by Jayne Rylon
She nodded, with the pathetic amount of affirmation she could muster in opposition to the millions of inner voices shouting nothing would ever be all right again.
“Good night, Dave,” she whispered, craning her neck to keep his window, or one as near as she could guess, in sight as long as possible.
Devon and James occupied the front seats. The four passengers kept quiet the entire drive to her friends’ house. No one uttered a peep. Not even when they pulled in the driveway and shut off the engine. It seemed to her they all took a breath in unison, then sat, trying to muster the energy to move. Kayla might have thought she was asleep except her eyes were open and her body was quasi-responsive to her commands, if a bit sluggish and delayed. She reached for the door handle when James took action first, leaving the vehicle.
It was his turn to scoop her into his arms, surprising her as always with his deceptive strength. Though she was far from Devon’s petite build, he had zero trouble subduing her token protest and toting her up to their bedroom in no time flat.
While he held her, Devon and Neil stripped out of their work clothes.
“Do you want a shower?” James paused as they neared the bathroom.
“No. Just a warm, soft bed, please.” She hurt all over. Tension locked her muscles stiff enough to give the Tin Man a run for his money. Hours of gritting her teeth, endless bouts of crying and the uncomfortable furniture at the hospital hadn’t helped either.
“That can be arranged.” Neil smiled. Devon ran her fingers along Kayla’s shoulders as she and Neil headed for the adjoining space. “We’ll be back lickety-split. We were dry-walling earlier, gotta get this dust off before mussing up James’s fancy sheets or he’ll spank us.”
Kayla nodded, though she only listened to half of what they said.
“Damn.” James let her legs down gently. “You’re done in. Can you stand just a minute? This will go quicker if you do. I know how much you hate clothes. These have to be bugging the shit out of you after all this time.”
She wobbled but stayed upright when he released her torso and reached for the hem of her sweater.
“Lift up, honey.” He nudged her into the position required to slip her shirt over her head. Before she knew it, he’d knelt at her feet to unbutton her jeans and peel them off too. From there he probably had a great perspective on her bare essentials. She couldn’t stand binding herself with underwear in addition to the rest of the garments. Unlike any other day, he didn’t comment on her nudity. “There you go. Better?”
“Much.” She heaved a huge sigh of relief before scratching at the dent left by the button on her jeans. When she did, something funny twinged in her shoulder. A wince tugged the corners of her mouth further south.
“Sore?” James focused on her with unflinching intensity.
“Hell, yes.” She had to lie down or fall. Reaching out with one hand, she searched for the bed behind her.
James put his arm around her waist, then guided her to the lush duvet. “Roll over onto your front. I’m nowhere near as good as you, but I’ll try to work out some of the knots.”
“Mmph,” was all she could muster. He impressed her by running his hands lightly across the surface of her skin, averaging their temperatures and assessing the greatest areas of tension to target. Maybe he had been paying attention when she’d given him lessons. Usually he practiced on Neil or Devon, which led to a lot of fooling around and not so much serious massage technique acquisition. Or so she’d thought.
The pressure of his fingers increased as he threw a thigh over her torso. Heat and softness assured her that he’d joined her in the clothes-free club for the evening. Kayla closed her eyes and took a deep breath, let it out then drew another.
“That’s right.” He crooned to her as he alternated caresses with real rubbing on either side of her spine. “You’re here with us, safe. We’ve got your back, Kayla. No matter how long or hard this journey is, we’ll be with you both.”
The gentle rush of water in the shower cut off. Kay drifted. Sometime after, probably not too long, the bed shifted and more hands joined James’s. Damp fingers traced the caricature of Dave she’d added to her back piece as a wedding gift to the man who’d already indelibly marked her soul.
A keening whimper ripped from her throat.
“It’s okay,” Devon whispered in her ear. “We have you. We love you. Go ahead and cry if you want.”
“Don’t. Want.” But still she couldn’t seem to halt the steady stream of agony driving moisture from her eyes and sobs from her lugs.
Six hands roamed her body, petting her, soothing her, untangling her. Someone concentrated on her back and ass while the others paid attention to her arms starting at the top and progressing to her fingers. When they’d turned her mostly to jelly they began again, this time on her legs.
The more her body deflated, the easier the agony tore free of her. It poured out all over the soaking pillowcase like an infection draining from her core. Without them, it would have festered, eating her alive from inside.
Instead, one of her friends focused on her neck and scalp while the others erased the debilitating tautness from her thighs, knees and calves. By the time they’d touched her everywhere, imparting healing, she had cried her heart out and was left wasted.
Gasps faded to hiccups and then to sniffles. Someone wiped her nose and kissed her cheek. They had to be as exhausted as her. She reached out, surrounding a wrist with her grasp. Gauging by how her fingers wrapped around the delicate bones, it could only belong to Devon.
With a tug, she invited her friend and sometimes lover to lie beside her.
The women curled together, Devon wrapping around Kayla as she entwined them completely. James and Neil bracketed them. James snuggled up behind Devon, hugging the joined pair tight to his chest. Neil blanketed Kayla’s back. He layered his long arm over all three of the people in his bed, keeping them close. The girls, at the center of their snugglefest, were protected from anything outside their tiny sphere.
“We always promised each other we’d take care of our own if it came to that.” Neil kissed her cheek. “This is what Dave wanted for you. We’ve got you. We love you. You won’t do this on your own.”
“Thanks.” Kayla could hardly get the whisper out. “Love you too.”
She accepted Devon’s tender, reassuring goodnight kiss as the world faded to black.
Together, they managed to find some solace and rest.
The next morning brought more endless waiting, ambiguous test results and a shitload of frustration. Dave remained unconscious. Doctors granted each of the crew members five minutes to make a quick pit stop by his bedside. Neil, James and Devon had gone in first, followed by Kate, Mike and Kayla.
Joe and Morgan waited their turn.
After precisely the prescribed visitation, Mike led Kate and Kayla from Dave’s room, one arm around each of the women. Tears streamed down his wife’s cheeks.
“He had more color this morning.” Kayla sniffled.
“I thought so too.” Mike agreed. He rubbed his Kate’s shoulder when she sobbed again.
“How could he have looked worse than that? He was so still. So different from his usual self.” She slumped against Mike.
“It’s okay, sweetheart. They’re keeping him sedated so he can’t feel anything or aggravate his injuries.” Mike glanced from Kate to Joe. “Maybe you’d better hold off. It can’t be good for the babies for their moms to be so upset.”
“No.” Morgan gripped Joe’s hand hard enough to be uncomfortable. “I need to see him. To talk to him, just for a minute. I’ll be okay. I swear.”
“If you’re not, I’m hauling you out.” Joe didn’t give a shit if that pissed her off. Her safety, and their child’s, came first.
“Deal.” Her throat flexed as she swallowed hard.
Joe braced himself for a horrifying sight. A deep breath expanded his ribcage before he consciously relaxed his muscles. Tension wouldn’t help any of them. He laced
his fingers tight with Morgan’s, then turned the corner into Dave’s room. Reality exceeded the worst nightmares his imagination had cooked up. Tubes formed macabre spaghetti that threatened to choke Dave, machines blipped in a symphony of discordant electronic music and wires attached to a sling supported Dave’s left thigh in mid-air, transforming him into a ghastly marionette.
Joe had overheard the surgeon tell Kayla something about pre-operative traction for proximal femoral something-or-other fractures. He’d lost track about twenty-seven syllables in. All he’d caught was blah blah blah, multiple surgeries to correct, blah blah blah.
This…this looked bad. He hadn’t ever seen something so horrific outside of a movie screen. “Holy shit.”
“Oh, Dave.” Morgan rushed to his side. The big man nearly overflowed the hospital bed, yet the bruises and bandages covering his face and jaw detracted from the aura of strength and vitality that usually surrounded him. She kissed her fingers, then laid them lightly on his shoulder, which appeared free of obvious damage. “I’m so sorry.”
“What?” Joe whipped his gaze to his wife when she began muttering apology after apology to his best friend.
“If I hadn’t been so afraid of taking that stupid test, none of this would have happened. I should have bucked up and done it a week ago, when I first started to suspect. I ignored the signs. I didn’t rest enough. Didn’t drink enough either, I guess. If I had just been responsible, you wouldn’t have been driving right there, right then. I’m so sorry. I’ll never forgive myself for doing this to you.”
“Mo.” Joe closed his eyes and wrapped an arm around his wife from behind, snugging her to his chest. “Don’t say shit like that. It’s life. Chance. If he’d stayed at the site, maybe he’d have fallen off the roof instead. No one can know what the future holds. Dave wouldn’t like to hear you talking such crap.”
It might have been his imagination, but Joe thought he saw Dave’s eyelid twitch.
“Fine.” Morgan didn’t sound convinced. Still, they only had a few more minutes. They could argue later. In private. Regardless of Dave’s state, Joe believed their tone of voice and any strain they harbored could affect his friend. Dave had always been very sensitive to those sorts of things. Trouble between crewmembers would set him on edge until they’d resolved their differences.
“Tell him the good news, cupcake.” Joe nuzzled Morgan’s hair. Their joy generated powerful positive energy, sparked by the new life embedded in Morgan’s womb. Pride and tenderness swamped him.
His wife leaned in even closer, perching delicately on the edge of the bed. She took Dave’s hand and, with infinite gentleness, scooted it the inch or two necessary to close the gap between his fingers and her lower abdomen. “It’s true, Dave. I’m pregnant.”
Neither of them had managed to say the words without shedding a tear yet. This reiteration was no exception. Morgan pressed Dave’s palm to the fullness of her belly. “Thank you for all your sacrifices for me and my family. I love you. I swear I will be here every step of the way. Whatever Joe and I can do for you, we will. I hope you know that. You’re strong. And you have the most gorgeous woman on Earth to come home to. Sleep tight, sweet dreams. Naughty ones too.”
Joe sniffled when his wife leaned forward to kiss the man he’d considered his best friend for nearly a decade. He hadn’t imagined it possible, but his adoration multiplied.
“We’ll be in again as soon as they let us,” Joe promised Dave. “Until then, we’ll take care of Kay. Don’t you worry about a thing. We’ve got her. Just like we always swore we would. You concentrate on healing up. Okay? See you later, masturbator.”
The only response was the beep of a timer.
A nurse popped her head in the door. “I’m sorry. Mr. Rosewood needs his rest now. You may rejoin your friends in the waiting room.”
Joe nodded. “Please take good care of my brother.”
“You got it, sugar.” She smiled.
He collected Morgan’s hand, granting her a moment to toss a lingering glance over her shoulder before they ambled along the linoleum channel toward the rest of the crew.
“You shouldn’t lie to a man just because he’s injured.” Joe tsked at Morgan.
“What’d I say?” She tipped her head to the side. “You don’t think he’s going to be okay? Eventually, I mean. It’s going to be hell. But if we don’t have faith in him…”
“Not that, cupcake. You told him Kay was the most gorgeous woman on Earth. Clearly that title belongs to you.” Joe tugged on her wrist until she tottered to a halt. He surrounded her in his arms, squeezing tight. “I can’t believe you thought this was in any way your fault. You bottled that all up and didn’t tell me? I’m disappointed, Mo. I thought we were beyond that stage. Look what happened when we avoided our emotions on the baby junk.”
“Sorry.” She had the decency to look ashamed. “I didn’t really understand myself. The grief overwhelmed me. I just felt this horrible dread in my gut. The instant I saw him, it all unlocked, then came pouring out.”
“From now on, you tell me when something’s bothering you, and we’ll work through it together.” He wiggled his brows. “I know a great way to reduce your stress.”
“Joe. Morgan.” Devon waved to them from the end of the hall. “Could you come here? The police would like to ask you a few questions.”
Morgan’s arm tensed in his grip. “I know hearing about it won’t change anything. It scares me, though. To know. To speculate about just how close we came to losing him. Plus I’m sorry, I do still feel responsible.”
“We’ll get to that in a minute.” Joe kissed her knuckles. “If you’d rather go to the cafeteria, I can come find you when this is finished.”
“Being away from you is worse.” She laid her head on his shoulder even as they picked up their pace. “Let’s get through this, then maybe we can go find some lunch. Even though we slept in late, I’m really wishing I could take a nap right about now.”
“Remember what Ofelia said.” Joe evaluated the dark rings under Morgan’s eyes. “Everything about your body is different. Listen to what it’s telling you. We’ll take some time out. Catch a rest, okay?”
She bit her lip, then nodded.
When they rounded the corner, they found the rest of the crew, along with Joe’s cousin Eli and one of his mechanics, Alanso Diaz, gathered around a young police officer. His explanation was already in process. Even he brushed a hand over his close-shaved hair before he got to the meat of the matter.
Grimacing, he turned toward Kayla. James and Neil flanked her, each man cupping one of her elbows in their dinged up hands. “Eyewitnesses corroborate the report from the skid analysis. The brakes went out on a semi. We’re verifying the records now, but his rig hadn’t maintained inspections. After what I saw in the field yesterday, I’d be glad to testify as an expert witness for your family. The truck hopped the barrier and came at your husband head-on. The tracks on the road show he attempted to avoid the collision and probably mitigated the impact as much as possible, but the bumper of the eighteen-wheeler caught the bed of his pickup and spun it around. The guys I talked to said they think three or maybe four cars hit him as he veered off the road.”
Kayla didn’t utter a single word. Her face went ashen.
Alanso cursed violently in Spanish from the rear of the group.
“What about everyone else?” Devon asked in a whisper.
The cop shook his head. “There were five fatalities. I haven’t been at this all that long, four years now, but this is the worst I’ve seen. Hopefully for a long time. The truck jackknifed, then rolled. Driver was killed instantly. The trailer crushed a car being driven by an elderly couple who had no chance. Two of the cars that careened into your friend’s truck also didn’t fare as well. His skilled driving, the safe following distance the witnesses said he maintained and an epic stroke of good luck helped your friend make the best of a nasty situation. About a half dozen other people are seriously to critically injured, th
ough it looks like all of them will pull through now. I would have been here last night, but it’s been a total cluster getting this all sorted out.”
Joe had to stop his train of thought when it imagined, all too vividly, those horrifying moments Dave had spent wrestling his truck through the chaos.
“When you have a chance, we’ll need you to come down to the lot, take some pictures for insurance and let us know what to do with your husband’s vehicle.” The officer didn’t sound as though there were anything to salvage.
“We can take care of that.” Eli nodded when Mike looked to him and Alanso. “No problem.”
Morgan trembled beneath Joe’s arm. He gazed down at his wife, alarmed to find her unsteady on her feet, hooded eyes half closed. “I think Mo’s had enough for now. Mike, you mind if we crash at your place for lunch and a nap since you’re closest? We’ll come back this afternoon for a shift with Kay.”
“Really, you should all take a break.” Kayla’s monotone hurt Joe’s heart. “There’s nothing we can do now. They’ve declared him stable. Go ahead, Mike. Take Kate too. Eli and Alanso can meet you back there to catch up. No reason this should be all doom and gloom. You don’t get to see each other often, and I can tell this is draining everyone.”
“What about you?” Kate tried to protest.
“We’re here. We’ll stay.” Neil looked to Devon and James for confirmation. The three of them stood united, keeping Kayla strong.
“Thank you,” Morgan mumbled. “You’re right. I feel like a wimp, not able to be a rock for you. Right now, it’s just…too much.”
Joe followed as she lurched for the bathroom. He didn’t give a fuck about the sign marked Ladies. He held his wife as she lost her breakfast, rubbing her back and wiping her face with cool paper towels after the bout had passed.
“Come on, cupcake.” He lifted her in his arms. “You’re okay now. We’re gonna go take a nice nap together.”
“So sorry. Love you.” She was asleep before they reached the parking lot, Mike and Kate close on their heels. The couple’s identical grimaces matched Joe’s.