by A. K. Evans
“How did this happen?” Colton seethed.
“Hit and run,” Dom replied. “She was walking out of work.”
“What’s the extent of her injuries?” Memphis wondered.
Kendall answered, “No broken bones. She’s got a sprained knee and ankle, scrapes, bruises, cuts, and a severe concussion.”
Suddenly, we heard a sharp intake of air. The eyes of everyone in the room shot to Jolie. She was blinking her eyes, staring straight ahead at Colton and Memphis. Her brows pulled together, but she winced as she did it. Then, her eyes went to her sister.
“Am I in trouble?”
“What? No. Why would you be in trouble?”
She looked back to her brothers, confusion taking over her features, before she worried, “The police are here.”
My entire body tensed. This could not be happening.
Kendall looked over at Pierce and ordered, “Find her doctor now.”
Pierce took off.
“Doctor?” Jolie repeated looking back at Kendall.
“Can you tell me your name?”
“Am I in trouble?” she asked again.
The burning started in my lungs and worked its way up my throat. I glanced around the room and saw that everyone knew just how bad this was.
A minute later, Pierce was back with the doctor.
Ava and Kendall stepped back as the doctor walked right up to her and shined a light in her eyes.
“How are you feeling?” he asked her.
“I have a headache,” she answered. “Am I in trouble?”
“No, you’re not in trouble.”
“Why are the police here?”
“Can you tell me your name?”
She nodded but didn’t answer.
“What’s your name?”
“Jojo.”
I felt only mildly relieved that she knew who she was. She still hadn’t looked in my direction and I didn’t know if I was prepared for that either. If she didn’t recognize her brothers, how would she ever know who I was?
“Great,” the doctor praised her. “Can you tell me where you are, Jojo?”
Jojo looked at him, then her sister, back down at her body, nervously to Colton and Memphis, and back to the doctor.
“The hospital.”
“Good.”
“But am I in trouble?” she asked again, her eyes darting back to her brothers.
“You are not in trouble,” the doctor reassured her. “Can you introduce me to all these people in the room with you?”
Her eyes were on Kendall when she answered, “That’s my sissy.”
The breath left Kendall’s lungs fast.
“That’s Ava,” she continued before she moved her eyes to Pierce, Cruz, and Holden. She struggled with them. “Do I know them?” she whispered.
I knew that Jolie had met them before, but I wasn’t sure how well she knew any of them.
“It’s okay if you don’t,” Kendall answered. “Introduce everyone else.”
“Those guys are the police,” she went on, referring to Colton and Memphis.
Her eyes came to the right side of the bed. She locked gazes with Dom.
“Dom, am I in trouble?”
“No, Jojo, you’re not in trouble,” he answered, his voice gruff.
She was still worried. “Don’t let them arrest me,” she begged.
“You’re not getting arrested. You’re not in trouble.”
She turned her head slightly to look at me. She looked at me a long time, saying nothing. I couldn’t remember feeling more scared in my entire life than I did at that moment, worried sick that the only woman I’d ever opened my heart to and fallen in love with wouldn’t remember me.
“What are you doing here?” she asked, her voice a whisper.
Shit.
Shit.
“Jolie?” I returned, not knowing what else to say.
“He’s going to be angry,” she said quietly.
My brows pulled together. “Who?”
“Dom. He doesn’t know we’re seeing each other.”
She remembered me.
She remembered me but didn’t remember that we told her brother about us.
“He knows, baby,” I assured her. “He’s not angry.”
Her eyes went back to Dom. I didn’t look at him, but I assumed she got the reassurance she needed from him because she looked back at me and gave me a small smile.
“What happened?” she asked. “Am I in trouble?”
The doctor jumped in. “Jolie, you were in an accident. Do you remember the accident?”
She looked down at her lap, clearly trying to remember the accident. “No,” she finally answered.
“Okay. Well, you were injured in the accident and you hit your head pretty hard. I think you’re going to have a headache for a couple of days and it seems you’re suffering from a bit of memory loss. This is all common and I expect your symptoms will subside. Some may only take a few hours, but others could take a couple of days. You have a sprained ankle and a sprained knee along with a lot of bruising, scrapes, and cuts. That will all take a lot longer to heal.”
“I feel tired.”
The doctor assured her, “That’s expected. We’re going to keep you here overnight for observation. We’ll see how you’re doing in the morning and decide where to go from there.”
At that, the doctor walked out of the room. Kendall followed behind him. No sooner did they walk out when Jolie’s parents came running in.
“Jojo, darling. Are you okay?”
“Am I in trouble, Mom? Don’t let them arrest me, Dad.”
Fear washed over her parents’ faces as they came to an abrupt halt.
“She’s suffering from some memory loss,” Dom explained. “The doctor expects that to go away. It could take a few hours to a few days.”
“Dom? Lorenzo?” Colton called, speaking for the first time since Jolie woke up. “A word, please.”
I stood to give Jolie’s parents some room to see their daughter and to walk out of the room with her brothers, but her hand gripped mine tight.
“What’s wrong, Jolie?”
“Don’t let them arrest you,” she pleaded.
“Nobody is getting arrested,” I assured her. “I’m stepping outside the room a minute. I’ll be right back.”
She loosened her hold on my hand. I leaned down, pressed a kiss to her temple, and walked out of the room.
The minute Dom and I were there with Colton and Memphis and the rest of the guys, Colton all but roared, “What’s being done right now to find out who did this to her?”
“Detective Baines and his guys are already working on it,” Dom began. “Our team is on it, too. We’ll find out whoever did this to her.”
“You need to make sure Baines knows he’s got a deadline before I get involved,” he snapped.
Kendall walked up and wrapped her hand around his bicep. “You’ve got to keep it together, Colt. She’s going to be alright.”
“She doesn’t fucking know who we are!” he barked.
Kendall closed her eyes. “I know. But I also know what is happening with her. She’s really confused right now and she’s perseverating. That’s why she keeps asking the same question over and over again. You’ve got to be patient and give her time to heal.”
I couldn’t even begin to imagine the grief Colton and Memphis were feeling. If Jolie hadn’t remembered me, I didn’t think I’d be handling it half as well as they were.
“I don’t want to leave her right now, but I don’t think we’re helping either,” Memphis chimed in.
“We’re definitely not helping here, either,” Pierce added. “She’s already dealing with enough. I don’t want us adding to her confusion, so we’ll head out and see what, if anything, the guys have found.”
“Keep us posted,” I requested.
“You do the same,” Cruz demanded.
After Pierce, Holden, and Cruz took off, Memphis explained, “I’m going to say goodbye to
her, but I’ll come back after she’s had some time to gather her bearings. Maybe we’ll have better luck then.”
We walked back into Jolie’s room. As Memphis and Colton moved toward the side of the bed, her eyes widened. Colton put his hand to the back of her head, kissed the top of her head, and said softly, “Love you, kiddo. We’ll be back to see you later.”
Memphis did the same. “Take it easy, Jojo. Love you.”
She watched them leave, her eyes tentative.
“I don’t want to leave you right now, Jojo, but Ekko’s been home alone with the babies for a long time. I know she’s worried about you, too. I’ll let her know you’re going to be okay, and depending on what the doctors say, maybe she’ll stop in tomorrow.”
“The babies,” Jolie sighed as she closed her eyes. “Kiss them for me.”
“I will,” he promised before he said goodbye.
It was getting late and Jolie was clearly exhausted. After the rest of us sat with her for a while, nobody really saying much at all, one of the nurses walked in and told us that visiting hours were over.
“I’m not leaving her,” I stated.
“Please promise to call us if anything changes with her,” Jolie’s mom, Angie, pleaded.
“I will,” I promised.
“If you don’t mind, I’ll walk out with you,” Ava stated.
After Ava and Jolie’s parents kissed her and said goodbye, they left. Kendall was working until eleven, so she was staying for a few more hours. She left the room to get back to work, but not before making sure we had everything we’d need along with letting us know she’d be back in to check on her.
The moment the two of us were alone, I pulled the chair up next to her bed, sat down, and held her hand in mine. Kissing her knuckles, I whispered, “I was so scared today, baby.”
“I don’t remember what happened. Ava gave me the details when you went out earlier, but I don’t remember it.”
“I know, but maybe that’s better for the time being. Right now, you just need to focus on resting and healing yourself.”
“I’m really tired,” she murmured.
I stood up, kissed her on the lips, and urged, “Sleep, Jolie. I’ll be here with you all night.”
It wasn’t more than a minute before she had closed her eyes and fallen asleep. On the other hand, I struggled to find any rest.
Millions of thoughts ran through my head.
Just the simple fact that Jolie was the victim of a hit and run was enough to have my mind going crazy. The idea that this could have been something premeditated churned my stomach. Jolie was the sweetest, kindest woman I’d ever met, so I found it hard to believe that this was anything more than a random act. Until I knew what was on that video footage, there was no telling anything for sure.
Beyond that, while I was more than grateful that she was alive, it had still been so heartbreaking to see her struggle when she woke up. Not knowing her brothers, worried that she’d done something wrong, and being simply confused was a tough thing to witness. I didn’t care how much time or effort it took to get her body healed, but I wanted her mind healed soon. I wanted my Jolie back, and I hoped it wouldn’t take long for her to come back to all the people who loved her.
At some point, with her hand still in mine, I managed to drift off to sleep.
I woke early the next morning when Detective Baines came into the room. Jolie was still sleeping, but I didn’t want her waking alone, so we stood on the opposite side of the room and kept our voices quiet.
“What’s going on?” I asked. “Please tell me you’ve got some information on the person that did this to her?”
“We managed to pull the footage from the parking lot security cameras,” he started. “All we know right now is the color, make, and model of the vehicle, but we don’t know who the owner is. There’s an image of the license plate, but the cameras are old, so the footage was grainy. We’ve got to try to clean it up in order to get a clear plate number. We believe it was a woman driving the vehicle.”
“If you need any help on enhancing that footage, get it over to us. You know Trent Michaels is brilliant at that stuff; he should be able to have a plate number in no time. Did you get anything else from the footage?”
A look of regret flashed in his face. “I hate to tell you this, De Luca, but Jolie was specifically targeted. The car sat in the parking lot for more than an hour waiting. When Jolie walked out, she wasn’t paying attention to anything around her. In fact, while she was searching for something in her purse, she continued to walk into the parking lot toward her own vehicle. She didn’t get very far and you can see the minute she realizes something is going on. Her head snaps up and she looks around. By the time she realizes what’s happening, it seems like she’s too shocked to move. The car barreled toward her and never once tried to stop.”
“And you’re certain it wasn’t just a distracted driver who got scared and took off after?” I confirmed.
I needed to know how sure he was.
“Of course, it could have been, but experience tells me it wasn’t. This car was waiting. The driver didn’t move until Jolie started walking away from the building and into the lot. I wholeheartedly believe the driver intended to hit her.”
Damn it.
“What’s the extent of her injuries?” Detective Baines asked.
“Her entire left side is covered in bruises, scrapes, and cuts. That’s the best of it because she’s also got a sprained ankle, sprained knee, and a severe concussion. She didn’t even recognize two of her brothers. They were in uniform when they were here. She saw them, didn’t know who they were, and thought she was going to get arrested for something.”
“No shit?”
I shook my head.
“I was hoping to have a chance to talk with her this morning and see what she could tell me about what happened.”
“She doesn’t remember it,” I responded. “We asked her yesterday, but she couldn’t tell us anything.”
He frowned. “I was afraid that might be the case. Alright, give me a call if anything changes today or if she does recall something. It might not be anything we can use, but I’d rather know than not.”
“Absolutely,” I agreed. “Thanks for stopping by. And don’t hesitate to reach out if you need help with that footage.”
He gave me a curt nod, looked over at my sleeping girl, and walked out.
I went back to her.
Ten minutes later, one of the nurses walked in to check Jolie’s vitals. While she was there, Jolie woke up.
“Hey, honey, how are you feeling this morning?” the nurse asked.
“Tired,” she answered. “And I still have a headache.”
“How about the knee and ankle?”
She shrugged her shoulders. “The pain in my head is worse.”
“Okay. Do you think you are up for something to eat this morning? It’d be a good idea to start taking in some foods.”
“Yeah, I guess I could eat. Are there donuts?”
I wanted to laugh. Only my girl would be determined to have donuts for breakfast, even when she was in the hospital.
The nurse laughed before she responded, “Sorry, but that’s not on your menu. We need to give your brain the best foods it can have to heal itself. Sugary and fried foods aren’t part of that. I think the doctor is going to recommend that you stick to a healthy diet for the next two weeks or so. It should consist of fruits, vegetables, protein, whole grains, and a little bit of dairy.”
Jolie’s shoulders slumped. “Okay.”
The nurse handed her a folded pamphlet and explained, “Here’s the menu. Just hit the button on the phone for the kitchen and you can order whatever you want. Try not to stare too long at the menu though. It can be stressful on the brain right now.”
When the nurse walked out, I took the pamphlet from Jolie. “I can read it to you,” I started. “I’d rather have you rest and heal. Do you have a preference?”
“Well, I wanted donuts,�
�� she huffed. “Since that’s not an option, how about you surprise me?”
“I can do that.”
I picked up the phone and called down to the kitchen. I ordered the same thing for the both of us.
After I’d put the phone down on the receiver, Jolie shared, “I think I need your help.”
“Anything. What do you need?”
“They told me I have a sprained ankle and a sprained knee. I’m not sure what I’m supposed to do yet as far as walking goes, but I really need to use the bathroom.”
I hadn’t yet seen her leg. She’d been covered when I got in her room yesterday and since she was already so confused, I didn’t want to bring any more stress on her.
Standing from the chair I’d spent the night in, I walked around to the opposite side of the bed, where I unplugged her IV machine and pulled back her blankets. Even though her knee was bandaged up, a large portion of her leg was exposed. I felt sick seeing just how beat up she was.
Carefully, I lifted her out of the bed and carried her to the bathroom. Setting her down in front of the toilet I instructed, “Put the weight on your right leg.”
She did but still wobbled. “I feel a little dizzy.”
“It’s okay,” I assured her. “I’ll stay with you. Lower yourself and hold on to me.”
“I can’t pee with you in here.”
“Why not?”
“I have a shy bladder,” she reasoned.
I shot her a disbelieving look. “You’re the most outgoing woman I’ve ever met and you’re telling me your bladder is the part of you that’s shy?”
She nodded.
Keeping one hand on her, I reached over and turned on the sink.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
“Trust me. Just carefully sit down and go.”
“You have to turn around,” she insisted.
I shook my head. “I’m not doing that, Jolie. If you get dizzy and fall, I can’t react quick enough if my back is to you. Sit, keep one hand on me so you stay steady, and I’ll turn my head.”
Thankfully, she did as I suggested and managed to take care of business. After she washed her hands, I carried her back to the bed, got her settled, and went back to the bathroom to take care of business of my own. By the time I walked back into the room, I saw the food had been delivered.