Give Me Grace (28 page)

“Casey?” she called out, her voice thready and weak.

“Yeah?”

It sounded like she was trying to laugh. It came out more like a strangled cough instead, but the sound was sweet, because she might’ve been scared, but she was strong, she was
dealing
, and I was fucking proud of her. “I believe you.”

“Good,” I replied and blinked, seeing two of the medic
s when he reached in and unclipped my seat belt. “I’m not leaving,” I told him. My voice came out slurred and suddenly keeping my eyes open became too damn hard.

Grace’s hand slipped from mine.

“Grace?”

I fought to remain conscious, my heart pounding so hard in my chest it hurt.

“Don’t leave me, Slim, please,” I begged hoarsely.

The
paramedic reached across in front of me and grabbed her wrist, feeling for a pulse. “Fuck,” he muttered. He pulled back out of the car and spun around. “You need to hurry up with that door and get her out!” he yelled at Liam. “You.” He pointed to another fireman. “With me. I want you to …”

I tried hard to hold on, so damn hard, but the blackness won and my eyes closed.

I came to inside the ambulance. The rocking motion told me we were already en route to the hospital. My eyes opened. A male paramedic who looked a lot like Travis hovered above me—same build and blond hair, except tattooed sleeves covered both arms. My shirt had been cut down the middle and his dark brown eyes were focused on my chest where he was checking my vitals. The guy was well-trained, performing the task efficiently, his hands and body remaining steady as the vehicle swayed through night time traffic.

I closed my eyes, my breathing erratic when I remembered the grinding, screaming crunch of impact. It was no less horrific than the feel of Grace’s hand slipping from mine.

“Grace,” was all I could choke out. The raspy sound was barely audible. I yanked the oxygen mask down, letting it rest around my neck. The paramedic met my eyes with drawn brows. “Grace,” I whispered again, willing him to understand.

“Grace?”

“My wife,” I lied, knowing it would get me answers otherwise reserved for family members. “In … the car.”

He shook his head. “I don’t know. I’m sorry. They were cutting her out when we left.”

I turned my head and breathed, fighting the urge to puke.

“You gonna be sick?”

A loud groan echoed through the ambulance and I realised it was me. I drew another deep, rasping breath.

Pull it
together, Casey.

“No.” I swallowed and turned my head back. “
I’m fine.”

“Good.” He reached over and lifted the oxygen mask back over my face. My breathing
eased instantly. “Keep this on.”

I yanked it back down with a glare. “I said I wasn’t
… leaving her,” I gasped out. “Take me back.”

“
No can do.”

“Take. Me. Back.” Grabbing hold of either side of the stretcher, I struggled to sit up, hissing when my vision greyed, sharp pain stabbing at me from every direction.

The paramedic put a gloved hand on my chest to stop me from moving. “No.” My eyes cut to his, blinking to gain focus. His expression was that of a man quickly losing patience. “I can do one of two things. I can find out your wife’s status when we arrive, or I can strap you to this stretcher and sedate you. I’m really hoping you’ll pick option two because it’s been a long damn day and they don’t pay me anywhere near enough to deal with people like you.” He fixed me with a firm glare. “What’s it gonna be?”

Knowing he had th
e upper hand, I exhaled through the pain and lay back down.

“Not quite the answer I was hoping for,” the
paramedic muttered wryly, indicating he was all for sedation, “but you can’t win everything, right?”

I glanced at the guy’s nametag. Luke Fox. “What do you know about winning?”

“Everything,” Luke answered while he worked. “I don’t like to lose. That means I’m damn good at my job.”

If Luke was so damn good, he should’ve been the one attending to Grace rather than to me
, and I told him so. He shook his head and assured me the paramedic with Grace was the best there was. “Better than me,” he added, then muttered under his breath, “not that I’d ever tell him that.”

“How do you know?”

“Because the guy’s my brother and he’s even more of a stubborn asshole than I am.” Luke placed both hands on me and began palpating my abdomen. “Let me know if anywhere hurts,” I was instructed.

I sucked in a sharp breath
and glared. “It all hurts.”

Luke’s brows drew together. “Do I know you? You look familiar.”

“Is that a pickup line? Because I don’t do dudes.”

He
grinned. “Well you’re safe with me. I don’t do them either.”

“Good to know,” I muttered.

“Your next of kin’s listed as Travis Valentine. That’s not Mac’s big brother, is it?”

“Yeah it is. You know Mac?”

Luke shook his head while his hands manipulated my torso, his grin widening. “I’m an old friend of Mac’s from high school.”

“Old friend
, huh?”

“Yeah. We know each other. Though not as well as I’d like.”

“And you plan on rectifying that?” I asked, thinking Jake would be mighty interested in Luke’s answer.

Luke shrugged. “I don’t know. I
kinda like my balls attached, you know?” I could only agree. It would take a helluva man to take on Mac and her brothers and come out the other side with all body parts intact. Luke shifted his hands and ran them slowly down my right leg, asking, “You on any medications?”

“No.”

Done, he did the same to my left leg. “Allergies?”

“No.”

He began checking my blood pressure. “When did you last eat?”

“Lunch,” I muttered. “Midday.”

When he was done with the examination, he wrote a quick note down on the chart to his left, speaking as he scribbled. “You’re responsive and your speech is fine, but you have a concussion, minor lacerations, and your vital signs are unstable, meaning your pulse is fast, your breathing rapid, and your blood pressure too low.” He put the chart back and looked at me. “You’re lucky it’s not worse.”

“Lucky, huh?” I let that one go and when the ambulance slowed to a crawl, said, “You can just let me out here.”

His brows rose. “Or I can just do that sedation thing.”

“Is that how
The Dummies’ Guide to Being a Paramedic
teaches you to treat a concussion?”

“You’re a funny guy. I don’t like funny guys.” The ambulance picked up speed again. “I should just open the back doors and roll you out into oncoming traffic. Finish the job someone started earlier.”

“Your bedside manner sucks.”

“Thanks,” he replied.

The ambulance came to a stop moments later. Luke ripped off his latex gloves and tossed them in a container to his right as the back doors swung open. Leaping out, he and another paramedic wheeled the stretcher into the path of an oncoming nurse. Luke ran through my vitals quickly while she assessed me, pausing on my chest as she listened to him speak.

I sat up on the stretcher. The effort dragged
a groan from my chest. Both Luke and the nurse pushed me back down.

“Stop,” I ordered, shoving their hands away.

I sat back up again, ripped off the oxygen mask from where it rested around my neck, and tossed it on the stretcher.

“Casey!”

Everyone turned in the direction of the shout. Travis was jogging towards me, Quinn close behind. They’d been at his parents for dinner tonight with Sam, which was closer to the hospital than their place. It explained how they arrived here at the same time I did.

“I’m fine,” I said quickly.

He nodded his response but scanned over me regardless before returning to my face. Noticing the man beside me, he lifted his chin, saying, “Luke. Been a long time. Almost didn’t recognise you. I’d say it’s good to see you but …”

“Yeah, mate. I get that a lot.”

They shook hands briefly, Travis asking, “You were on scene?”

“Yeah
.”

“Good.
Wanna stop in after your shift? Might have a few questions.”

Luke nodded. “Sure.”

Travis turned back to me, his brows drawn. “They wouldn’t tell me who the girl was in the car with you.”

“Grace.”

He blanched, the golden hue of his skin paling rapidly. “What was Grace—”

I interrupted him. “Long story
.”

Quinn took my hand, wrapping it in both of hers. The gesture was meant to be soothing
, but it wasn’t working. I was too wound up, too fixed on Grace. “Is she okay?”

“She took most of the impact,” I told them because that was all I knew. “The other car fled the scene.”

Travis cursed sharp and loud while Quinn covered her mouth, visibly upset. He grabbed Quinn by the back of her neck and pulled her close, wrapping her in his arms.

“Travis.” His eyes cut to mine. “I don’t have a good feeling about this.”

He was silent for a moment, absorbing the words. “Where is she?”

“
I don’t know. I don’t even know if they’re bringing her here. Last I remember they were cutting her from the car.”

“I’ll fin
d out,” he told me.

“
We’ll
find out,” I corrected. I ripped the IV from my arm carelessly. Blood began seeping from the wound I created. I pressed down on the torn skin with my hand and got to my feet, fighting back dizziness and protests from the surrounding medical staff.

“Stubborn sonofabitch,” Luke
grunted. He grabbed my forearm and slapped a bandage strip on my inside elbow. Done, he fixed his eyes on mine. “Grace is en route.”

“Here?”

“Here,” Luke confirmed.

“She
okay?”

“She’s breathing.”

I closed my eyes for a brief moment and felt myself sway. I quickly opened them.

“We need to get you inside. Get back on the stretcher,” Luke ordered.

“Not until Grace arrives,” I replied and turned to Travis. “We need to ring Henry.”

“I’ll do it.”
Travis yanked his phone from his back pocket, dialled and held it to his ear. “He’s gonna lose it,” he said as he waited for Henry to answer.

I held out my
hand, knowing the call needed to come from me. “Give me the phone.”

He handed it over wordlessly. I put the phone to my ear, my eyes on Travis as I listened to it ring.
It wasn’t just Henry that would lose it. They all would. Not just because Grace was Henry’s sister, but because Grace had become family. One of their own. And when one of them hurt, they all hurt.

“Travis!” Henry shouted in my ear. The steady thump of music in the background and rowdy laughter told me they were still at the bar.

“It’s Casey,” I corrected.

“Casey?” he shouted. There was a pause, and then, “Where the hell are you and Grace? What’s going on?”

“I’m at the Prince Alfred. Grace has been in an accident.”

“Fuck!”
Henry spoke to someone as the music in the background began to fade. He was already on the move. Then he came back on the phone. “Is she okay? What happened?”

“My car was
T-boned at an intersection. They’re bringing her in now by ambulance.”

“I don’t understand. Weren’t you with her?”

Luke’s radio crackled and within seconds, he and his partner were folding the stretcher back in the van, getting ready to head back out. “I was. We were both in the car. They brought me in first.”

“
You sonofabitch!” he exploded. “You left her there? How could you do that? I told you she’d get caught up in all your bullshit and end up getting hurt.” I swallowed the lump in my throat and turned for the hospital’s emergency entrance. The bright lights and sudden movement made my head spin. “Were you drunk driving?”

“Henry, you know me better than that,” I replied, not bothering to correct his assumption about me being behind the wheel. Emotions were running hot. Explaining anything right now would be pointless.

“Yeah? Well it turns out I don’t know you like I thought I did.”

“I’m sorry,” I
replied. When the world tilted, I stumbled to my knees. Travis was at my side in an instant, his hand on my bicep to help me up. “I’m fine,” I bit out and shrugged him off. “Henry, I—”

“Save it,” he growled. “We’ll be there soon.”

Henry hung up.

Travis knelt in front of me. I handed him back the phone.

“Travis,” I began. I wanted to explain how much Grace meant to me, but I didn’t know how without sounding like some girly Hallmark card. “This is so fucked up. I didn’t mean for this to happen, but Grace is … She’s…”

Travis shook his head. “You don’t ne
ed to explain, Casey.” He took hold of my shoulders and looked at me. The effect of both actions steadied me. “You think I haven’t seen the way you look at her? Or the way she looks at you? Jesus, Casey. It doesn’t matter if you’ve known her ten years or ten minutes. There’s something there and it makes my heart fucking sing to see it.” The sound of approaching sirens cut through the night and my control wavered. It was Grace. It had to be.