He stood up and dusted off his pants when one of the other officers walked up. They needed to get information from each person in the accident. He didn't want to see her, but he knew he had to. Get in, get the information, and get out, he thought. He pulled his shoulders back, grabbed his paperwork, and walked over to the ambulance.
“I need to get some information from you,” he said. “Are you okay to answer a few questions?”
“Yes,” she said, as she held a packet of ice over her head.
They had bandaged her head enough to stop the bleeding.
“First name?” he asked.
“Do you really not know who I am?” she asked with a sad look.
Don't look at her, he thought.
“I have to ask,” he said.
“Sandy,” she said. “Sandra.”
“Last name?” he asked, as he wrote on the paper.
John could see his hand shaking while he wrote.
“Robinson,” she answered.
His heart stung as if someone stabbed him. Why was that name familiar, he wondered? It was a common last name. He took a deep breath to collect himself.
“Married?” he questioned.
“It's complicated,” she answered.
“Married?” he asked again in a deep tone.
“Yes,” she answered.
“Address?” he asked, as he barely held it together.
She rattled off an address not far away.
“Phone number?” he asked.
She gave him a number.
“Can you tell me what you remember happening?” he asked.
“I can't believe you're a cop,” she said. “You look so.”
“I need to know what happened to cause the accident,” he said cutting her off.
There was no way he was looking up from his paper.
“I was driving and out of nowhere something slammed into the side of my car. I never saw them coming. I know my light was green. I honestly don't know what happened.”
“Would you like us to call your husband while you're on your way to the hospital?” he asked.
She shook her head no.
“Could you call my daughter please?” she asked.
“You have kids?” he asked without thinking. “Sure, her name?”
“Kelly,” she said.
“Her number?” he asked.
He wrote down the number and looked up at her.
“Is she old enough to drive?” he asked.
“Yes,” she said looking down.
“Will she have a way there?”
She shook her head yes.
“I'll call her and let her know to meet you there and that you're okay. I'll be sure not to freak her out,” he said.
“John,” she began.
“I'm pretty sure your car is totaled. They will tow it to the yard. You can have your insurance look at it there. The report should be ready in a couple of days for you to pick up. I'm glad everything is okay. Have a good day, Mrs. Robinson.”
He turned to walk away.
“John,” she said again.
He stopped but didn't turn to face her.
“It's good to see you doing so well.”
He walked away without a word.
Chapter 4
The ambulance left and John sat in his car and waited for the tow truck. He dialed the number Sandy had given him for her daughter. John felt sweat on his forehead as he waited nervously for her to answer the phone. How old was she, he wondered? She hadn't wanted kids right away. Maybe the girl had just gotten her license.
“Hello,” a woman answered.
“Is this Kelly?” he asked.
“Yes,” she said.
“My name is John. I'm a police officer. Everything is fine, but I'm calling because your mom was in an accident,” he began, but stopped for a moment when she gasped through the phone. “She's fine, but she has a few cuts on her head and a bad headache. They are taking her to the hospital to be checked. She asked that I call you and have you meet her there.”
“She's okay?” she asked.
“Yes,” he answered.
“What about the car? Do I need to do anything?” she asked.
John was surprised. The person on the other end of the phone was a woman not a teenager. He felt anger in his chest. How old was she?
“I'm pretty sure it's totaled. We are towing it. Your mom can have the insurance company come and check it out. Will you be able to get to the hospital?” he asked.
“Yes,” she said. “My husband is on his way home. As soon as he gets here to take care of the kids, I'll be on my way. Thank you so much for calling me and not my father. I really appreciate that. She doesn't need to deal him right now.”
“You're welcome,” he said. “Have a nice day.”
John hung up the phone and couldn't help the feelings that were taking him over. Her daughter had children and a husband. She had to be at least twenty. It was bullshit. John slammed his hands against the dash and closed his eyes.
As soon as the tow truck was gone, he went to the station to finish up the paperwork. He was so frustrated with what his life had become. It was twenty-seven years ago, he thought to himself. It's time to move on. Maybe Julie was right. Maybe there was someone out there for him. Why had he spent so many years thinking about her, when she obviously moved right on after him?
When he got home, he cracked open a cold beer, changed into sweats and a t-shirt, and went into his gym. He turned on the radio and tried to get her out of his head. Weights crashed as he worked out, but it didn't work. His mind went back to when he was nineteen.
He was just finishing his first year of college. His whole life was planned, and he had so much to look forward to. He was with the most beautiful girl in the world. They were going to be together forever. Her name was Sandy. She had beautiful, long brown hair, long, sexy legs, and the most gorgeous, big brown eyes he had ever seen. They were high school sweethearts, and he knew he was going to marry her once he was able to take care of her the way she deserved.
John's father was extremely wealthy, but John was determined to finish college before going to work for him. He wanted to know that he could take care of himself if anything happened between him and his dad. There was never a way to know when his father might get pissed off, and John wanted to be sure he would be just fine on his own if they had a blowout.
Sandy went to the same college as him, and her dorm was within walking distance. They spent weekends together, ate dinner together, studied together, and made love as often as possible. He would have given her anything he could. His love for her was so strong. John promised himself that he would always treat her with respect and would never give her a reason not to trust him. He would never treat a woman the way his father did.
His dad was great with business, money, and kissing ass, but he sucked when it came to relationships of any other kind. The man moved from woman to woman constantly. Married, divorced, married, and divorced again. He never respected a woman in his life. Since he had money, he thought he could do whatever he wanted without consequence. For the most part, he was right.
John's mom moved on after her experience with his dad. She loved her son, and that was all that mattered to her. His father saw him and made sure he was taken care of. He wanted John to take over his business once he was ready to retire. John's mother was remarried and had a much better relationship with her new husband.
John's father had gotten married again. He had a child with her as well. That child wasn't so lucky. His brother's name was Ethan, and he was six years younger than John. When his father left Ethan's mom, he had nothing to do with the boy. It was like he didn't exist. John wondered about his brother, but his father would never answer his questions about him. John knew nothing about the boy's home life, but sometimes he thought Ethan was better off without a dad. There was always pressure to live up to their father's expectations. Nothing was ever free with that man. You paid in one way or another. All John knew
was that his dad had divorced Ethan's mother as well and moved on to a new woman.
One day John got a call, and his life was forever changed. Ethan's mom had passed away, and he had nowhere to go. Their father refused to take him. John was his only other family. If he didn't take him, the boy would have to go into the foster care system. John couldn't believe his father denied his own son. It didn't make any sense. Ethan was only thirteen. John was nineteen and had no idea what to do to raise him, but there was no way he could let his only brother be stuck with someone that might not take care of him. He had no choice. His brother needed him.
The more John learned of the situation, the worse he felt. Ethan had been left to take care of his mother who was going off the deep end. When their father left, she got into drugs and alcohol. Ethan barely had any clothes and was hardly ever fed. It was horrible. John was so angry that his father would let that happen.
John went to Sandy's dorm to talk to her. He wanted to be with her more than she knew, and he hoped that she would understand why he needed to leave school and get a job. Her response wasn't what he expected. She did understand that he needed to be there for his brother, but she said she was too young to take care of a child. She had goals and wanted a career. He explained that she could still do those things, but he needed to stop going to school and get a job to take care of Ethan. She told him that he was an amazing man and she loved him, but she wasn't ready for that kind of life. She needed to be able to have fun and experience what other college kids did. The responsibility of taking care of a child and running a house was not for her, and it wouldn't be for many years.
John was devastated. The life he wanted with her wasn't what she wanted. He understood that she wanted to have a good time and enjoy her college years, and he didn't blame her for ending their relationship. It changed the feelings he had for her, and the loss he felt when she was gone was more than he thought he could handle.
There was no way he could give up on his little brother. Ethan needed him, and he was going to make up for every shitty thing his father and Ethan's mother had done to him. There was no way anyone should have gone through that.
John packed up his stuff and went home. When he showed up at the funeral home, Ethan was sitting by himself in the corner. He was wearing a worn pair of jeans, torn shirt, and shoes with holes in them.
John got an apartment for the two of them. It wasn't big, but it was all they needed. He got a job to pay their bills and worked every day toward becoming a police officer. When he was hired in his hometown, he moved them to a bigger apartment. John made sure that his little brother had new clothes that fit him and more food than he would ever need or want. There was no way he would let him go without again.
When John got custody of his brother, he stopped communicating with his father. He was disgusted with the fact that he let his own son suffer and was going to let him be moved around from place to place.
John kept hoping that Sandy would realize she had made a mistake and come back to him, but she never did. He thought that once she had the career she had dreamt of, she would want to start a family. Slowly, he began to put her out of his mind. It happened little by little each day. His thoughts were on keeping Ethan safe, healthy, and happy. Things were hard on his brother. There were times he would run to Ethan's room when he was screaming in the night over a bad dream. He found food hidden in different areas of the room. John did everything he could to assure Ethan that he was safe with him.
When John turned twenty-one, his father gave him two million dollars. They hadn't spoken, but he accepted the money. It made raising Ethan so much easier, and that was his only priority. He invested some of the money. There was no way he was wasting a dime. John bought a house so they each had some room for themselves.
When Ethan graduated high school, he went to college for computer programming and game development. John was proud of him but knew he still had a lot of pent up aggression and emotion. He watched him carefully. John gave him an extra room in the house to put his computer stuff. He was proud of his little brother and wanted him to make his own success. Ethan was going to prove to the world that he could do it without his crappy father, and John wanted that goal to happen for him. Ethan started a business in that room, and it began to grow. His friend Gavin went to school for the same thing. The two guys got together with Gavin's cousin Chris, and things went uphill from there. John was so happy that his brother was making it happen.
Ethan had a wild side. He didn't believe in love, and never wanted to leave a child and wife like his father had. John wasn't real pleased with the way Ethan dealt with his feelings. He drank, partied, worked insane hours, and slept with anyone that offered. His heart would never be available, and he would never fall for a woman. He drove John crazy with his behavior.
John knew he made the right choice getting custody of his brother, but he often wondered what would have happened if he would've never left school. Would he have married Sandy? Would they have had a family together?
John was pulled from his thoughts when his phone rang. He dropped the weights from his hands and looked at the phone. His new sister was being a bit of a pain. He knew she had been through so much with her stalker ex and didn't want to seem like he didn't care. He picked up the phone and accepted the call.
“Hey,” he said.
“Are you okay?” she asked. “You sound out of breath. Oh shit! Please tell me I did not interrupt anything.”
John burst into laughter.
“You're something else,” he said. “I can only imagine the shit my brother deals with over there. I was working out in the gym with weights. I know I need to be specific.”
“I just wanted to see if you wanted to come and get that cheesecake,” she said.
“Not tonight,” he said. “I already cracked open a cold one. Can I get it tomorrow? Don't let my damn brother eat it.”
“Sure,” she said. “I'll keep him busy with other things. He won't eat your cheesecake.”
“You two are disgusting. I can't believe you're the same Julie I've known for years. What has he done to you? No, don't answer that.”
Julie laughed.
“Was that accident okay? It didn't sound good,” she said.
“It was three cars. Two were totaled, but everyone was okay. Some cuts and bruises, but they will all be home before the night is over.”
“Is everything okay? You seem different the last couple of weeks. I've been thinking about you. You were so good to us during and after everything with my ex. I just want you to know I'm always here if you want to talk about anything. I know I joke around, but I really do care about you,” she said.
“Who do you care about besides me?” Ethan asked as he got closer to her phone.
“Your brother, you big brute.”
“He better not be trying to get my woman. I'd have to whoop the shit out of his crime fighting ass.”
“How do you put up with him?” John asked.
“I'm not sure sometimes,” she answered. “I'll see you tomorrow. Think about what I said. We love you.”
“I love you guys too,” he said. “Talk to you later.”
John hung up the phone and thought about what she said. He needed to make some decisions. Maybe he just needed a vacation. That was what he would do. A trip sounded like the perfect solution.
He went back to working out but couldn't keep his mind from going back to the earlier accident. Sandy was married, but when he asked her, she said it was complicated. She didn't want him to call her husband. When he called her very grown daughter, she thanked him for not calling her father. The husband must have been her daughter's father. Her daughter was married with children. She had to have been with the guy since not long after she had broken up with him. The daughter mentioned that her mother didn't need to deal with the husband. Were they even living together, he wondered? Who the hell was so much better than him for her to have children with him right away? Maybe she hadn't cared about him at all. How co
uld he have let himself think about her all those years? What a waste, he thought.
John worked out harder than he had in a long time. When he was done, he had sweat dripping down his face, neck, chest, and back. He pulled his t-shirt off and wiped his body with it, as he turned on the shower. The hot water fell over his tired body. He felt like falling into bed and sleeping for days.
John grabbed a pair of boxers, pulled them on, and fell into bed. He would feel better in the morning. Maybe he just needed to get laid. With everything Ethan and Julie had gone through and their wedding in Hawaii, John hadn't been able to go out and let off steam in a while. The last time he was really able to cut loose was on the cruise with the guys. That seemed like so long ago. He just needed to find a woman and have one night to get rid of all his stress. Shit, he thought. He was starting to sound like his brother. John laughed as he shut the lights off and closed his eyes.
Chapter 5
Sandy closed her eyes as the ambulance doors closed and John was out of sight. She couldn't help but let the tears go she had been holding in. When she heard his voice in the car, she felt so good. When she opened her eyes and saw him, it felt like she was dreaming. Was it really him? Was John really there? When she said something and he acted like he had no idea what she was talking about, she felt like he was ripping her heart in two. He was so nice and caring while he did his job, there was no way he was getting personal. It was as if she were a stranger to him. She couldn't believe he was a cop. Sandy thought for sure he would be working at his father's company with an attitude to match. What the hell happened when he went home, she wondered?
The biggest mistake of her life was not going with him. If she could have went back, she would have done everything differently. Sandy purposely stayed away. She rarely even visited her parents. There was no way she could see him. If she saw him happy with a family, it would tear her world apart.
Rescue of Love (Bachelor Billionaire #4) Page 2