“All you’re going to tell him is that she’s been in an accident. That’s all you know. She might be sitting up, smiling when we get there.”
I nod, wanting to believe him, before I find Daniel Hayes’ number on my phone.
“Spencer?” he says when he answers.
“Shit.” Words are stuck in my throat.
“What’s wrong.”
I swallow past the enormous lump in my throat and try to man up, but I do a pretty shitty job of it when I choke out, “Charlie’s been in a car accident. They’re taking her to the hospital right now...” I swallow the emotions that threaten to overwhelm me.
“Is she...Is she all right?”
“I don’t know.” I take a steadying breath and focus. “I’m going to make a call, someone will be at your place soon to pick you up and bring you here.”
I make the required calls, to Jill, Daphne, and when I end the one with my sister Ava, Prescott is pulling the car to the curb outside of the emergency room.
Nothing matters but Charlie, and I know I raise a few eyebrows as I push my way through the line, demanding the nurse at the front desk tell me where they’ve taken her. When the gray-haired woman only sneers at me, Prescott steps in. I pace while he talks to her, and I’m not sure what he says, but it works, and a few seconds later we’re being escorted through the double doors to a small, private waiting room.
“What the hell is this?” I demand.
The male nurse who ushered us back here gives me a hard look, but I see sympathy in his eyes, and I want to hit him for it. “Someone will be in shortly to talk to you.”
“Talk to me about what?” I yell.
Prescott steps in front of me when I move to follow the nurse out of the room. “Cool it, man. I asked them to give us a private room while we wait.”
“I don’t want to fucking wait. I need to see her.”
“What you need is to let the doctors do their job.”
I sit down heavily in one of the plastic covered chairs and let the deep groan I’ve been holding back rip from my chest.
Prescott sits across from me, knees on his thighs, and I know he wants to say something.
“What?”
“This wasn’t just an accident,” he says, voicing my fear.
I shake my head. “She said someone was following her.”
“Did she say what kind of car, or if she got a look at the driver?”
A deep cold settles in my chest. “She said Tatum’s name.”
Prescott frowns at me. “The football player?”
I drag my fingers through my hair, tugging at it. “The guy is obsessed with her, but he wouldn’t hurt her.” I saw what a mess he’d been when he’d hit her by accident.
Prescott heaves a heavy sigh. “Maybe it wasn’t her he was trying to hurt.”
“What are you talking about.”
“Think about it. She was driving your car.”
I frown at him. “You don’t know this guy. I hate how close he is with Charlie, but he’s not an asshole. He wouldn’t...”
Prescott shrugs and we sit in silence for what seems like hours before a doctor comes in. He doesn’t get a chance to speak before Jill and Daphne, followed by Tatum, come into the room, all three looking about as miserable as I feel.
“Is she okay?” Daphne asks, a little too dramatically.
“Can we see her?” Jill wrings her hands together, real concern in her eyes.
Tatum stands back, his face ashen, and Prescott’s words ring through my head again. But as much as I dislike the dude, he doesn’t strike me as the vengeful type. And I’m usually pretty good at reading people. What I do see when I look at him is grief.
“Are you family?” the doctor asks, looking displeased by the sudden intrusion.
I’m not exactly happy about them being here either, but I’m more concerned about Charlie.
“Just tell us. How is she?” I demand, standing and meeting the man’s beady eyes. I’m pretty sure Prescott already played the money card at the front desk, because the man just swallows and nods.
“She suffered a concussion, and there was some damage to her spleen, but she’s stable now and currently in the ICU.”
I let out the breath I was holding in. “Take me to her.”
“Our policy only allows—”
“My family donated six million to your research program last year alone, so unless you want to be the one responsible for losing future funding, I suggest you take me to her now.”
The man winces but gives a small nod and motions for me to follow him.
She’s all right, I say over and over in my head as we walk down the corridor and through a few sets of automatic doors.
I don’t know what to expect, especially when we pass other rooms with patients hooked up to machines helping them breathe, tubes and wires everywhere. But I feel like my heart starts beating again when I turn the corner of the small room and see Charlie sitting up in bed, a smile spreading across her lips when her gaze lands on me.
She lets out a small cry as I remove the distance between us and wrap my arms around her.
“Ouch. Careful.”
“Shit.” I pull back, realizing I was leaning on her IV. “Sorry.” Cupping her jaw, I kiss her softly. “You scared the shit out of me.”
She lets out a small laugh. “I scared myself. But the doctor said I’m going to be all right.”
I take her in, the small gauze bandage on her forehead, the monitors that are attached to her chest.
“He said something about your spleen?”
She winces and gingerly places her hand on her side. “Something dug into me. I think they said twenty-four stitches. But I’m in a lot better shape than your car. God, I’m so sorry—”
I tangle my fingers in her hair and kiss her forehead, her nose, her lips. “I can buy another car. There’ll never be another Charlotte Hayes.”
“I love you,” she breathes out.
“You have no idea how much I love you,” I tell her. “Do you remember what happened?”
Her mouth tugs down. “Everything is still so blurry. I was talking to you, and there was a car...”
“Did you see the make or model?”
She licks her lips and nods slowly.
“Charlie?” I place my thumb under her chin and lift her face to me when she looks away. My chest squeezes in warning, but I demand, “Tell me.”
“It was a Taurus. I don’t know what color, because it was dark.”
My nostrils flare, and I try to hold back the anger that starts to bubble inside, because I know that’s the exact make and model that Tatum drives.
“And the driver? Did you see him?” I can tell she wants to hold something back. “Charlie. If it’s someone you know, it could be the same person who sent you the notes and vandalized your dorm.”
“I know,” she says weakly.
“It’s not just you the person has hurt, it’s also Ava,” I say, knowing she won’t tell me unless I make this not just about her. “If you saw them—”
“It was a guy...” She blinks and a tear runs down her cheek. “After the accident, he stopped and got out of the car. I didn’t see his face, but...” Her bottom lip trembles and she closes her eyes for a brief moment. “He had on a Princeton Athletics sweatshirt. It had a stain on the back...”
“Okay,” I say, trying to remain calm, and get as much information from her as possible. “What else?”
“I caused it.”
“What?”
She blinks and shakes her head. “Bleach. I accidentally dropped some on the sweatshirt when I was washing it.”
“I don’t understand.” But then it hits me - she used to do Tatum’s laundry.
Fuck. I didn’t want to believe it. Not really. But there’s no denying the truth now. Fury burns so hot that I’m surprised my entire body doesn’t combust from it. I’ll kill the motherfucker. Even if he didn’t know she was the one driving, he still put Charlie at risk.
&nb
sp; I kiss her forehead again. “I’ll deal with it. Everything is going to be okay.”
“Tatum,” she says on a gasp.
At first, I think she’s admitting that it was him who caused the accident, but then I follow her gaze. Glancing over my shoulder, I see the bastard hovering in the doorway.
“Sorry,” he mutters. “I know I shouldn’t be here, but I wanted to make sure—”
He doesn’t get the last words out, because I have him by the collar of his jacket and slammed up against the wall. The guy is bigger than me, but he doesn’t have the adrenaline rushing through his veins that I do in this moment. And when I slam my fist into his face, he doesn’t even try to stop me.
“What the hell is that for?” Tatum spits out.
“Get the fuck out of here. And I swear to God I will kill you if you ever go near her again.”
He has the nerve to look at me like I’ve lost my mind - and maybe I have. The thought of losing Charlie did something to me tonight.
“Spencer,” Charlie says softly behind me, but I’m fixated on the asshole who almost killed her.
“You won’t get away with this. Any of it. Once my lawyers are done with you, you’ll be lucky to get out of prison before—”
“Jesus, Beckett. You’re insane. What are you talking about?”
I’m about to slam my fist in his face again, but alarms start going off around me. There’s a split second of disorientation before I realize that they’re coming from Charlie’s machine.
When I glance back at the bed, her eyes are closed and her face has gone ashen. I move to the side of the bed and take her face in my hands, but she doesn’t respond. “Charlie? No. Don’t do this. Please, please, please. Wake up, sweetheart.” I press my lips to hers. Nothing, and the monitors continue to beep erratically. I turn back to Tatum whose standing like a statue. “Get some fucking help.”
But before he has a chance to move, a whole team is pouring into the room. Someone pushes me aside, and there’s a flurry of activity.
“Help me,” I yell, trying to get back to her. “Charlie, come on...wake up sweetheart.”
“Get them out of here,” someone shouts.
“She’s flatlining,” one of the nurses says as the erratic beeping stops, followed by one high-pitched tone.
No. No. No.
This is not happening. She’s fine. She was just sitting up, talking to me.
I’m yelling, but I’m not sure what the hell I’m saying, and when large hands grab me and pull me out of the room I fight like a banshee to get back to her. It isn’t until I’m up against a wall, that I realize it’s Tatum whose fingers dig into my shoulder.
“I need to help—”
“You can’t do anything but get in the way.”
I fight him, knowing that the only thing in this world that matters is being ripped away. And there’s nothing I can do.
“Get the fuck off me,” I growl at Tatum. “Can’t...can’t lose her.”
His hands drop and I see his strength drain from him. “It looks like we’re both going to lose her,” he tells me, his own eyes filled with tears as we both hear the long monotone beep that comes from the other room.
It’s the sound of my own heart shattering across the floor of this cold and sterile hospital room.
It’s the sound of the woman I love, dying. She isn’t even in my arms, where she belongs.
It’s the sound of our happily-ever-after being ripped away from us, one last time.
Princeton Charming Series
Kissing Princeton Charming
Dating Princeton Charming
Losing Princeton Charming
Forever Princeton Charming
C.M. Seabrook
Amazon bestselling author C.M. Seabrook writes hot, steamy romances with possessive bad boys, and the passionate, fiery women who love them. Swoonworthy romances from the heart!
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Also by C.M. Seabrook
Men with Wood Series
Second Draft
Second Shot
Fighting Blind Series
Theo
Moody
Wild Irish Series
Wild Irish
Tempting Irish
Taming Irish
Savages & Saints Series
Torment
Gravity
Salvage
Beast
Standalones
Melting Steel
Frankie Love
Frankie Love writes sexy stories about bad boys and mountain men. As a thirty-something mom who is ridiculously in love with her own bearded hottie, she believes in love-at-first-sight and happily-ever-afters. She also believes in the power of a quickie.
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Also by Frankie Love
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MOUNTAIN MAN BUN
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Untamed Lovers
Untamed Daddy
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HIS BILLION DOLLAR SECRET BABY
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RUGGED
HIS MAKE BELIEVE BRIDE
HIS KINKY VIRGIN
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ORDERED BY THE MOUNTAIN MAN
WIFED BY THE MOUNTAIN MAN
EXPLORED BY THE MOUNTAIN MAN
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COURTED BY THE MOUNTAIN PRINCE
CHARMED BY THE MOUNTAIN PRINCE
CROWNED BY THE MOUNTAIN PRINCE
CROWN ME, PRINCE: The Complete Collection
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HOLLYWOOD HOLDEN
SAINT JUDE
THE COMPLETE COLLECTION
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Losing Princeton Charming Page 13