by Chloe Walsh
Unable to hear him from the noise around me, I quickly dashed out of the house and down the porch steps, and practically floated down the driveway – a challenge for a woman in my condition – desperate to find somewhere quieter.
"Thorn."
One word. One freaking word and I was a puddle on the already slippery ground. "I can't believe you did it." Releasing a contented sigh, I smiled like an idiot, still crying. "Have you any idea how proud I am of you?"
A low growl came through the line. "God, that sounds so fucking hot," he purred. "Say it again."
"Say what?" Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Uncle Max on the top step of his porch. Lifting my hand up, I waved and grinned like a maniac when he waved back at me.
"Tell me you were watching my fight and how turned on watching me breaking Cole's spinal cord made you."
"You're such a weirdo," I chuckled. Excitement fluttered inside of me. "But I love you."
Noah sighed down the line. "I love you too, Thorn."
"You'll be home tomorrow?"
"I'm boarding a red-eye flight tonight," he assured me. "I'll be there when you wake up."
"Good," I whispered. "Because I miss my husband."
"And your husband misses his wife."
"Are you sore?" I asked, looking both ways before making my way across the road towards my uncle. "Need a back rub?"
"Like you wouldn't believe," he said gruffly.
The sound of female laughter in the background caused me to stop dead in the middle of the road.
"Company?" I asked, tone snarky.
"Colton's company," Noah chuckled, quickly reassuring me. "You're the only company I keep these days."
"Damn straight," I shot back, smirking. "And I plan on keeping you company plenty when you come back…"
"Teagan!"
Startled by the sound of my name being roared, I looked around, and saw my uncle's frantic expression as he waved his hands in the air and ran down his porch steps towards me.
"Get off the road!"
"Teagan?" I heard Noah demand, "What's going on?" But I couldn't answer him.
My attention was focused entirely on the blinding headlights that were coming straight for me.
Throwing my arms up to protect my stomach, I braced myself for impact.
And when it came it took everything with it.
After that, there was only darkness.
****
Noah
I heard my wife tell me she loved me and I sighed heavily. "I love you, too, Thorn."
Leaning back against the cool brick wall of my dressing room, I spread my legs out and tried to relax my muscles.
Cole had given me one hell of a fight. He was a wrestler and my shoulder was in fucking agony from the takedowns he'd managed to execute, but I'd done it.
Like I'd always believed I could.
I was the champion.
Me…
The fucked up kid from the wrong side of the tracks was the heavyweight champion.
I was pissing blood and sporting a few broken ribs, but I had that belt, and I had my wife.
Teagan's voice drew me back to the present when she asked, "You'll be home tomorrow?"
Hell fucking yes I would be home tomorrow.
I didn't want to be away from her tonight.
I wouldn't be away from her if it weren't for Lucky's assurance that he'd take good care of her.
I knew the road wasn't the place for a woman in Teagan's condition, but it didn't make me feel any better by leaving her at home.
"I'm boarding a red-eye flight tonight," I promised, with more emotion in my voice than I intended there to be. "I'll be there when you wake up." That was something I was looking forward to. A month on the road with Colton and I'd had all I could handle of other people's relationships. I needed my own bed with my wife in it.
"Good," Teagan whispered. "Because I miss my husband."
I could hear the longing in her voice and it sent a pang of guilt straight through me.
I shouldn't have left her…
"And your husband misses his wife."
"Are you sore?" she asked. "Need a back rub?"
"Like you wouldn't believe," I admitted. I was beyond sore. Thankfully, I got to rest up for a while now. I had the title. I was the fucking champ. My next fight would be on my terms.
The door of my dressing room slammed inwards then and in walked Colton, draped in his catch of the day – a pretty little brunette. The girl was laughing loudly at something Colt had said when I heard my wife's sharp intake of breath.
"Company?" Teagan demanded, tone pissy and sour.
"Colton's company," I said, quickly correcting her. "You're the only company I keep these days."
"Damn straight," Teagan pouted. "And I plan on keeping you company plenty when you come back…"
"Teagan?" I demanded when her voice cut off abruptly, "What's going on?"
Nothing.
"Thorn!"
The line went dead.
What the…
Shaking my head, I redialed her number.
It went straight to voicemail.
A beeping noise alerted me to an incoming call.
Teagan's name flashed up in big, bold letters on the screen.
Relief flooded me. "Thorn, are you okay –"
"Come home," I heard my brother order in a breathless tone. "Come home now, Noah!"
"Kyle!" Panic laced my gut and I jerked to my feet just as his voice disappeared from the line.
"Hold on, Blondie," I heard my brother call out and everything inside of my body plummeted.
"Kyle!" I roared, as I paced the floor of my dressing room. "Is it Teagan?" I ran a hand through my hair. "Answer me, goddammit."
"Noah?" That was Logan. Concern was etched on his face as he came to stand beside me. "What's going on?"
"I don't know," I hissed, feeling helpless as I clutched my phone. "Kyle!"
The sounds of sirens in the background flooded my ears and I balked.
"Help her," I heard my brother howl and I lost it.
"God fucking dammit, somebody talk to me!" Shoving Logan away from me, I started to run for the door, only stopping when I realized I was three hundred miles away from my wife.
"Is she okay?" I could hardly stay upright as I paced the dressing room like a caged animal.
"I'm doing my best," another man roared hoarsely. Max Jones, I realized. "Come on, Teagan," he begged frantically. "Come on."
My legs gave way beneath me
Collapsing to my knees, I struggled to breathe and the walls closed in around me.
"Noah, it's me." Hope's came on the line. "There's been an accident…" her voice broke off as a huge sob racked through her.
"An accident?" I demanded, frantic.
Please don't say it…
"Please don't say she's dead," I choked out.
"You need to come home right now." Hope repeated the words her father had just told me. "Fast, Noah," she added. "As fast as you can."
"I'm coming." My voice didn't sound like my own.
My body didn't feel like it belonged to me. I was moving purely on instinct.
Moving with a desperation I'd only felt once before in my life.
When she was in danger.
Only this time was worse. I had more to lose.
I had everything to lose.
"Tell her to hold on," I begged. "I'm on the way."
****
Hope
We were all gathered in my parent's house to watch Noah's fight, but the celebration quickly came to a halt when the sound of car tires screeching, followed by a piercing scream silencing, sliced through the room.
Like I always did when something spooked me, I looked to my dad for reassurance, but he was frozen in the doorway into the kitchen with a bottle of beer in each of hand. His eyes were locked on my mother and I watched a flurry of emotions play out on his face for a brief moment – fear, terror, relief – and then he jumped into action.
Dropping the bottles on the floor, Dad leapt clean over the coffee table, racing to the front door to where the noise had come from.
As soon as my Dad had moved, I found myself running after him.
The sight that hit me when I followed him out into the street was one that would haunt me until my dying day.
Teagan was lying in the middle of the road.
Her body was twisted at a peculiar angle and she was covered in a horrific concoction of red stained snow. A pool of blood was growing around her limp frame as her uncle knelt beside her, crying.
"No, no, no," I heard my father cry out hoarsely as he ran to my best friend. Several feet down the road was a mangled car on fire.
The road was icy and I struggled to keep my balance as I rushed to Teagan's aid. "Teegs," I cried out. "Oh my god." My heart was racing. "Is she okay?"
I knew she wasn’t, but I had to ask.
There was too much blood.
Gagging, I collapsed on the ground beside my friend.
There was blood everywhere. I'd never seen so much come from one human being.
"Save her," I begged my father and Max Jones, who were both kneeling over Teagan's lifeless body
"Is she breathing?" Dad shouted hoarsely, shaking as he sat back on his knees, looking helpless and torn.
"I don’t know."
"What do you mean you don’t know? You're supposed to be the doctor."
"I can't…" Max choked out a sob. "Oh god, Teagan, hold on, sweetheart."
I could hear my mother from somewhere behind me.
She was talking to an emergency operator, doling out directions and begging for them to hurry.
I watched in horror as Dad retrieved Teagan's cell from the ground. "Come home," he choked out, barely able to hold the phone from the force of his trembling. "Come home now, Noah."
Oh god, Noah...
Scrambling over to my father, I ripped the phone from his hands. "Noah, it's me," I cried out, trembling. "There's been an accident. Teagan, she's –"
I couldn’t say it.
How could I tell him?
"An accident?" I heard him roar down the line. "Please don’t say she's dead."
"You need to come home right now," was all I replied. "Fast, Noah. As fast as you can."
"I'm coming," he choked out. "Tell her to hold on. I'm on the way."
When the call disconnected, I shrugged off my sweater and crawled over to where Teagan lay motionless on the road.
"Noah said you better hold on," I sobbed. Tucking my sweater beneath her head to protect her skull from the ice, I cupped her cheek with a trembling hand and stared down at her blue tinged lips. "You've never a quit a day in your life, Teagan Connolly. So don’t start tonight."
"How long for the ambulance?" Max called out, frantic.
"Twenty minutes," Mom sobbed from somewhere behind me.
"That's too long," Max cried. "She won't last another ten."
Stringing out an impressive array of f-bombs, my father scooped Teagan up in his arms. "Don’t touch her!" Max exclaimed. "She could have a broken neck."
"Well we can't fucking leave her here, can we?" Dad roared back as he shifted her into his arms. "You said it yourself, there's no goddamn time." The movement alone caused the blood that was pouring from her legs to increase rapidly. "It's okay, Teagan," he assured her, as he rushed to his truck.
"Open the fucking door," he commanded. "I'm getting her to a hospital," he said as he bundled my best friend into the back of the truck, "if I have to drive her there myself."
I watched in a frozen state of horror as Max Jones climbed into the back of my father's truck with Teagan. Slamming the door shut on them, Dad ran around to the driver's side of his truck and jumped in.
The engine roared to life, and then they were gone.
****
Chapter Fourteen
Noah
"Where is she?" I demanded the second I stepped foot through the doors of the ICU in St. Luke's Hospital. "Where is my wife?"
Instantly, I was surrounded by an entourage of Carters and Teagan's uncle Max.
"Noah," Max choked out, voice torn. "You made it. Thank God."
Whatever I had been feeling before, whatever flicker of hope I'd kept alight inside of me on the five-hour flight to Denver, fizzled out and died the moment I heard those words come out of Teagan's uncle's mouth.
"Is she dead?" I whispered, staggering forward. "Is she…"
I couldn’t speak.
My words were choking me.
"Fuck," I snarled, nostrils flaring. "Somebody fucking say something!"
Max's face contorted in pain. "I'm…" Tears poured down his cheeks as he dropped his head. "So sorry…"
"No," I roared, staggering backwards.
I couldn't breathe.
I couldn't see.
"No. No. No. Don’t fucking say you're sorry, Max. Damn…"
"They did everything they could to save them both," Max sobbed, "But they couldn’t… I'm so sorry, but she's gone."
"What do you mean she's gone?" I demanded. A horrible feeling of dread loomed in my stomach, one I refused to acknowledge. "Gone where?"
I looked around the room, hoping a sign of some sort would jump out at this very moment and slip the fragments of this conversation that I was missing into place.
"Noah Messina?" A middle-aged doctor walked towards me, flanked by several nurses. He was dressed in scrubs. He looked like he'd come fresh from surgery.
"That's me," I managed to say, though my throat felt like sandpaper.
"Mr. Messina, the impact of the vehicle collision caused your wife to suffer a stage three placental abruption," the doctor told me, voice worn and weary. "We had to perform an emergency cesarean section to stem the loss of blood. Fortunately, we were able to control the hemorrhaging and didn’t have to go through with a total hysterectomy."
"Placental abruption?" I choked out, shaking. Out of the corner of my eyes, I spotted several nurses and doctors coming over to us, but I couldn’t concentrate on them. I was in shock. "Hysterectomy?" My body felt weak. I couldn’t breathe. "I don’t fucking know what those words mean."
The doctor looked at me with sympathetic eyes. "Your wife was very sick, Mr. Messina," he said sadly. "In order to save her life, we had no choice but to deliver immediately, which unfortunately resulted in an intrauterine fetal death."
From somewhere behind me, I heard the sounds of crying.
This was bad.
So fucking bad.
Numb, I stood looking at the doctor, unblinking, as I tried to make sense of the words that were coming out of his mouth. Every ounce of my body felt numb with the exception of my heart. I could feel my heart. It was hammering in my chest, threatening to burst through my ribcage
"I'm no fucking scholar," I snarled. "Talk to me like a fucking man, dammit."
Shaking his head, the doctor placed his hand on my shoulder and sighed. "I'm so sorry Mr. Messina, but your daughter didn’t survive the birth."
"She's dead?" I couldn’t comprehend what I was hearing. "But she only had two more weeks." My eyes were damp and burning. "She should have been fine…"
"Unfortunately, the impact was too much for her tiny body," the doctor replied sadly. "And she was deprived of oxygen for almost an hour. The trauma was simply too much for her organs."
"How the fuck did this happen?" I roared, furious and delirious. Swinging around, my eyes locked on Lucky. Stalking over to him, I fisted his shirt and dragged him towards me. "You told me you'd take care of her."
"I'm so fucking sorry, Noah," he hissed with tears in his eyes. "It happened so fast –" His voice broke off and he shook his head. "I don’t know what happened."
"Where is she?" I barked out a harsh cry, releasing my hold. "Where's my baby?"
I looked around at the familiar faces, begging them with my eyes to tell me the doctor was wrong.
"No," I half roared, half cried.
I backed away from t
he doctors, not wanting to hear another word of this bullshit.
It wasn’t true.
It couldn’t be true.
How?
Fucking how had this happened?
All of a sudden, it felt like every ounce of energy, every drop of adrenalin I'd been running on evaporated from my body.
Sinking to my knees, I dropped my head in my hands and cried. I cried more in that moment than I had in twenty-six years.
And then my brother was on his knees in front on me.
Grabbing ahold of my shoulders, Kyle dragged me into his embrace. "You need to be strong, kid," he whispered in my ear as he held me tightly. "Be strong for your woman."
"Why?" My eyes were burning. I was hyperventilating. "Why, Kyle? Why did this happen to us?"
Cupping my face in his hands, Kyle looked straight at me with tear-filled blue eyes. "I am so fucking sorry this is happening to you, but you will survive this."
"I can't." Shaking my head, I fought back the urge to scream. "I won't…"
"You will," he promised. "I know it may seem like you can't right now and it's okay to be scared, but you will get through this, baby brother." He pressed a rough kiss to my forehead. "I promise."
"Teagan…" Tears were flowing freely from my face, something I was fairly certain had never happened to me before. "I need to see her." I coughed and gasped for air as my brother helped me to my feet. "I need to see my wife."
"It was touch and go for a while there, Mr. Messina," the doctor told me. "We lost her for a moment on the operating table, but your wife is one stubborn little lady. She's had several blood transfusions to help her body cope with the loss." The doctor looked between me and Kyle. "If you're brother hadn't gotten her here in time? Well." The doctor shook his head. "This could very well have been a far bigger tragedy."
Relief like I'd never felt before flooded through me and if it weren't for my brother's arms around me, I would have collapsed right there on the hospital floor.