“He needs to know, Hope. The longer you wait, the angrier he’ll be.”
“Are you mad at me?” I shake my head in confusion because Luca didn’t want me to have anything to do with Reed last week.
“No.” He pauses. “I just don’t think it’s fair that either of you gets emotionally invested if this could be the thing to break you up.”
Great. Now I’m nervous again. “You’re right.” I mumble the words as I stop at a red light, trying to brush the tears out of my eyes with my sleeve. “I never should have spoken to him.”
“Hopeless, dammit, that’s not what I meant.”
“But it’s true. Why would he want me with another couple's baby anyways?” The sound of horns blaring catches my attention just in time to glance to the right as an uncontrollable car comes speeding my way. “Luca!” I scream at the impact.
Glass shatters.
Pain explodes in my skull as it hits the window.
“Hope!” I can hear my brother holler through a distance. “Hopeless, talk to me!”
“The baby, Luca.” I whisper the words as my eyes grow heavy. A thick fog is taking over my brain as I hear voices asking if I’m alright and telling me not to move. “Luca…”
“I’m calling, Reed,” he says, and I can hear him speaking frantically, but nothing is registering except agony.
My head, my arm, hip.
The baby.
She’s all I can think about as I hear sirens growing closer.
“Reed’s on his way, kid. I’ll meet you at the hospital.” Luca sounds…scared? “Hope, you still with me?”
My eyelids lift enough for me to glimpse the carnage of my once new SUV and the grill of a car embedded in the passenger side.
“The baby,” I whisper again.
“She’ll be fine, kid. So will you.” He doesn’t sound very sure.
When I feel fingers probing at my head, I scream from the pain. “Whoa, ma’am, my name is Torque Decker, I’m a fireman. Just trying to assess you for when the paramedics arrive. Can you tell me your name?”
When I attempt to look at him, there are two heads. “Did you know you have two heads?” He chuckles, and his smile is cute.
“Your name, darlin’.”
“The baby,” I murmur. My fear ramps up as a crowd begins to form. “You have to save her.”
“Where is she?” He begins to look in the back seat when I shake my head, trying to tell him.
“Luca?” I call my brother’s name.
“She’s pregnant,” Luca replies through the speaker.
“Gotcha. Let’s just put this on you.” Torque wraps a collar around my neck. “Gonna need your name.”
“Hope,” I sigh out as tears slide down my cheeks.
“Hope.” He grins again. “It suits you. Got anyone you need me to call, Hope?”
“Luca already did,” I mumble, my eyelids growing heavy again.
“Ah, ah, ah, no going to sleep on me now. We’re just getting acquainted.”
“Okay.”
“Who’s Luca, Hope?” Torque asks, and I hear my brother answer him, but he asks me again.
“My brother.” My words feel heavy.
“Paramedics are here now… Open your eyes.” I blink once, try for twice, but I just can’t make it happen.
I can hear the horrible screeching of my door being opened, and I feel myself getting moved, but I’m too tired to talk or open my eyes.
“Pretty girl.” Reed. He’s here. “Come on, Hope, open those beautiful eyes for me.” I try a little harder to do as he asks. I’d do almost anything for Reed.
“There’s my girl.” I feel him kiss my hand as he, Torque, and a paramedic gaze down at me from above. “We’re going to the hospital now, okay. They’re going to take good care of you.”
“Don’t leave me,” I mouth because my voice has disappeared for some reason, and Reed smiles at me.
“I’m meeting you there. Torque is going to ride with you in the meantime, okay?” I see something in his eyes; they’re darker than usual. And his face is tight.
Anger.
“Are you mad at me?” I ask as they begin to load the stretcher I’m on into the back of the ambulance.
Gripping the cushion so I don't move, Reed leans down to place a soft kiss on my lips. “Never mad at you, pretty girl. Never. I’ll see you soon.” I nod at his words and watch him until the doors of the ambulance close.
“You’re going to be just fine.” Torque smiles down at me, and I reach for his hand. I need something to hold onto because I know Reed is going to learn about the baby now, and not in the way I was going to tell him tonight.
Reed
I’m just pulling out of the mall when my phone rings. Seeing Luca’s name flash on the screen, I answer immediately.
“Hey, I’m just leaving lunch with your sister.”
“She’s been in an accident.” My heart has never ceased to beat before.
“Where?” I pull into traffic, heading the way she would have to get home, and as Luca talks, not sure where she is, I see it. “Fuck,” I hiss. I have to park three blocks away because firetrucks have cordoned off the intersection. “I’ll call you back once I know anything,” I tell him amidst his cursing.
Running to the scene, I flash my badge to the firemen, and they let me through, all the while texting Colby to get his ass down here.
“What the fuck happened?” I bark at the fire captain, directing his men.
“From witness reports, the car plowed right into the SUV where she was stopped for a red light. We're waiting on the patrolmen to get here to do a breathalyzer because the vehicle smells like alcohol.” His words only fuel my anger.
Reaching the drunk driver who's being supervised by a fireman, I command, “Stand up. Hands behind your back.” The man wobbles as he does what I say. Cuffing him, I order, “Sit. Don’t move.” He falls to the ground. “Officers will be here soon; he doesn’t go anywhere. Speaks to no one.”
“Got it,” the fireman says, and I rush to Hope’s car, where they’ve pulled her out and now have her strapped to a stretcher, encouraging her to open her eyes.
“Pretty girl,” I murmur, gripping her hand. “Come on, open those beautiful eyes for me.” I watch with bated breath as she struggles to get her body to cooperate. “There’s my pretty girl.” Her eyes are glassy and unfocused. Pain radiates off of her.
After getting her settled and in the back of the ambulance, I take a deep breath and turn to look at the scene laid out behind me.
Glass fragments and bent and broken aluminum pieces everywhere; parts are scattered around the vehicles. And the more I stare, the angrier I become.
“Reed!” I see Colby over by the driver who hit Hope, and I know if I go over there, after just seeing her, I won’t be able to contain my rage, so I tighten my fists. He nods and leaves the man with the two officers as they conduct their intoxication testing.
“How is she?” he asks.
“I have no fucking clue. Likely a concussion for sure. Nothing looked broken, but fuck.”