Crashed into Love: Boxed Set (23 page)

M
y heart bolted with a
herd of wildebeest, waiting, almost in pain, for Nina’s answer. Had I gone too
far? Shit, I came on too strong. I’d spilled everything. No filter—I’d
verbalized things I should probably have kept to myself. Oh fuck. Would she
laugh at my stupid ambition, and refuse to be a part of it? Would she run from
me and my insane reaction to her? Even I questioned why I felt so strongly. I
wasn’t lying when I said it seemed as if something pushed us together. I had no
choice but to be swept along in the torrent of feelings. If it was the island
doing strange things to me, then so be it, but I’d never been more certain of
anything in my life.

Her face was a picture of stunned disbelief. “You
want me to come and work for you?”

I shook my head. “Not work
for
me.
With
me.
Be a joint partner.”

She sucked in a breath.

My lungs stuck together. If she said no, I had no
clue how I’d live through the shame. Not only would she be saying no to my
offer, she’d be saying no to me.

“I can’t. I’m not a commercial pilot. I can’t carry
passengers.” She paced away, staring at the moon. “I don’t know what to make of
all of this. It all seems so far-fetched. You need an exorbitant amount of
money to open an airline. How do you plan to do it? Why me? Why tell me now?”
She sighed. “I literally can’t fathom it. Would you rent aircraft or buy? Which
airport will you operate out of? Will you hire more staff, or just have a small
number of charters?”

She kept mumbling under her breath about plans and
forecasts. Things I’d already thought about. I had folders full of information;
reams of info on the French Polynesian law and visa requirements. I even had a
guy willing to gift me three propeller aircrafts in return for fifteen percent
of the profit for the first six years. I’d had everything worked out for years.
The reason why I hadn’t gone any further was because I didn’t want to do it
alone. I wanted to do it with the woman I would share my life with. Share my
business with. Share
everything
with.

Nina turned to me. “You’re joking. You can’t be
serious.”

I approached her slowly. “I’m deadly serious.”

She shook her head. “Well, let’s think logically for
a moment. “I can’t quit. I have about four years left before I have enough
money to finish my exams. I doubt you want to wait that long.”

I took her arms in my hands, rubbing her—she had
goosebumps. “I’d be willing to wait, but I don’t have to. You can quit Kiwi
Air. I’ll pay for you to finish your commercial license.”

She looked at me as if I were crazy. “I’m not going
to let you pay for my license. Are you nuts? That’s like fifty grand!”

I laughed at her fierceness. “It would be a company
expenditure. I can claim it back. It’s not that big of a deal.” But the way her
pupils dilated and her skin grew clammy, it was a big deal. Nervousness filled
me. I knew I shouldn’t have told her. It was too soon. Fuck.

“It
is
that big of a deal. Crap, Liam. It’s
huge
.
You’re asking me to run a business with you. You’ll pay for my license. You
want me to move across the
world
with you?”

Her chest rose and fell fast, and I struggled not to
crush her to me, to stem her doubts with physical intimacy. If she even let me
touch her again, of course. Shit, I ruined everything. 

“I don’t know how to process this. We barely know
each other. I’m falling for you. Hard. But we need time.
I
need more
time!” She lost it, running hands through her hair, looking at me frantic.

I held up my hands. “I’m sorry.” My heart deflated
into a useless sack of hopelessness. It was over. I’d taken our unbelievable
tryst in Samoa and made her fear it. “I shouldn’t have told you.” This was what
I was afraid of. People thinking I was a moron for wanting something different
than the white picket fence and a mortgage. I wanted island living permanently.
I wanted what we’d had the last week. Forever.

Nina’s blue eyes blazed in the dark. “I need to go.
I need to think.”

“No wait.” I captured her, holding as she struggled.
“You’re right. It is too soon. I’m sorry for bringing it up. Can we just forget
I said anything?”

Her eyelashes fluttered as she breathed hard. Her
hand whipped to her neck, pain etching her face. “Let me go, Liam. I need some
space.”

I refused to obey. If I let her go she might not let
me capture her again. “Look it’s just a dream okay? A crazy adolescent dream.
It doesn’t mean anything. I’m sorry if I rushed you.”

Nina shuddered in my arms, her eyes snapping closed
as she sucked in a gust of air. “I’m not feeling so good.” Her face paled as
white as the sand, and she moaned as her spine arched in my grip.

Oh my God, what the hell was happening? Had I
frightened her so much she’d gone into a seizure? My hands tingled where they
held her. “
Nina?!
Are you alright?”

Her legs buckled and if I hadn’t of been holding
her, she’d have folded to the ground. Heart thundering, I lowered her weight to
rest on the soft beach. My eyes scanned the night horizon, hoping to see
shadows of holidaymakers. Nothing. We were all alone and I had no clue what was
wrong with her.

Nina clasped two hands to her neck, crying out.

My heart bucked, hating her being in pain. What
could I do? We weren’t far from the hotel, but I didn’t want to leave her
alone. Perhaps I could carry her? But if it were spine related, I might make
her worse by moving her.
Shit!
Please let her be okay!

Brushing hair from her eyes with shaky fingers, I
asked, “Hush, I’m here. What hurts? Tell me how to help.” I hoped my voice was
calm and collected, not betraying my panic.

She flinched, jerking into a ball. Her face screwed
up in agony as her legs twitched. Tears leaked from her eyes. “It hurts. Oh
God, it hurts. Make it stop.”

Oh fuck, what should I do?

Her body bucked again under my touch—hard, electric,
breaking my hold on her. It was as if someone behind the scenes jerked her
around like a puppet.

She called my name, her lip bleeding where she’d
bitten it.

I stood and paced around her, trying to recall some
sort of medical training. Her twisting figure covered in sand granules caused a
gushing headache to slam into me. Concern for her setting fire to my old
injuries from the crash. My shoulders ached, and my solar plexus griped as if
someone punched me.

I doubled over, gripping my temple, crashing to my
knees beside Nina. The waves roared like a tsunami and the entire beach faded
to white, before shadows of the night reclaimed it.

Blinking past the fog of agony, I focused on her. I
had to do something. Anything. Did something bite her? Was it an allergic
reaction?

 Unable to stand seeing her in so much pain, I
crawled over, battling my own issues and pulling her into my lap.

Her eyes connected with mine. “Something isn’t
righ—” Her lips spread wide as a mind-bending scream erupted from her.

“Nina!” A wave of terror crippled me as her back
arched inhumanly in my arms. Static electricity flowed between us, sending hair
follicles into a standstill.

My own body twitched and I dropped her. The beach
once again warped and bent, sending my eyesight stuttering, not able to focus
on anything.

I reached for her sprawled form on the sand. “Nina!”

Another slam of migraine hit me and I cried out,
dragging myself upright to look into her eyes. She’d be okay and whatever
happened to us would leave. It was just some weird occurrence, we’d be fine.
Even as I said it, I didn’t believe it.

I reached out and tilted her jaw to see her eyes.

My heart stopped. My life stopped.

It was too late.

Her eyes were lifeless.

Gone.

H
eavy pressure on my
ribcage.

Arcing power tearing through my limbs.

Pain.

Unbearable pain in every part of me.

The soft hiss of waves on sand, and the warmth of
Liam’s arms, were shattered as life ended. I was sucked into a black hole of
oblivion.

But the pain didn’t end. If anything, it got worse.
Swirling, soaring, nausea.

Then, sounds ringing in my ears: beeping, shouting,
chaos. Everything around me was topsy-turvy.

My body was different. Weighted, weak as an
undernourished skeleton.

Tears sprung to my eyes as another pain pierced my
ribs with the pressure of a tyre iron. I tried to open my eyes, but my lids stayed
glued together. The taste of Liam’s frantic kisses, and dream confession were
decimated and replaced with a sharp antiseptic tang.

What the hell is happening
?

My heart that stopped beating on the beach, galloped
into action as I jolted into the air, tingles of fireworks and electricity
zinging in my blood.

“Clear!”

The whizzing and heat came again.

I screamed.

“She’s back. Give her more oxygen.” The voice was
disembodied as I finally unstuck my eyelids and blinked. Nothing made sense.

Where was the dark evening? The twinkling stars that
looked as if Christmas tinsel littered the velvet sky? Where was the gentle
rolling waves and sugar soft sand?

Where was Liam?

Stark whiteness blinded me, stealing any sense of
location or recognition. I tried to speak, but something obstructed my airway.

A human shaped blob appeared in my face, while hands
pressed on my shoulders. “Don’t struggle. You’re in Malietoa Tanumafili
Hospital. There is a breathing tube down your throat so don’t try to talk until
we’ve unhooked you. Nod if you understand.”

The female voice was professional and calm. It
helped soothe my pending panic attack. I nodded, hating how such a little
movement felt as if an elephant sat on my forehead.

A door clattered open and a voice rose in a frenzy.
“Is she awake? Are they both awake?”

I recognised that voice, but names eluded me—dancing
out of reach, hiding in the inkiness of recollection.

“Leave please. We’ll come find you when she’s more
lucid.”

I tried to call out, to ask the person I knew to
stay. To help me understand what the hell was going on, but nothing worked. My
body was not my own. Gone was the ability to move and summon muscles to obey. I
was a corpse with aches and bruises and a lacerating pain that started in my
neck and travelled the length of my spine.

Oh God. Can I use my legs?

I tried to wiggle my toes, but nothing responded.
All that happened was a slight twinge and sweat beaded my brow. Tears squeezed
from my useless eyes and tickled my cheek. Please don’t let me be paralyzed.
What’s
happened to me?

Liam! I needed Liam. All memories of the panic that
things were moving too quickly were gone. With him all my worries faded into
nothingness. I didn’t care if he wanted to rush things. It wasn’t rushing if it
was right. We were given Samoa to show how amazing we fit together. Our souls
knew, even if my mind said it happened too fast. But where the hell was he? My
brain short-fired, unable to connect the dots.

Shuffling sounded to my left, and a masculine groan
reverberated around the sterile room.

My heart lurched in knowing.

Liam!

I struggled against the weight and foreignness of my
body, managing to blink away the blindness. Slowly, like an old TV powering up,
images returned.

My arms pinged with awareness as I raised the
useless lumps of meat to clumsily claw at the thing in my throat.

Someone stopped me. “No. Be patient. I’ll get it out
for you.” The human shaped blob morphed into a pretty elderly Samoan woman with
her hair plaited, hanging over her shoulder. She wore white scrubs and a
concerned look in her eyes.

I nodded, wide-eyed, as she shuffled closer and
pressed a button above my head. “You ready? On the count of three, I’ll remove
the tube.”

I breathed deep, fighting the urge to cough.

“One. Two. Three.” The nurse grasped the tube and
pulled. The slimy, alien thing in my throat made me gag as it left my body.
Nothing came up and my ribs bellowed in agony.

The nurse patted my cheek. “I’ll explain everything
to you in a moment. Right now we need to focus on another patient. Okay?”

Did she mean Liam?

The masculine groan came again as chaos and rushing
figures swirled the air around me. Yes, she meant Liam. My heart knew.
Something happened on the beach. I didn’t know what, but we were both here.
Hurt. In hospital. Did an earthquake happen? Did we perhaps have dinner after
all and contracted really bad food poisoning? 

Tremors wracked my body at the seriousness of her
voice. What was wrong with Liam? Unable to do much else, I nodded and turned my
head to follow her.

She didn’t go far. Skirting me, she stopped in the
foot or so distance between another hospital bed. On it laid a pale Liam. His
skin was ashen and a bandage swathed his head.

My heart erupted, galloping with stress and fear.

Two doctors worked over him. One pumped his chest
preforming CPR, while another charged the paddles that undoubtedly been used on
me. The memory of hot electricity waking my cells was too vibrant to forget.

I winced as they pressed the paddles against Liam’s
naked chest, calling, “Clear”.

Air molecules whizzed as they sent a bolt of power
into Liam. He soared off the bed. The frame groaned and creaked as he crashed
back down. The heart rate monitor beeped erratically, then flat lined.

No! He couldn’t be dead. What was he doing here?
What was
I
doing here?

I refused to lose him so soon after finding him. Who
cared if he rushed me? He wanted me forever. What was so wrong with that? He
was me. I was him. If he died, I would too.

I lunged for him; my bed shuddered as I rolled to
the side. Nobody noticed me as I lunged again, lugging my useless frame closer.
Come on, work damn useless body!

Not caring I could barely move and I had no plan
apart from reaching for him, I jerked again and fell off my bed. I clattered to
the floor, wincing as the I.V in my hand ripped out, sending blood to well in
its place. Time froze as I stared at the back of my hand. The location was the
exact
spot where I thought an insect bit me on the way to dinner. What did that
mean?

A nurse rushed to my aid, grabbing my elbow to try
and help me off the cold linoleum floor. I was wrenched back into the madness
with Liam being the focus of such panic.

“Help me. I need to touch him.” My voice croaked and
split, but the nurse shook her head.

“Let us try and save him. You can touch him soon.”

Tears sprouted as my body screamed. Touching him was
the most important thing I’d ever done in my life. I
had
to touch him. I
didn’t know why, but if I did… it would be okay. It had to be. I stared hard
into her black eyes. “Please. Help me.”

She looked over at Liam’s lifeless body and the
worry draping everyone in the room like a murky aura. She nodded once and
helped pluck me to my knees.

I sucked in a gasp. My legs were spotted with
different shades of bruises and cuts. It looked as if a jungle cat tried to
shred me for dinner.

She helped my fatigued and useless legs to a
kneeling position. Almost immediately the ground tried to claim me as its own.
Tugging me down with a weight that was colossal in my hungry and tired state. I
wobbled, but our beds were close and Liam’s hand fell at that exact moment to
dangle within touching distance.

I reached out and held on with all my strength,
which admittedly wasn’t much, but even as the cold floor seeped into my naked
legs, my fingers laced with his corpse-like ones.

The nurse tried to separate us, pulling me upright.
I refused, squeezing Liam’s fingers so hard my own digits turned white from
pressure.

In a voice raspy and sore, I shouted as best I
could, “Wake up, Liam. Wake up!”

Everyone in the room froze. A doctor hovered with
paddles, and the one performing CPR, halted. All sets of eyes glued on me,
sprawled on the floor with my hospital gown riding precariously high.

I whimpered, tugging on Liam’s hand to jerk his
lifeless frame. “Wake up, damn you. I know you can hear me. We’re connected.
Remember?”

Everyone sucked in a gasp, eyes flew wide as the
heart rate monitor kicked from monotone despair to hopeful mountains and gorges.

I let go of his hand to scramble to my shaky legs
with the help of my nurse.

I sobbed as Liam opened his icy-blue eyes.