Black Flag (Racing on the Edge) (40 page)

I was bored out of my
fucking mind. I hated rain delays. I was from Washington so you’d think I’d be
used to rain. We’d been sitting here for the last forty-five minutes and I
couldn’t understand why they hadn’t pulled us onto pit road.

The most entertainment
I had was watching a helicopter try and land in this mini hurricane that seemed
to be blowing through.

“I’m starving.” I
complained again.

“The race has been
called,” Kyle announced. “It’s scheduled again for tomorrow.”

“Thank god, now I can
eat!”

I fired up the engine.
The pace car led us down pit lane.

“Take the car to the—”

His voice came to an
abrupt halt, the radio went dead. I pressed the button a few times thinking
maybe the rain was messing with the interception. It just cracked.

“Kyle?” I asked. “Kyle?
You there?”

“Um
...
yeah, I’m here.” He paused. “Take the
care to the hauler.”

“Oh, okay. Don’t we
need to take the car to garage?” If it was a rain out and under the halfway
point, we’d be racing tomorrow. Why would I take the car to the hauler?

He was silent for a few
moments, his voice sounded considerably different when he spoke. “Shane and
Mason will take care of that. Just go to the hauler.”

That was strange.

“What’s going on?”

“Jameson,
please
just take the goddamn car to the hauler.” Kyle asked in a monotone voice.

Something was wrong. I
could tell by his tone. Something was definitely wrong.

My heart began beating
erratically and I found it hard to keep the car within the 10 mph speed limit
throughout the pits.

When I pulled up to the
hauler, Spencer, Alley and Aiden were standing outside, under the cover of the
awning. The rain had increased to a steady patter.

Their grim expression
told me something was wrong.

Sway wasn’t with them.

I began ripping the
hoses followed by my belts before I even stopped the car.

“Where is she?” I
grabbed Alley by the arm when she walked past, tossing my gloves and helmet
inside the car. “Goddamn it, answer me!” She started crying as Spencer stepped
between us.

“Jameson, let her go.” Spencer
demanded, scowling for good reason.

Alley looked over at
me, her mouth turned down as tears slipped. Her eyes focused on mine abruptly
wide with pain.

What the fuck is wrong
with me?

“Jameson, you have to
calm down before I tell you what I’m about to tell you.”

Oh well that was really
going to make me calm down now.

Are they fucking
insane?

“Just
...
tell me already.” I barked back. “This
is as calm as I get!”

“Emma’s with Sway.
She—”

“Where is she?” I interrupted
impatiently looking to everyone for answers. “Why isn’t she with you?”

“She
...
” Alley started crying again and looked
toward Spencer.

“Jameson
...
she fell down the stairs in the terrace
seating. They’ve transported her to St. Joseph’s hospital in Nashua.”

I felt sick. My stomach
dropped out, my heart stilled and I could almost feel the blood drain from my
face. Alley’s voice sounded garbled and distant, even though she was standing
right next to me and I could feel her hand on my face. She continued to yell my
name but my response was frozen in my throat.

Sway was hurt.

I fell to the ground
...
oh god
...
please no
...
don’t
take her from me
.

Spencer and Aiden
rushed over to me as the sobs broke through.

I suddenly felt the
rage boiling inside me. I knew Darrin had something to do with this.

All the warnings, all
the words between us over the year flooded my thoughts.

Never did I think he’d
actually hurt her. It just never crossed my mind. And all this time, the
warning was there. But most of all, I had pushed him toward that. I had baited
him to the one thing that had the power to destroy me. Hurt Sway. The worst
feeling of all, I knew it now, something he’d known all along.

A burning pain ripped
up my veins and tore through my body. I clenched my teeth at the onslaught of
pain. I was absolutely furious that he went after her, the one person on this
earth that I loved more than anything—he went after. He knew that without her,
there was no me.

Adrenaline coursed
through my veins, burning like acid, begging for release, his words haunting
me.

I snapped out of my
trance at the sound of an engine starting beside us.

“Where’s Emma?” I
shouted. “I need to go with them!”

I looked over my
shoulder when I heard the vociferation of my team getting the car inside the
hauler as quickly as they could.

“Hold on a minute,”
Spencer caught me in an iron grasp before I could leave by myself. “You don’t
need to see that
...
believe me. Emma asked
that you not go.”

Has everyone lost their
goddamn minds today?

“What? If you think I’m
staying here you’re—” Alley was suddenly in my face.

“Jameson?” She forced
me to look at her. “Jameson? Look at me!” I turned my head reluctantly toward
her. “She’s
...
okay.” Sobs broke
through again. “You just
...
you don’t need to see
her right now.”

 “What aren’t you
telling me?” I shouted again, she flinched. Spencer wrapped his arms around
Alley, giving me warning look to stop yelling at her.

“Jameson
...
” she took a long pause. “Sway was
pushed down the stairs
...
by Darrin
...
the baby wasn’t moving. They
...
have to run some tests so they air
lifted her ten minutes ago.”

I gasped at her words.
Spencer who had actually been rather quiet through all this, besides glaring at
me for yelling at Alley, immediately began screaming profanities and went
running back inside the hauler.

No image was violent
enough to encapsulate the force of what happened to me in that moment as she
spoke those words. I couldn’t move. My heart began pounding horribly. Pain so
strong, so rough, so real I didn’t know if I could move
...
without exploding. I stared at Alley,
numb. My knees went out on me again. For a second I thought I would surely die
with the anguish. I shook with grief, with overwhelming sobs. I found it
difficult to think
...
to imagine
...
his hands on her. In that instant, each
second, each breath, each excreting emotion
...
threatened
to overtake me.

I felt an abnormally
detached feeling as I rose to my feet, moving dream-like. The awful pressing
feeling in my chest grew tighter, more painful. I felt sick.

Spencer came running
out from the hauler, “Let’s go!”

No one hesitated as we
all ran to the Yukon parked beside the hauler.

“Alley, do you know for
sure they are taking her to St. Joseph’s?” Aiden asked climbing into the back seat
with me. I was to numb to speak—I wasn’t sure I could.

Why had I let Van take
the weekend off? Why wasn’t I with her?

“Yes, I’m positive Emma
and Jimi told me St. Joseph’s because
...
”
she paused looking back at me. “They said with the baby only being 17 weeks, it
would be the only hospital that could help her now.”

Alley leaned over to
comfort me but I pushed her away, shaking my head violently. I didn’t want
anyone to touch me.

It seemed like it took
days to finally reach Nashua. I hadn’t spoken a word since we left. When
Spencer pulled up to the ER entrance, Aiden and I jumped out while Alley and he
parked.

“What room is Sway
Reins in?” Aiden asked the front desk as we ran through the waiting room.

The young receptionist
behind the counter smiled glancing at my racing suit I was still wearing.

“Umm let me see.” she
began looking through the computer. “Do you know when she arrived? I’m not
finding anything.”

“I don’t know when she
arrived.” He huffed back at her. “They brought her by helicopter.” Aiden was
being way more patient with her than I would be.

“Do you know her date
of birth?”

Oh for Christ sakes,
you have to be fucking kidding me!

I snapped.

“Her name is Sway
Reins; she is twenty-three years old. Her birthday is September 13th, 1980. Now
look in your fucking computer and tell me what goddamn room she is in!” I
shouted back at her slamming my fists on the counter in front of me, shaking
the computer, pens and brochures gathered on the counter.

She flinched back at my
harsh tone and gasped.

Yes lady, I have
aggression issues
...
deal with it. Everyone
else does.

She glared. “She is not
in a room,” she chided rolling her eyes. “She is in the trauma center. No one
can see her right now. There is a waiting room for families over there,” she
pointed us to where we could wait.

Aiden cursed the whole
way to the waiting room about how rude she had been to us. I, on the other
hand, was numb again. All I wanted to do was be there for her as she was all
alone up there with god knows who caring for her and our baby.

As walked around the
hospital aimlessly I eventually found some vending machines so I decide to get
some water for Aiden and me. My throat felt like the Mojave Desert.

Eventually, I
approached the hall leading to the critical care units. A security guard stood
firmly outside the doors. Sizing him up I contemplated the variety of ways I
could take him down to get to Sway. It wouldn’t be hard but would surely cause
a scene. He had a gun but at this point, that wouldn’t stop me. He also had
pepper spray and a
taser
. I’ve experienced both
growing up with Spencer and Sheriff Taylor.
Although, I would
prefer the
taser
to the pepper spray.
Reluctantly, I continued walking in the other direction because the last thing
I needed right now is to cause a scene.

After another two long
hours of waiting, my dad and my came walking down the hall. He was still
dressed in his racing suit as well. Aiden and I both looked at each other. I
felt nauseous again. Under the queasiness, I felt assuagement that they had
been with her.

“Boys, come with me.”
his voice was cold, detached. I had never seen my dad behave this way before.

Mom, in tears, moved
past us and held up her cell phone. “I think it’s time we call Charlie.”

I just nodded and drew
in a shaky breath, my hand reached out for the wall beside me.

“Where’s Emma?” Aiden
asked him as we began walking with him.

“With the police,” He
answered refusing to look at me as he kept walking toward the long hallway that
led to the ICU.

“What are the police
doing?” Aiden was trying to get him to give more information but it was
apparent that wasn’t going to happen. I could tell from the look on my dad’s
face they weren’t doing a goddamn thing, making my anger peak once again.

“Right now nothing,
there’s nothing they can do until we hear from Sway exactly what happened. They
have issued a warrant for his arrest but nothing has come up.” He opened the
door to a secluded room.

“Aiden, I need to speak
with Jameson alone for a few moments. I will be right back.”

Breathing heavy, I
tried to catch my breath. Gasping for air, I reached for the table to steady
myself. My dad noticed. His eyes were watchful of my every motion.

He closed the door
behind him and walked over to me, placing his hand on my shoulder. “Jameson,”
he gasped pulling me into a tight hug.

I twisted away needing
confirmation. Looking into his eyes I hoped to see encouragement in them that
she was all right but was not finding it.

“Is she
...
” I couldn’t finish, gasping.

Please tell me she’s
still alive! Please tell me my angel is still breathing!

“Son, they are doing
everything they can do for her and the baby,” His face solemn. “I’m sorry.”

“Dad,” I warned.

He closed his eyes for a
long moment before speaking in a low strained voice. This was hard for him too.