Southern Admirer (Southern Loving Book 2) (25 page)

“Please let me go,” she screamed above the noise
of the engine. She hit the truck repeatedly to no avail.

Think Jasmine.
She closed her eyes and thought about her
father. When she was leaving for college, he made her go through all these
scenarios. If you ever find yourself back in the trunk of a car.

She could hear her father’s baritone voice in her
ears.

“Get in the back of the trunk,” her father said.

“Dad really, I don’t need to know this,” Jasmine said,
beginning to walk away from him

“Get your ass back here and get into the trunk,”
Reginald St. Clair said with more boom in his voice. It wasn’t asking her, he
was telling her.

Begrudgingly she got into the truck as her father
closed the lid. “It’s dark in here,” she whined.

“Listen here Jasmine the first few minutes will
save your life,” her father said, ignoring her. “Kick out the back tail lights
and stick your arm out the hole and start waving like crazy.

“Dad, think about the cost of the damages,”
Jasmine said.

“I don’t care about something that can be replaced
but you can’t, now show me you can do it,” her father instructed.

Jasmine did as her father taught her many years
ago. She punched out the first taillight and then the second with her fist. She
knew by the pain traveling up she shoulders she’d fractured her hand. Moaning
in pain, she peered out the window; by the way of things that were passing she
could tell they were still on the ranch.

Gunfire broke out causing the car to swerve. She
screamed when she felt the car propel into another automobile. She hit her head
hard on something and everything went dark.

***

Shane pulled his car to the side where the other
car had flipped three times before landing in a ditch. Workers from the nearby
construction site ran to assist in the wreckage. His heart was pounding as he
screamed Jasmine’s name over and over again. He checked the car and saw the
suspect gurgling blood. He checked the back seat and there was no sign of
Jasmine.

“Pop open the trunk,” he shouted to no one in
particular.

He cried as he pulled her bloody, bruised body
from the trunk of the car. “Call and ask for an air ambulance.”

Laying her down in a grassy area. “Baby,” he said
softly putting pressure on a deep cut on her leg.

Her eyes opened slowly and looking up at the sky
until they rested on his face. “Shane.” Her voice barely audible.
“Are…you…okay?”

He laughed and nodded his head. “You’re going to
be the death of me.”

Her lips tugged in the corner. But then she was
overcome with violent coughs. Once they subsided she tried to talk again.
“Where is Shay?” Her eyes began to close.

“Jasmine! Stay with me baby, keep looking at me,”
he yelled over the sound of Trauma One landing in the field.

Her eyes opened a tiny bit more and they searched
for Shane. “Shane…” she moaned.

“Listen to me, baby, you’re going to be fine,” he
said repeatedly to her as the paramedics rushed over to them before her eyes
closed again.

***

Four Days Later

Beep.

Beep.

Beep.

What was that noise? Jasmine woke up in the midst
of a coughing fit. She adjusted to the bright light slipping in between the
white blinds. She could feel the IV that was impaled in her arm, turning her
head she stared at fluid dripping in the small clear tube. She was in the
hospital. But how?

Then it all came crashing back to her. She was
able to recall a few things. Gil Novik was her stalker. Being nearly strangled
to death and trapped in the trunk of a car.

“Baby, you’re awake,” a voice crooned softly.

She tried to turn her head to the sound of that
sensual southern voice she loved so much. The searing pain that shot from her
fingers to her shoulder caused her to yelp.

Within a second Shane was at her side, in her line
of vision. He appeared restless with dark circles under his eyes and stubble on
his chin.

“Where is Shay?” she asked.

“Baby, she is staying with Farrah and Austin and
my mother along with yours are fussing over our little princess,” he laughed
kissing her on the lips. “Don’t try to move, your wrist is fractured along with
your collarbone.”

Jasmine just stared at him. “You look like shit.”

Shane let out a nervous laughter. “Well, thank you
darling.”

“I’m serious.” She touched the side of his hand.
“You should go home.”

“Sorry, can’t do that kiddo.” He tussled her hair
and pressed the call button. “You’re stuck with me.”

Jasmine could feel a panic rising in her chest.
“Where is he?”

“Dead,” Shane replied, not wanting to talk about
it any further. He pressed the call button repeatedly.

Jasmine nodded her head. He wasn’t able to hurt
her again. Jasmine pressed her lips together; she reached out to grab his hand.
“I’m fine.”

“Jazz.” He pushed the hair back off her forehead.
“Your body is bruised, you have nine stitches, and a fractured vertebrate.”

She looked up at the ceiling as Shane told her
about the extent of her injuries. “But I’m alive and I get to be here with you
and our daughter.”

“Those doctors are going to come in here and tell you
that…that you will have to learn to walk again and I have faith in that.”

Jasmine could see that Shane was trying to keep
his composure. “I’m okay.” She squeezed his hand.

“I know, but I would still love you the same.” He
kissed her.

“Hey, I’m supposed to be the one falling apart,”
she teased, reaching up and wiping his tears from his face. “I love you.”

“I love you more.”

“Lay with me, please.”

“Anything for you,” Shane said, looking in her
eyes, trying not to stare at her battered, cut and bruised face. Gingerly he
laid next to her making sure not to hurt her.

They laid there listening to each other breathing.

 “Have you been home?” she asked.

“When I could.” Shane planted a kiss on her cheek.
“You been out of it for a few days, our families kept my seat when I went
home.”

The door opened to the room and a tall,
middle-aged man walked into the room carrying a clipboard. “Hello, Ms. St.
Clair,” he said, standing at the foot of her bed.

Shane stood up quickly and greeted the doctor with
a handshake. “She already knows about the fractured vertebrate.”

“Jasmine, you were in a car accident. You broke
your pelvis, ribs and fractured your wrist,” he said grimly. “I’m optimist that
you will make a full recovery with intensive physical therapy, you should be
walking around in no time.”

She laid on her back listening the information the
doctor was laying on her as Shane watched her like a hawk for any sign of
discomfort. “When do I leave?” she asked the doctor.

“You’re going to need full-time care,” Dr. Daniels
said.

“It’s taken care of,” Shane said quickly, he stood
there at her bedside holding her hand.

“Let’s play it by ear,” he said, before his beeper
buzzed. “I’ll check on you before I leave.”

“I can’t allow you to take care of me,” Jasmine said
when the doctor left out the room. “I don’t want to be a burden.”

Kneeling down so his eyes looked directly in her,
he intertwined their fingers together. “Jasmine Bly St. Clair you could never
be a burden.” He pressed his forehead against hers. “A relationship is about
give and take.”

“I’m in pain,” she grimaced.

“I’ll get a nurse.” He squeezed her hand before
going to find a nurse.

Jasmine didn’t want Shane to have to deal with her
baggage of learning to walk again. He cared for Sarah when she was sick. Then
there was a fear creeping in the back of her head that it would be too much for
him to bear and eventually Shane would run for the hills.

“What are you thinking about?” Shane asked, paying
attention to her carefully.

“I can’t allow you to take care of me,” she said.
“You should leave now…I’m giving you an out.”

Shane sat down on the side of the bed. “Why would
I want an out of this relationship?”

“Because…because…you shouldn’t have to deal with
this,” she stammered over her words.

“Jazz, I love you. I accept you exactly for the
way you are right here at this moment. What is love without conflict? Love is
about wanting and working to over situations together.”

“Just like now,” she sighed.

“Yes! You don’t leave when something goes wrong.
It’s about being there for the good and the bad. We will work through this
together,” he replied.

Jasmine felt like an idiot. In all her previously
puppy love relationships her significant others would leave when the going got
tough. When she graduated from college, her boyfriend of a year left her when
she broke her leg. The idea of having someone wanting to hang around and to
help her was surprisingly uplifting. It also showed her that she didn’t have a
real idea of what a meaningful relationship was all about.

“I’m ready for this rocky road ahead,” she said.

He put his hand in front of her. “We’re in this
together,” he said.

She hesitantly placed her hand onto his.
“Together.”

“I think we should say team McBride on the count
of three.”

“She is not a McBride,” someone spat from the
doorway.

They both told around to the sound of Benjamin's
voice standing in the threshold of the room holding a bouquet of daisies.

 “She can be,” Shane replied, giving Jasmine
a wink.

Benjamin mumbled something under his breath, as he
walked over to Jasmine and gave her a kiss on the cheek. “Yeah, over my dead
body,” he said, lifting his head up looking Shane dead in the eyes. “But it
could be over your dead body.”

“What happened to letting bygones be bygones?”
Jasmine said quickly, hoping to de-escalate the situation between the two men.
Neither one of them were backing down. “Where is that nurse with that pain
medicine?”

Both Benjamin and Shane nearly pushed each other
down as they scrambled to the door to request pain medicine for Jasmine. “I got
it,” Shane said, leaving Jasmine and her brother alone.

“This is awkward.” She self-consciously ran her
finger through her unkempt her. “You are my brother and I love you.”

“I love you too.”

She snorted, covering her face. “It’s funny how
you don’t want another man to hurt me, but it’s okay for you to.” She uncovered
her face and looked at him. “When you brought Stacy home I didn’t like her, I
thought you were too good for her but I respected your choices.”

“It’s not that simple! He is my best friend!”
Benjamin shouted, causing Jasmine to flinch.

She tried really hard to choose her next words
carefully. “Then it should be easy…Shane is someone you know and respect. And
don’t give me that bullshit it’s about race.”

“Stop working yourself up,” he said, watching the
erratic beat of her heart beep.

“Really, everyone in this fucking great family
think they know what I need in my life.” Her voice rose. She was irritated now.
“After twenty-five years you don’t know how I am…I have been a good sister.”

“Then…why him?”

“Because I love him!” she screamed at him. “I
tried to put my heart aside, and attempted to use my head to figure out why I’m
in love with him.”

“Why?”

“Do you remember what you told me about a good man?”
she asked softly. “You told me to watch how a man interacts with others. Shane
is a man who cares, that’s why I fell in love with him those many years ago.”

“I didn’t say it for you to fuck my best friend
and partner.”

Benjamin words were like a slap in the face.
Jasmine knew whatever she said to her elder brother he wouldn’t understand her
or the love she had for Shane. “I choose to love him. I choose to fall
carelessly in love with him to build this life with him. I’ve chosen a man who
sees me beautiful at my worst.”

“I didn’t come to argue with my sister who is in a
hospital bed.” Benjamin ran his hand down his face.

“No, you just came here to tell me you think I can
do better,” she spat.

“Jazzy, calm down.”

“I just can’t do this anymore,” she muttered,
trying to her hide grimace. “I’m not going to waste precious emotional and
physical time on this behavior. What happened to you guys wanting a caring and
supportive man for me?”

“Just not him,” Benjamin replied.

“Same way as Stacy wasn’t for you.”

Benjamin started to say something only to close
his mouth. All he could do was sigh. “Don’t start.”