I look down at our hands, willing her to squeeze her little fingers around mine. My heart starts racing staring at our entwined hands and when nothing happens, my heart drops. I’m miserable. There’s absolutely nothing I can do right now to help her. If I could switch places, I’d do it in a heartbeat. I fought so hard to get her back and now she needs to fight to come back to me.
I refuse to give up on her. To give up on us.
“I’m just going to keep talking to you. If at any time you want to chime in, just let me know. I wouldn’t even care if you woke up to tell me to shut up so you can sleep. Just wake up.”
Laying my head down on our hands, I kiss hers. I’m at a loss for what to do in this situation. Ashtyn’s only eighteen years old and way too young to be going through this. She has to wake up. Her whole life is still in front of her.
“Ashtyn, I’m sorry. I don’t know what I was thinking. I won’t leave you. I love you. Do you hear me? I love you and I can’t imagine my life without you. I need you so much. More than you need me. I can’t do this without you. Please. I just need you to wake up. Come back to me.”
I can’t stop the tears from flowing now but I don’t do anything to hold them back. I just let them flow and hope she’ll come back to me.
Chapter 18
Ashtyn
I wake up and everything is foggy. I have a seriously bad migraine, and I’m guessing I had a little too much to drink last night. There’s a sharp pain on the side of my head and I feel a giant bump there. I open my eyes and spot Flynn sleeping in a chair next to my bed. He’s holding my other hand and his head is resting on top of them.
Where am I?
I hear a beeping and notice the IV in my hand. That’s when everything flashes back to me—the party, Chloe getting drunk, and me stupidly jumping in the car with her. But Flynn can’t be here. It was a going away party. They need to be getting on the road. This is all my fault.
A nurse comes in. She notices I’m awake and says, “Thank goodness, you’re awake. We were all starting to worry about your fiancé over there. He’s been glued to your bedside since you were brought in. Our number one priority has been you but I hated how badly it was eating away at that boy. You better hold onto him; he’s a keeper.”
She checks me out and writes some things down on my chart. Did she just call Flynn my fiancé? I guess I hit my head pretty hard if I forgot something like that.
Nope, no ring.
She must be confused. I start to correct her but she’s already heading toward the door. As she’s leaving, she lets me know that the doctor will be in shortly. She slams the door a little harder than I would like and Flynn starts to stir.
He squeezes my hand and pulls it to his mouth for a quick kiss. He leans back in his chair and stretches his body, and I see a peek of his glorious stomach underneath. When he leans forward again, his eyes finally meet my mine.
A small gasp leaves him before he smiles. “You’re awake.”
Groggily, I start to talk but my throat is insanely dry. “Water?”
Sucking it all up, I get some saliva going before trying to talk again.
“I woke up a few minutes ago. The nurse slammed the door and woke you up. I must have hit my head hard because she called you my fiancé, and I don’t remember that.”
Flynn looks a little sheepish when he responds. “They wouldn’t let me go in the ambulance with you so I said you were my fiancée. That was the only way they would have let me stay in here too.”
“Stay in here? How long have I been out?”
He pauses before saying, “You’ve been asleep for a little over a day. During the crash, you hit your head and knocked yourself out. I’ll wait for the doctor to explain all the technical shit.”
A little over a day? If that’s true then the band should be gone by now.
“Why are you still here? Aren’t the guys pissed? You better not be risking your future because of me.”
Avoiding eye contact with me, he says, “Don’t worry about that. I’m not going anywhere. I took care of it.”
How could he have taken care of anything? “What do you mean?”
He deflects my question. “That should be the least of your worries right now.”
If I wasn’t mad at him before, I’m furious now. He’s treating me like I’m a child. Why is he keeping this information from me? I’m not going to let him risk his or the band’s future because I was stupid enough to get in the car with Chloe.
Flynn’s eyes go wide when I raise my voice a little louder than necessary. “I’m not fragile, Flynn. Tell me what’s going on! You better not have risked the future of the band. Please just tell me what’s going on because I’ll be worrying about that until you tell me.”
Flynn sighs and says, “When your accident happened, I told Oliver there was no way I’d continue with the plan and leave the woman I love lying unconscious in a hospital bed. I got your text message, Ashtyn, and I saw the whole accident happen. I was right behind you. I told him if he was so eager to sign us then he would figure out something that would make it possible for me to stay here. I’ll admit, the guys were pissed, but there was no way I was willing to leave you. Your mom got involved and told him if he wanted to keep us around, which he does, she would be more than willing to offer up her studios. We’re still making the record but we’re doing it here instead of Portland.”
Mom would do anything to keep me happy, especially after how this summer started. She’s definitely warmed up to Flynn.
Wait! Did he just say he loves me?
“You love me?”
“Out of everything I just said, was that all you heard?”
I nod my head and I’m beaming. He loves me.
“Silly girl, I’m madly in love with you, and I can’t believe I ever thought of leaving you. When you had the accident and you were lying in this bed unconscious, I felt like half of me was missing. You’re it for me. I don’t want you to feel pressured into saying it back, but that’s how I feel.”
I don’t know what I ever did to deserve such an amazing man like Flynn but I’ll never let him go. I’m on cloud nine right now. Flynn’s eyes are so full of love for me that I say the one thing I’ve been holding in.
“I love you too, Flynn. I’m so madly in love with you, too.”
All of the tension leaves Flynn’s body. He leans down, giving me a peck on my lips. He’s so gentle but it’s not enough for me so I deepen the kiss. At first he fights it but after enough effort on my part, he’s right there with me.
The roughness of his stubble scratches my skin. I run my fingers along his face before settling on the back of his neck where I start playing with the little hairs back there. He lets out a low groan and starts getting into it.
I pull him down more so he’s lying on the bed with me and he starts moving his hand up my body. Immediately finding my breast, he starts massaging it while deepening the kiss. I let out a moan and our movements become frantic.
We can’t get enough of each other, and I push him up slightly to remove his shirt. Leaning up, he franticly removes it and tosses it off to the side before slamming his lips back down to mine.
Lost in each other, we’re startled when someone clears their throat. Flynn leaps off the bed and scrambles to find his shirt. Unable to control myself, I burst out laughing. After I come down off of my potentially drug-induced laugh, I find that the interruption was caused by not only a doctor, but my mother and the same nurse that was in here before. She winks at me but the other two look very serious.
Oops. I guess right now is not the time for fooling around.
The doctor clears his throat again before speaking to me. “We’re very happy you’re awake, Ashtyn.”
Yep, now is definitely not the time for that.
“You hit your head during the accident, and you were asleep for a little over a day. Your body kept you asleep so it could heal on its own until it was ready to wake up. We’ve been closely monitoring you and, so far, everyth
ing has been fine. We would like to keep you here for another day to continue monitoring you but we have no reason to believe you can’t go home after that. With that being said, I want you to take it very easy.”
The doctor turns his attention to Flynn and stares him down. Flynn looks away and chooses to ignore the obvious dig at our prior activities. With nothing else to do, I turn my attention back to the doctor with the biggest smile on my face and nod my head.
The room becomes awkwardly silent as the doctor just stands there clearing his throat. Breaking the silence, he says, “Right. Well, if you don’t have any more questions, I’ll leave you to it. The nurses will be in intermittently to monitor you.”
The awkward silence returns, and Mom speaks up, “Flynn, why don’t you go get yourself a cup of coffee. You can let the rest of the guys know Ashtyn is awake now.”
“Yeah, I’ll go. But I’m coming back in a half an hour. You can’t make me stay away any longer than that.”
Flynn leaves and I turn to my mom. “What do you mean the rest of the guys? Are they here?”
“For the short amount of time we’ve lived here, the waiting room is pretty full for you girls. All the guys from the band are here. Hudson and Jax have been taking turns staying with Chloe. You’ll have to fill me in on that one later. Your dad and Abbie are also here.”
“What? Why are they here? Can Abbie take time off? I know how serious she is about going to the Olympics.”
“We’ll talk about that later. What I want to know is what you were doing in the car with Chloe? They tested her blood alcohol level and it was well above the legal limit. You’re smarter than this, Ashtyn. I don’t know what you were thinking. I’m really disappointed in you. You could have died. Thank God you didn’t, but you could have.”
“Oh, my gosh, Chloe! I forgot about her. Is she okay? Do you know what the phone call was about?”
“Physically, Chloe is fine. Miraculously, you both only ended up with some scrapes and concussions. I guess she wasn’t driving very fast and drove you two into a tree. Unfortunately, emotionally she isn’t doing fine at all. She hasn’t talked since you both arrived. I know you’ll be mad if I keep this information from you but I want to prepare you that it’s not good news.”
“What is it, Mom?”
“The phone call Chloe received was from her grandmother. Chloe’s parents were in an accident and neither one of them made it. We don’t know the entire story but during one of the island stops on their cruise, they booked a flight to one of the smaller nearby islands. I guess they didn’t do their research because the plane they got on should have never been in the air and it crashed. Chloe had to be sedated when they brought you two in. She’s going to need our support, Ashtyn.”
My entire body starts shaking, and I can’t control the sobs that release. My mom pulls me to her as I continue drenching my face. I was angry at my parents at the beginning of the summer, but I can’t even fathom my life without them. Your parents aren’t supposed to leave your side until they’re old and gray. They’re supposed to fall asleep and never wake up like in The Notebook.
Nothing like this.
Chloe’s my best friend and when she hurts, I hurt. I’ve abandoned her these last couple of days and I need to be by her side.
“I don’t understand how this could happen. I need to see her. I can’t just leave her in her room to go through this alone. She needs me.”
“I know you want to be there for Chloe, honey, but you need to think about yourself right now. You were both in the accident and you just woke up. You were asleep for almost two days. As soon as your doctor gives you the okay, I’ll let you visit Chloe, but until then, I need you to stay in bed. Chloe has other people worrying for her right now. I can’t go through what I have been going through these past couple of days again. You put me through absolute hell, Ashtyn. I’m not sure who was a worse mess, Flynn or me. He refused to leave your side. If he hasn’t said it yet, you must know he absolutely loves you.”
“I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking. I needed to make sure Chloe didn’t do something stupid, which caused me to do something stupid. I thought if I got in the car with her, I could get her to pull over. That went out the window when she answered her phone. I told you it’s dangerous to be on your cell while driving. No phone call could ever be worth it. And I do know how Flynn feels about me because I feel the same way about him. You will say I’m young and have my whole life ahead of me, but he’s the one. I can’t imagine being with anyone else”
“This might make me sound like a bad person but in the future, don’t do stupid shit like that again. I love Chloe like she were my own daughter but no one is worth you risking your life for. I want you to remember that.”
Nodding my head I say, “I won’t ever do anything like that again.”
Sagging against me, she relaxes and I hope some of the stress from the last few days is slipping away. She must have been wrecked. I put everyone through this because I was trying to be a good friend. Then again, if Chloe wasn’t so selfish, I would’ve never left the party in the first place.
I can’t believe that thought even crossed my mind. There’s no one to blame for what happened. It happened and it sucks, but I can’t sit here dwelling when both Chloe and I made it out of the accident alive.
Our sob fest is interrupted when the door opens again. Letting go of Mom, I find Dad and Abbie standing by the door. I find myself breaking down even more because I can’t believe it. My whole family is here. There’s no way I’m getting what I wanted. They’re just here because I was in an accident, right? I can’t get my hopes up about this. Can I? Is it possible that my family is getting back together? Huh. Maybe I hit my head a little too hard during the accident.
Abbie breaks down in sobs and runs over to the bed, throwing her arms around me. “I’m so happy you’re okay. I was so terrified you weren’t going to be, and I would lose my big sister.”
Leaning back, I wipe away the tears that have drenched her face. “There’s no way I’d leave you, Abbie. You’re my little sister and I have to take care of you. My job isn’t done yet and things are going to be changing. I haven’t been the big sister I should’ve been to you, and I’m sorry for that.”
I pull her even tighter to me and cry right along with her. It shouldn’t have taken me getting into a car accident to bring us closer. I love my little sister, and I can’t imagine my life without her.
Right here and now, I vow to take more of an interest in her life and actually become friends with her. A four-year age difference isn’t that big of a deal and shouldn’t put a wedge between us. Life is too short to not build relationships with the people in your life.
I let go of Abbie and push her forward slightly. “Wait, what are you guys even doing here? Don’t you have a crazy practice schedule now? Were they okay with you just taking off?”
Abbie shakes her head. “No. Actually, I quit.”
I don’t even know what to say. Before we left, gymnastics was her life. What could have changed in the short amount of time we’ve been gone?
“What do you mean, you quit?”
“You don’t need to worry about that, Ashtyn. Dad and I want our family back. Besides, if the school here doesn’t have a gymnastics team, I can be like that chick from Bring it On and become a cheerleader.”
We both crack up laughing at that one. Every time Chloe and I watched that movie, Abbie always insisted on watching it with us.
Wait. Did she say the school here?
“Wait, you guys are moving here? Mom? Dad? You aren’t getting a divorce?”
My dad wraps me up in a big hug and holds onto me tightly. There’s nothing in the world better than getting a bear hug from your dad. Too bad there are girls out there that don’t get to experience that. I squeeze him back tightly and he leans back.
“We’re going to try and work on things. We shouldn’t have jumped to divorce so quickly and put you and your sister in the middle of it. Your mom and I talke
d about it and moving here might be better for the whole family. It will be more relaxed.”
I can’t contain my excitement, and I grab my dad and burst into tears. My family isn’t splitting up. I wish I could cheer Chloe up. It isn’t fair everything in my life is turning out so well while hers turns into a giant shit storm. I shouldn’t be allowed to be so happy right now. I need to make everything better for her. She’s my best friend and everything around her is falling apart. I don’t want her senior year to be only remembered as the year she lost and mourned her parents.
Chapter 19
Flynn
Too exhausted to do anything, I head to the waiting room. Jax is sitting by himself and Hudson is nowhere in sight. Jude’s sitting in the corner with Ashtyn’s sister Abbie. She’s sobbing uncontrollably but Jude seems to have it handled.
I crash in the chair next to Jax and lean all the way back, looking at the ceiling. The past couple of days have been the longest of my life. I contemplate asking how Chloe is doing but before I can even say anything, Jax yells out.
“Holy shit!”
“What?” I swear Jax is just as much of a drama queen as most high school girls.
“Carl Wilson just walked in.”
Holy shit is right.
My entire body stiffens and I don’t move. What the fuck is he doing here? If I can’t see him, then maybe he won’t see me. No such luck.
“Flynn, what are you doing here?”
I avoid eye contact with Jax. I’m exhausted and pick the easier of the two problems to deal with.
“Ashtyn’s my girlfriend. What are you doing here?”
He just nods his head like he understands. “I’m temporarily taking over for Audrey. She’s become a good friend of mine, and I wanted to check in on her.”
“What the fuck, Dad? Are you the reason why Ashtyn’s parents are getting a divorce?”
Finding Flynn Page 15