alone and I had just lost everything. This time, it was just an accident. Just an accident. I was okay and Clay was okay and everything was going to be fine in a few days.

I noticed that Clay’s left shoulder was slumped, and he was only holding my hand with his right.

“Clay?” I asked, frowning. “What’s wrong with your shoulder?”

He glanced down at it, tried to roll it and gritted his teeth with the attempted movement.  I tried to sit up again at the sight of it and my own chest forced me back into the flat hospital pillows.

“Clay,” I said. “You’re really hurt.”

I pressed the nurse’s CALL button.

“You don’t need to worry about me,” he protested. “I want to focus on getting you better.”

I shook my head firmly. “Nope. We both get better.”

The nurse came bustling in again, and I instructed her to look at Clay.

“I’ll have to take him off to his own exam room,” she said, smiling. “He refused before.”

“Of course he did,” I muttered, glaring at him.

Then my frown transformed into a smile because he wasn’t willing to leave me, even to get himself checked out after a car accident.

“I’m not going anywhere,” he protested, and I shot him a look.

“Yes, you are,” I corrected. “You’re in pain, Clay.  You need to take care of yourself, too. Send Gillian in. I know she’s out there somewhere raising all kinds of hell. She can keep me company while you’re gone.”

He hesitated, and the deliberation was apparent in his eyes.

“What? You’re really that worried about leaving me alone with my best friend for half an hour while you go get yourself fixed up?”

“It’s not that,” he said, scrunching his mouth to one side in contemplation. “I’m trying to decide if I should tell you that Beau is here too, or if I should keep that little tidbit to myself.”

“Oh,” I said, stunned. “He is? Who else is out there?”

“My parents,” he said. “Drew, Rob, Tima. Everyone has been terrified during the hours we’ve been waiting to hear about you.”

“Okay,” I sighed. “Send in Gill first, please. Then go get yourself together.”

He nodded, finally rising from his perch in the chair next to my bed.

“Clay?”

“What, baby?”

“Just tell me if you don’t want me to see Beau.” I nibbled my bottom lip as I stared up at him. He’d been waiting in agony for hours for me to wake up from the accident. He’d waited for me for over a month while I hid from him in another town, thinking he’d done something he’d never even thought about doing. I wasn’t willing to make him wait in pain anymore than I already had. Even if it meant not seeing my friend tonight.

He gazed down at me, a torn expression in his eyes as he stared into mine. Then he ran a hand over his hair and sighed heavily.

“He’s been waiting,” he said finally, rubbing the shadow that had begun to grow on his chin. “It wouldn’t be right for me to keep him from seeing you. I’m sure he drove all the way from Haygood when Gill called him about the accident. And I’m sure he’s as much of a wreck as I’ve been. So, no, I don’t want to keep him away. But later, when you’re feeling better and we’re at home…we’re going to have a discussion about him. Okay?”

“Okay, I agreed softly. “I love you Clay. With my whole heart, every little piece of it.”

He bent down to brush his lips against my forehead, my nose, and finally my lips. “I love you too, Paige. And I don’t even have my heart anymore. You own it.”

He followed the nurse out the door, and a few minutes later Gillian burst into the room.

“Listen up, chick,” she started, jabbing a darkly polished fingernail at me. “If this is how the rest our lives are going to be…you giving me one gigantic heart attack after another, you can just forget it! I can’t take this drama!”

“Gill,” I said tearfully. “I’m so happy to see you!”

She ran over to the bed and climbed right in with me, hugging me as gently as she could.

“I know about your ribs,” she whispered against my hair. “That’s why I’m not squeezing the life out of you. But oh my God, I was worried.”

A soft knock sounded on the door. Gillian and I both looked up. She smiled wryly.

“I made him give me a five minute head start,” she pouted. “I guess time’s up.”

The door opened slowly, and then Beau was stepping into the room, shutting it softly behind him. He stood by the door for a full minute, just looking at me.

“Well,” he said finally. “When I left you earlier tonight, I didn’t know I was just gonna have to come running right back here. You planning on making this a habit? If so, I’ll just get me an apartment in Rutherford.”

I laughed, and then winced at the strain it put on my throat and my ribs. “Ow.”

He frowned and came over to take Clay’s chair next to the bed. “I hate seeing you in pain. What can I do?”

I shook my head sadly. “Nothing. I guess I’ll just have to heal. Am I the most unlucky person in the world, or does God just hate me?”

They both scowled at me.

“Neither,” Beau said, reaching out to touch the bandage occupying a large amount of real estate on my forehead. “He just knows you’re strong enough to take it.”

“But enough, already!” Gillian shouted, looking toward the ceiling.

“Seriously though, girl,” Beau said, moving his hand down to my chin and taking it in his hand firmly. “I’m so glad to see your beautiful face it almost hurts. You okay?”

“I’ll be okay eventually,” I said. “Thanks for coming, Beau.”

“Wouldn’t be anywhere else,” he answered. I thought the frown lines marring his handsome face were a shame.

Gillian looked between us like she was watching an especially riveting movie. Then she said, “I have to admit something, Paige. This whole thing is just too weird. I’m calling foul.”

“What do you mean?” I asked her, yawning.

“I mean that you really
can’t
be this unlucky. Something doesn’t smell right. I’m not blaming Clay for this, like
at all
, but he does seem to be a common denominator here. Really? A car just smashes into you guys at a red light? In Rutherford, for heaven’s sakes? First Hannah, and now this. It doesn’t feel right.”

Beau’s frown deepened with every word Gillian spoke.

“You’re saying you think someone did this to them on purpose?” His voice was deadly calm, and each word was laced with simmering anger.

It reminded me of an incident in high school, where some guy had cornered me in front of a tree at a bonfire and demanded my intimate attention. Everyone knew Beau and I were together, and no one from our school would have had the nerve to mess with me. But the guy was drunk, and he attended the rival high school. Beau had let loose a hailstorm of fury upon him when he’d gotten to us, and I’d never seen the guy again. That was just Beau; he was fiercely protective of his own. And when he decided that something or someone he loved needed his guard, he was like a Doberman behind a fence, stalking the perimeter in watchful sentry.

“I think we need to get everyone together to talk about it. And by everyone, I mean you, Drew, me, Paige, Clay, Tima, and Rob. And then maybe Clay can share what he wants with his parents and his lawyer later. I’m calling a team meeting.”

I yawned again. “What team?”

“Team Keep Paige Alive.”

Clay

“Clay! You didn’t have to make Rob carry me! I can walk.”

Paige’s voice bordered on annoyed as she glared at me over Rob’s shoulder.

“You can walk to your bed when you get inside,” I said. “My only concern is you and your welfare. I’m only pissed I couldn’t carry you myself.”

Rob looked pointedly at my arm, which was stuck in a heavy white sling. “With that thing? You’d both have gone down in a heap on the sidewalk.”

I growled.  He laughed.

Gillian flung the door open as we made it to the step, and Rob carried Paige inside. He laid her on the couch gently, and then brushed off his hands.

“My work here is done,” he announced.

“Not so fast,” Gillian snapped. “We’re having a meeting, remember?” She bent down to kiss Paige’s cheek. “Welcome home, roomie! I’m making steaks for dinner.”

Paige grinned. “My favorite? How sweet! I knew I was keeping you around for a reason.”

“Oh, that’s not the only reason,” answered Gill with a snide grin. “Your closet thanks me.”

I sat next to Paige, placing her legs on top of mine and squeezing them with my good hand. She wiggled happily under the soothing pressure my fingers created.

“Who’s coming to this meeting?” I asked Gillian suspiciously.

I hadn’t been alone with Paige nearly enough since she’d been back from Haygood. We’d had one night together. The date I’d planned had been obviously ruined by our car wreck. Rob had been driving me to and from the hospital for the past three days, and had taken me to pick up Paige. My dad had promised me that a new car was on the way. I felt strange about accepting it now that I was close to graduation and being self-sufficient. But I had to have a car to get around. So I let him buy it. I was trying to think of it as a graduation gift, even though I knew something else for the purpose would come along soon enough.

Paige had to stay in the hospital for three days, and I spent every night there with her. Now that she was home, I was chomping at the bit to have time for just the two of us. It wasn’t just about the sex. Although that aspect of our relationship was mind-blowing and on another level of perfect. I’d been with a lot of girls before Paige. I was actually ashamed at the amount. But I hadn’t been in love with a single one of them. And actually making love to this woman was something completely new and totally addictive.