Give Me Grace

by Kate McCarthy

  I sucked in a sharp breath and glared. “It all hurts.”

  Luke’s brows drew together. “Do I know you? You look familiar.”

  “Is that a pickup line? Because I don’t do dudes.”

  He grinned. “Well you’re safe with me. I don’t do them either.”

  “Good to know,” I muttered.

  “Your next of kin’s listed as Travis Valentine. That’s not Mac’s big brother, is it?”

  “Yeah it is. You know Mac?”

  Luke shook his head while his hands manipulated my torso, his grin widening. “I’m an old friend of Mac’s from high school.”

  “Old friend, huh?”

  “Yeah. We know each other. Though not as well as I’d like.”

  “And you plan on rectifying that?” I asked, thinking Jake would be mighty interested in Luke’s answer.

  Luke shrugged. “I don’t know. I kinda like my balls attached, you know?” I could only agree. It would take a helluva man to take on Mac and her brothers and come out the other side with all body parts intact. Luke shifted his hands and ran them slowly down my right leg, asking, “You on any medications?”

  “No.”

  Done, he did the same to my left leg. “Allergies?”

  “No.”

  He began checking my blood pressure. “When did you last eat?”

  “Lunch,” I muttered. “Midday.”

  When he was done with the examination, he wrote a quick note down on the chart to his left, speaking as he scribbled. “You’re responsive and your speech is fine, but you have a concussion, minor lacerations, and your vital signs are unstable, meaning your pulse is fast, your breathing rapid, and your blood pressure too low.” He put the chart back and looked at me. “You’re lucky it’s not worse.”

  “Lucky, huh?” I let that one go and when the ambulance slowed to a crawl, said, “You can just let me out here.”

  His brows rose. “Or I can just do that sedation thing.”

  “Is that how The Dummies’ Guide to Being a Paramedic teaches you to treat a concussion?”

  “You’re a funny guy. I don’t like funny guys.” The ambulance picked up speed again. “I should just open the back doors and roll you out into oncoming traffic. Finish the job someone started earlier.”

  “Your bedside manner sucks.”

  “Thanks,” he replied.

  The ambulance came to a stop moments later. Luke ripped off his latex gloves and tossed them in a container to his right as the back doors swung open. Leaping out, he and another paramedic wheeled the stretcher into the path of an oncoming nurse. Luke ran through my vitals quickly while she assessed me, pausing on my chest as she listened to him speak.

  I sat up on the stretcher. The effort dragged a groan from my chest. Both Luke and the nurse pushed me back down.

  “Stop,” I ordered, shoving their hands away.

  I sat back up again, ripped off the oxygen mask from where it rested around my neck, and tossed it on the stretcher.

  “Casey!”

  Everyone turned in the direction of the shout. Travis was jogging towards me, Quinn close behind. They’d been at his parents for dinner tonight with Sam, which was closer to the hospital than their place. It explained how they arrived here at the same time I did.

  “I’m fine,” I said quickly.

  He nodded his response but scanned over me regardless before returning to my face. Noticing the man beside me, he lifted his chin, saying, “Luke. Been a long time. Almost didn’t recognise you. I’d say it’s good to see you but …”

  “Yeah, mate. I get that a lot.”

  They shook hands briefly, Travis asking, “You were on scene?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Good. Wanna stop in after your shift? Might have a few questions.”

  Luke nodded. “Sure.”

  Travis turned back to me, his brows drawn. “They wouldn’t tell me who the girl was in the car with you.”

  “Grace.”

  He blanched, the golden hue of his skin paling rapidly. “What was Grace—”

  I interrupted him. “Long story.”

  Quinn took my hand, wrapping it in both of hers. The gesture was meant to be soothing, but it wasn’t working. I was too wound up, too fixed on Grace. “Is she okay?”

  “She took most of the impact,” I told them because that was all I knew. “The other car fled the scene.”

  Travis cursed sharp and loud while Quinn covered her mouth, visibly upset. He grabbed Quinn by the back of her neck and pulled her close, wrapping her in his arms.

  “Travis.” His eyes cut to mine. “I don’t have a good feeling about this.”

  He was silent for a moment, absorbing the words. “Where is she?”

  “I don’t know. I don’t even know if they’re bringing her here. Last I remember they were cutting her from the car.”

  “I’ll find out,” he told me.

  “We’ll find out,” I corrected. I ripped the IV from my arm carelessly. Blood began seeping from the wound I created. I pressed down on the torn skin with my hand and got to my feet, fighting back dizziness and protests from the surrounding medical staff.

  “Stubborn sonofabitch,” Luke grunted. He grabbed my forearm and slapped a bandage strip on my inside elbow. Done, he fixed his eyes on mine. “Grace is en route.”

  “Here?”

  “Here,” Luke confirmed.

  “She okay?”

  “She’s breathing.”

  I closed my eyes for a brief moment and felt myself sway. I quickly opened them.

  “We need to get you inside. Get back on the stretcher,” Luke ordered.

  “Not until Grace arrives,” I replied and turned to Travis. “We need to ring Henry.”

  “I’ll do it.” Travis yanked his phone from his back pocket, dialled and held it to his ear. “He’s gonna lose it,” he said as he waited for Henry to answer.

  I held out my hand, knowing the call needed to come from me. “Give me the phone.”

  He handed it over wordlessly. I put the phone to my ear, my eyes on Travis as I listened to it ring. It wasn’t just Henry that would lose it. They all would. Not just because Grace was Henry’s sister, but because Grace had become family. One of their own. And when one of them hurt, they all hurt.

  “Travis!” Henry shouted in my ear. The steady thump of music in the background and rowdy laughter told me they were still at the bar.

  “It’s Casey,” I corrected.

  “Casey?” he shouted. There was a pause, and then, “Where the hell are you and Grace? What’s going on?”

  “I’m at the Prince Alfred. Grace has been in an accident.”

  “Fuck!” Henry spoke to someone as the music in the background began to fade. He was already on the move. Then he came back on the phone. “Is she okay? What happened?”

  “My car was T-boned at an intersection. They’re bringing her in now by ambulance.”

  “I don’t understand. Weren’t you with her?”

  Luke’s radio crackled and within seconds, he and his partner were folding the stretcher back in the van, getting ready to head back out. “I was. We were both in the car. They brought me in first.”

  “You sonofabitch!” he exploded. “You left her there? How could you do that? I told you she’d get caught up in all your bullshit and end up getting hurt.” I swallowed the lump in my throat and turned for the hospital’s emergency entrance. The bright lights and sudden movement made my head spin. “Were you drunk driving?”

  “Henry, you know me better than that,” I replied, not bothering to correct his assumption about me being behind the wheel. Emotions were running hot. Explaining anything right now would be pointless.

  “Yeah? Well it turns out I don’t know you like I thought I did.”

  “I’m sorry,” I replied. When the world tilted, I stumbled to my knees. Travis was at my side in an instant, his hand on my bicep to help me up. “I’m fine,” I bit out and shrugged him off. “Henry, I—”

&nb
sp; “Save it,” he growled. “We’ll be there soon.”

  Henry hung up.

  Travis knelt in front of me. I handed him back the phone.

  “Travis,” I began. I wanted to explain how much Grace meant to me, but I didn’t know how without sounding like some girly Hallmark card. “This is so fucked up. I didn’t mean for this to happen, but Grace is … She’s…”

  Travis shook his head. “You don’t need to explain, Casey.” He took hold of my shoulders and looked at me. The effect of both actions steadied me. “You think I haven’t seen the way you look at her? Or the way she looks at you? Jesus, Casey. It doesn’t matter if you’ve known her ten years or ten minutes. There’s something there and it makes my heart fucking sing to see it.” The sound of approaching sirens cut through the night and my control wavered. It was Grace. It had to be.

  Please be okay or I’ll fucking lose it.

  My lungs began to burn. Travis shifted his grip and grabbed my head in both hands. He dragged my face to his until our foreheads pressed together. “Stay strong, okay? Whatever happens, I’m in this with you. Always.”

  I nodded wordlessly.

  “Good.” He let go. “Now get up,” he growled.

  My body responded to the command.

  The next few minutes were a blur. The ambulance bringing Grace arrived. I held my breath when the back doors flew open, the paramedic barely waiting for the vehicle to come to a full stop. He already had the stretcher half out when his partner jumped out to assist him. I ran over at the same time a trauma team rushed out from the emergency exit. The paramedic, a bigger, older version of Luke, started shouting stats. The noise was fuzzy static as I focused solely on Grace. Her smooth skin, usually flushed with laughter or anger, was pale and streaked with blood.

  I went to take her hand, but before I could, Henry was there. And Jake. And Cooper. And everyone else.

  I let myself get pushed back as Grace was rushed towards the hospital entrance. The doors whooshed open and they disappeared inside.

  Travis glared. “What are you doing? Get in there.”

  “I can’t,” I muttered.

  I bent over, resting my palms on my knees, fighting for air.

  “Casey? Are you okay?”

  “I don’t know. I can’t breathe,” I panted.

  Travis started shouting but this time when the world tilted, I let go, letting it rise up to meet my face.

  I woke in a hospital bed. Bright, streaming light told me night had given way to morning and loud, angry voices announced an argument in progress. Powerful drugs must have been pulsing through my system because I couldn’t feel a thing. I tensed a leg muscle. Nothing. A bicep. All good. I drew a deep breath and sharp stabbing knives attacked me like a posse of ninjas.

  “You need to take lead on this!” Travis thundered across my bed.

  I opened my eyes. He was standing on my left, Jared beside him, Tim wedged between the both of them. Coby stood on the other side next to a tense looking Mitch, the apparent target of Travis’s thunder. My brows drew together as I studied the guy standing at the end of the bed. His arms were folded, his eyes pinging back and forth as he followed the argument. He was somehow familiar. Luke, I suddenly remembered. The paramedic.

  “Lead? I work homicide, dipshit,” Mitch growled back at Travis. “Clearly Casey is not dead!” His arm swept over my prone form, introducing my breathing body to support his case.

  “It’s attempted homicide. Close enough,” Jared countered. “That means we need you in on this.”

  “We don’t know that yet,” Mitch replied, his expression tired and irritated. The look came from years of cleaning up the mess of his little brothers. “You’re acting like a bunch of melodramatic egomaniacs.”

  “You weren’t there, Mitch,” Coby informed him. “So you don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “You weren’t there either!” Mitch pointed out, frustration making his voice loud and his brows pinch tight.

  “That’s why Fox is here,” Travis said. “He was there. He can tell us what he knows.”

  Everyone turned to Luke at the end of the bed. The guy was still in uniform and looked like he hadn’t slept. He shook his head at them all. “I don’t think whoever hit Casey’s car wants him dead.”

  Jared narrowed his eyes on Luke. “Yeah? What the fuck would you know?”

  “Enough!” I roared, wondering if they’d all suddenly lost their minds. Six pairs of eyes swept my way. “Would someone please tell me if Grace is okay?”

  “She’s fine,” Travis said quickly. “She’s in surgery but she’s going to be okay.”

  “Surgery?”

  “Her arm,” he replied. “She has a wrist fracture but the impact broke the bone in her forearm clean through the skin.”

  My stomach rolled. “Jesus.”

  “We don’t know much else yet but as soon as we do …”

  Tim pushed through both Travis and Jared and grabbed my hand in his. He began petting me like a zoo animal. “How do you feel?”

  “Like a guy who got hit by a car,” I muttered, the aches in my body pulsing now that I was fully conscious. I pushed myself up and bit back a groan. Tim went immediately for the electronic device beside the bed. A whirring noise filled the room and everyone watched patiently, waiting for my bed to raise me to a sitting position. Except it didn’t. The end of my bed began lowering instead. It caused a pull on my stomach muscles that made me want to puke. “Tim, what the hell?”

  “Shit. Sorry.” The whirring noise ground to a halt before starting up again, and my legs returned to a horizontal position. He pressed another button and the front end of my bed began dipping down until my eyes encountered the wall behind me.

  “Oh, for the love of … Tim!”

  “Give it here,” Travis barked and snatched the device. Tim yanked it back, clutching it to his chest like it was the last pair of Prada shoes on sale. I knew he loved Prada shoes because he bought me a pair every year for my birthday and they were always, conveniently, three sizes too small, and, naturally, unreturnable. “I got this, okay?”

  A whirring noise once again filled the room. The back of my bed rose until my eyes once again encountered ceiling. There was a loud clunk and the bed kept rising until I could finally see everyone’s face from a less prone position. Lips twitched as my bed continued to whir onwards and upwards. What felt like half an hour later, I reached a seated position. Tim clipped the device back on the side of the bed with a loud click. Travis reached over and flicked it sideways out of Tim’s reach.

  “Talk,” I barked.

  Everyone turned to Luke. I was anxious to hear his take on the accident. Lack of skid marks on the road would confirm what I already knew, but I wanted it confirmed nonetheless. He picked up my chart and scanned it. “Splenorrhexis. Grade I. Emergency splenorrhaphy not required. Fractured costal left upper quadrant. Contusion across left clavicle—”

  “In English,” Coby clarified.

  Luke rolled his eyes and muttered something under his breath before he began again. “Your spleen was torn from impact. It was only minor so they gave you a blood transfusion and they’re letting it heal on its own. Fractured ribs. Bruising along the collarbone—”

  “Not me, dammit,” I interrupted. “The accident. Tell us what you know.”

  “I know I wanted to cry like a baby when I saw your car.” Luke’s nostrils flared. “Whoever wrecked that beautiful piece of machinery doesn’t deserve to live.” Nods of agreement filled the room and sympathetic looks darted my way. “There were no skid marks on the road. The car that ploughed into the driver’s side of Casey’s car didn’t slow down, suggesting it was deliberate.” Travis arched a brow at Mitch over that piece of information. “But they didn’t want Casey dead,” Luke continued. Mitch arched a brow back at Travis. There was a pause. “They wanted his wife dead.”

  “His wife?” Tim said faintly and turned accusing eyes my way. Everyone started talking at once.

  “
I wasn’t driving the car. Grace was.”

  Silence fell for a minute.

  Travis was the first to speak. “Grace was driving your car?”

  “There was an altercation at the bar,” Jared began, and proceeded to fill them in on the events of the night. I gave a few brief facts to complete the missing pieces, which included the whole sorry mess with Morgan, and everyone stood silent for a moment, absorbing the new information.

  Travis rubbed at his jaw and I knew he was trying hard not to say I told you so. I was grateful for that small mercy. After carefully weighing his words, he spoke. “I think Morgan sounds like a deranged bitch.”

  Jared nodded his head in agreement. “I agree. Besides, no one’s cock is that good. Unless it can perform magic tricks. You got a magic dick, Casey?”

  I willed myself to stay calm. “I do,” I replied, my tone thick with sarcasm. “Every time I get a woman in bed I like to perform a little trick I call now you see it, now you don’t.”

  Jared snorted.

  “Now if we’re finished discussing my cock and the amazing things it can do, can we get back to the matter at hand?”

  Coby eyed me speculatively. “You think Morgan had something to do with this?”

  “It’s possible,” I conceded. But if I distanced myself from Grace to keep her safe and it wasn’t Morgan but someone else, then Grace would be left wide open for them to make another move. A more permanent move.

  “Are you all forgetting something?” Mitch interjected with a fold of his arms. “Morgan is a newly appointed detective with the Sydney City Police.”

  Travis shrugged. “So what? You think all the coppers who make the rank of detective are squeaky clean?”

  “We need to talk to Morgan and we need to talk to Grace,” I informed the room.

  “I agree,” Travis said and pulled out his phone. “I’ll ring Frank, get him to make a start on the background checks.”

  “Seth, Travis. Seth,” Tim reminded him. Frank had finished up his last day of work yesterday. As of today, Seth McKinnon—Frank’s replacement, former agent with the AFP, Travis’s father-in-law and recipient of the mean right hook Travis possessed—was now on the clock.