“Sorry,” I tell Rayne as soon as he approaches. He looks pissed, and I don’t blame him. He doesn’t really give a shit if the vultures snap photos of him all day long, but the second someone takes a shot of Harper he goes a little nuts.
“We’re out,” he tells me. “I don’t want Harper in the rags again.” When they first got together Harper and Rayne had some bad experiences with the press. Rayne has been trying really hard not to have a repeat performance.
“Thanks, Man.” I hand him the keys to his BMW. I’ll drive Brooke home in Harper’s car.
His eyes soften when he looks at Brooke. She looks sad, maybe even defeated. I would do anything to make her smile again, but I’ve got to get her home first.
“I’m glad you found her.” Rayne pats my shoulder.
“Where are Xander and Raven?” I ask.
“Down the block at a biker bar,” he replies. “It sounds like they’re having fun. I guess they’re going to stay a while.”
“See you back home,” I tell him.
When I look back over at Brooke I see that Harper is giving her a hug. At least that produces a half smile.
Once Rayne and Harper take off Brooke and I get settled in Harper’s car. It’s a nice ride. It makes me wonder if I should buy a car for Brooke to use.
As we head back home Brooke is very quiet. It’s unusual for her, but this is an unusual situation.
For me too.
If you would have asked me a few months ago if I’d be chasing a girl all over Scottsdale I would have said you were nuts. I don’t chase girls. Girls come to me.
But Brooke is different. I’d chase Brooke to the ends of the Earth if I had to.
“What’s on your mind?” I finally ask.
“Everything…”
I laugh. “That’s a lot.”
“You shouldn’t care about me. I don’t deserve it.”
“And why is that?” I ask.
When she bites her bottom lip I think about kissing her. But for some reason this time I don’t think about fucking her, although I’d love to do that too. I just want to hold her in my arms. Tight. And not let her go.
“It’s just so hard. Sometimes I don’t feel like I can give it all up.”
“Give what up?”
“My addictions. I stopped drinking. I stopped using drugs. But I didn’t give up getting fucked.”
Tears are streaming down her face and it feels like someone is stabbing my heart.
“I got fucked a lot, Leo. Every chance I could get. When I stepped into the bar tonight my first thought wasn’t a taste of alcohol. I didn’t even order it. My first thought was which guy in the sea of men was going to fuck me. That’s what gave me a high. That’s what gave me a rush. The thrill of the chase. The seduction. I can’t give it up.”
“Can’t or won’t?”
“Maybe I don’t want to give it up. It’s my great escape.”
“And what about me?” I can feel my throat getting tight. “Do you want me to treat you like a groupie? Just fuck you and then tell you to get your shit together and leave? Is that what you want?”
When I quickly glance over at her I can see her chin is trembling. In about three seconds she’ll be full out sobbing.
Shit.
“I’m not going to treat you like you think you deserve to be treated in that fucked up head of yours,” I tell her. “I’m going to treat you like I think you deserve to be treated. I’m going to be the guy who worships you.”
“You can’t…” her voice trails off as she starts to sob.
“I thought you knew me better than that, Wild Child. I can and I will.”
“Really?” he voice is so small it tugs at my heartstrings.
“Really.”
“But there are so many other girls…”
“There are no other girls for me but you.”
My eyes go wide when I realize there’s a pickup truck coming at us. For some reason it didn’t stop at the red light. Brooke is turned toward me so she doesn’t see it coming straight toward us.
She gives me a faint smile before the truck smashes right into the passenger side of the car.
Nine
Brooke
There’s a loud crash. We’ve been hit. We’re flying and spinning. It feels like the car is completely out of control, but everything seems to be happening in slow motion.
I hear screaming. It takes me a moment to realize it’s my voice.
When we finally come to a stop I know something is really wrong. I feel broken. Like an egg that was dropped from a second story window onto the pavement below.
“Brooke!” Leo’s normally free-spirited voice sounds filled with panic.
And dread.
Why does my face feel wet? I wonder. I try to lift my arm to wipe at the moisture dripping into my eyes, but my arm isn’t working correctly.
It takes a lot more energy than it should for me to look over at Leo. He’s struggling to free himself from his seatbelt. “Don’t move, Brooke. I’m coming to you.”
“Okay,” I hear myself say, but it doesn’t sound like my voice. I feel like I’m listening to someone speak in another room. It’s such a weird feeling. Like I’m disconnected from my body.
“Fuck!” Leo is now kicking on the seatbelt lock trying to break free.
“It’s okay…” my voice is starting to fade, and so is everything else. “I love you Leo,” I try to say, but my voice is barely a whisper. I have no idea if he can even hear me as I drift off to sleep.
Ten
Leo
“Nurse! Nurse!” I know I’m yelling like a madman, and just keep pushing the call button over and over, but it’s useless. The emergency room is packed and I don’t think I’m a high priority. But I’m pretty sure no bones in my body are broken. And I’m not bleeding. I was brought in for observation. Maybe they think I have a concussion. I hit my head pretty hard on the driver’s side window.
How much damage could a hit like that have done to someone like me? I wasn’t exactly a rocket scientist before the accident.
All I want to do is get out of this room and get to Brooke. I have to be there for her. There’s nothing more important as far as I’m concerned.
I push the call button what seems like a hundred more times until someone wearing a white uniform finally makes his way into my room. He’s young, maybe just a few years older than me, and balding. He looks like he’s all business, which is fine with me. My business right now is to find out what the hell is happening with Brooke.
“Where’s the girl I was with? Brooke Rhodes?”
When the guy frowns I’m tempted to smack the scowl right off of his face. But I know I’m just angry, not really angry at him.
“Let’s make sure you’re okay before…”
I put up a hand. “I’m fine. I need to know about Brooke.”
“If you’ll give me a chance to examine you…”
“I said I’m fine. Do I have to be examined?”
He raises an eyebrow. “Are you refusing treatment, Sir?”
“If that’s what you want to call it. Okay. Sure. Now will you tell me where I can find Brooke?”
As I start to rise from the hospital bed I feel slightly woozy, kind of like when the first beer of the night finally hits.
“I’m not sure this is a good idea,” the balding guy says.
“Let me just get my boots on and you can tell me where she is.” As I grab for the large plastic bag they placed my belongings in I get a little lightheaded again. For some reason I have it in my head that my boots will make all the difference. Like some kind of magic bullet that will make me no longer injured.
Once I get them back on my feet I feel a little bit like myself again.
“Where is she?” I repeat. The guy is starting to make me feel like a broken record.
“Sir, I’ll need to get you to sign these release papers stating that you are refusing medical treatment.
“Whatever. Give me a pen.”
&
nbsp; He hands me a clipboard with a pen and I scribble my name on the bottom line.
“And initial right there,” he points to another section of the long document. “And there.”
I scribble a few more times and then shove the clipboard back at him. “Brooke Rhodes?”
“I’ll need to check on that for you.”
“Great,” I try to control my temper because I know this guy is the only thing that now stands between me and my Wild Child. I don’t want to piss him off. I want him to give me the information I need.
“Like rock music?” I ask as I follow him out the door.
He stops dead in his tracks and glares at me. “You can wait in the room. I’ll be right back as soon as I get the information for you.”
I shake my head. “I don’t mind. I’ll follow you. I think it’ll be quicker this way.”
He takes in a deep breath and I can see the resignation set into his squinty blue eyes. “Fine.”
He doesn’t wait for me to respond. He turns on his heels and starts walking down the hallway. “I don’t,” he says when I finally catch up to him.
“Don’t what?”
“Care for rock music.”
I roll my eyes. Figures. The one guy on the planet that I truly need a favor from and there’s little chance he cares who I am.
***
When I finally figure out where Brooke is I practically run to that section of the hospital. Probably not the smartest idea considering I got pretty beat up in the accident, but no one ever accused me of being smart.
She looked so bad. She was smashed almost as badly as Harper’s car. And she was so bloody. I cringe just thinking about it. Brooke is broken and it’s all my fault. I was paying too much attention to the Wild Child and not enough attention to the road. I have to do whatever it takes to fix her—to fix everything—to make things right again.
I spot Rayne and Harper pacing outside of a room when I arrive.
“Dude.” Rayne looks me up and down. “You look like shit. Are you supposed to be running around the hospital?”
Harper elbows him.
“I don’t really give a shit what I’m supposed to be doing. I need to see Brooke.”
When Harper puts her hand on my arm my eyes immediately shoot to Rayne. He doesn’t seem bothered by the gesture so I relax a bit. My body feels tattered enough. I don’t need to get thumped by Rayne on top of everything else.
“Brooke is in surgery,” Harper says, and my chest tightens.
It takes me a moment to realize my eyes are moist and I’m blinking back tears. I don’t fucking cry. I’ve never cried in my life. “Is she going to be okay?” My throat feels like it’s almost closed and it’s hard to get the words out.
“Her hip is broken. They’re repairing it. She has a few bruised ribs. And her wrist is broken. They’re pretty sure there isn’t any internal damage, so that’s good…” her voice trails off.
“I’m sorry,” is about all I can manage to say before I sob like a fucking baby.
“It’s not your fault, Man.” Rayne puts a hand on my shoulder. “The guy who hit you was drunk. Blew right through the red light. Didn’t even slow down.”
My fists tighten to angry balls. “Did he get hurt?”
Rayne shakes his head. “Not a scratch. That’s what the cop said anyway.”
“I’ll solve that problem” I spit. “I’ll make sure he’s hurt worse than Brooke.”
Rayne shakes his head. “Not this time. Brooke needs you. You need to be here for her.”
He’s right. As much as I want to kill the guy who hurt her I want to be there for her even more.
“Did the cops talk to you yet?” Rayne asks.
I shake my head. “I signed myself out of the emergency room. Refused treatment.”
Harper furrows her brow. “Do you think that’s a good idea?”
“I’m fine. I’ve been hurt worse than this in bar fights.” I glance around but the hallway is deserted except for the three of us. “Where are Raven and Xander?”
“I sent them home,” Harper states. “To get something to eat and get some rest. They’ll be back later.”
“Do you want something to eat?” Rayne asks.
I shake my head. “I want to see Brooke. That’s all, man. I just want to see her.”
He nods. “You will.”
Eleven
Brooke
I try to open my eyes but the lids feel like they have weights on them. My head is pounding and I feel fuzzy, like I have the worst hangover in the world.
Except I don’t remember drinking. I kept the plug in the jug…didn’t I?
“You’re awake.” I recognize the voice, but it takes me a moment to remember who it belongs to…Raven Woods.
What is Raven doing in my bedroom?
“I’d better let Leo know. He’ll lose it if he knows you woke and he wasn’t here. He’s been here all night. I told him I’d watch you so he could pee. He looked like he was going to burst.”
“What are you doing here?”
“Don’t mistake my being here for me liking you or anything. I’m here for Leo. He’s a fucking wreck.”
I can hear her words, but they’re not really making sense yet. I try lift my hand to rub my eyes but my arm is in a cast. When I look down I realize I’m wearing a hospital gown.
“There was an accident,” Raven says at the same time I think the words.
“Brooke!” Leo bolts into the room and is standing at my bedside before I have time to blink. “You’re awake.”
“I feel like shit,” I tell him and that makes him laugh. I love it when he laughs.
“Do you remember anything?” His voice is so soft I hardly recognize it. It’s almost like he thinks it’s going to hurt me if he speaks too loudly.
“You came to the bar. You wanted to scare away all of the other guys. You were taking me home. Someone hit us. That’s all I remember.”
“You were hurt pretty badly. They had to do surgery on your hip. And your arm is broken. You’ve got some bruised ribs.”
“And her face is all cut up,” Raven calls out from behind a celebrity magazine. “Don’t forget about that.”
Leo glares at her.
I imagine myself looking like Frankenstein’s monster.
As if he can read my mind Leo says, “The cuts will heal. Just some scratches from broken glass. You didn’t need stitches.”
“How long do I have to stay here?”
“Another day or two, they think. As soon as they can get you out of bed and see how well you’re able to move around, they’ll make a decision. Rayne and Harper are getting your bedroom set up so you’ll be able to do your rehab there. Rayne’s hiring a physical therapist just for you.”
“Do I look as bad as I feel?” I ask.
“You said you feel like shit?” Raven shouts. “That’s exactly what you look like.”
Leo gives her a death stare.
“It’s the truth,” Raven adds.
“At least my outside finally matches my inside,” I state.
“You’re beautiful.” Leo runs a finger ever so gently down my cheek. “Inside and out.”
“Don’t make me gag over here,” Raven remarks.
“Maybe you need a bathroom break,” Leo prompts.
Raven rises from her chair. “Great idea. Maybe I’ll see what Xander’s up to in the lounge.”
Once Raven exits the room Leo leans down and gives me the softest of kisses on my forehead.
“Raven said you were here all night…”
Leo nods. “I slept for a few hours in that chair over there.” He points to a chair in the corner of the room. “But mostly I just paced. Waited for you to wake up.”
“Do you know what happened? Why we got hit? It happened so fast.”
He nods. “I talked to the cops. They wanted to get a statement. The other driver was drunk. He ran a red light.”
I frown. “Is he hurt?”
Shaking his head Leo says, “I
wanted to hurt him. He wasn’t injured at all. Not even a scratch. He’s lucky he’s in jail right now.”
When I try to take in a deep breath my chest hurts. “This is karma.”
“What do you mean?”
“Payback for all the times I was loaded and got behind the wheel.”
“I feel like it’s my fault. I should have taken better care of you. I should have protected you.”’
“It’s definitely not your fault…” He doesn’t let me finish my sentence.
“I’m going to take care of you now, Brooke. I promise. I won’t let you down.”
“You don’t have to do that. I have a feeling it’s going to take a while for me to get back to normal. When my grandma broke her hip it took her a few months to recover. Of course she was in her seventies.”
“Every day, Wild Child. I’m going to be there for you. You’re going to get so tired of seeing my face twenty-four seven.”
“Don’t you guys have some kind of charity concert coming up? Harper said something about it. You’re supposed to be out east for a week.”
“I’m not going,” he snaps.
That surprises me. “You have to go. You play guitar for the band. It’s kind of an important instrument.”
His eyes turn dark. “I said I’m not going. It’s not up for discussion.”
“But…”
“You’re in a fucking hospital. You just had surgery. You’re going to need a lot of help when you get out. I’m not going anywhere, Brooke. I already told you that.”
“Harper can help me.”
He shakes his head. “Where Rayne goes Harper goes. He’s not going on the road without her. And I’m not leaving you. So it’s settled.”
I’m too tired to argue with him, but there’s no way I’m letting him ruin his career to take care of me. As I slowly nod off I decide to deal with it all later.
***
“Did you phone my parents?” I ask Harper. It’s a question I’ve been dreading, but one I knew I’d eventually have to ask.
Sometimes Brooke (The ALWAYS SOMETIMES NEVER Rock Star Romance Series Book 2) Page 11