My body fills with white hot fury when I see Julia hit the ground. I jump out of the truck before Cooper comes to a stop. “I’m going to rip you apart asshole, you’re fucking dead!” I take Wyatt to the ground full speed and start pounding him with my fists.
“Enough Jaxson!” Cooper tries pulling me off but I fight against him, not letting him slow down my blows… I know if I don’t stop I will kill him, but my rage shreds any control I have. “Goddamn it! I said enough!” Cooper finally gets a good grip and pulls me off Wyatt.
“Oh my god Julia, you’re bleeding!” I look over in a panic at Kayla, on her knees next to Julia, helping her sit up.
“Shit!” I rip free from Cooper and run to Julia’s side. “Let me see baby,” I grab her face gently. She looks at me disorientated as blood runs down from the corner of her forehead. Kayla rips the scarf from around her neck and hands it to me. I hold it to her head to try to stop the bleeding.
“I think I’m ok,” she says weakly.
“I want him arrested McKay! I’m pressing charges,” Wyatt yells as he stands up, spitting blood from his mouth.
“No!” Julia cries then winces, holding her head in pain.
“Shhh, it’s going to be ok,” I pick her up and start carrying her over to the truck. “Let’s move Coop, she needs to see a doctor now!”
I look over at Wyatt, “You’re going to fucking pay for this!”
“It was an accident. Julia, you know I would never hurt you, right? I love you!”
What the fuck did he just say
? He tries walking up to her while she’s cradled in my arms, the guy has more fucking balls than I thought.
Thankfully Cooper stops him before he even comes close… “Get out of here Jennings, I’ll pay you a visit later,” then he rushes a crying Kayla into the truck ahead of him.
I get in the back and hold Julia between my legs. I cradle her head to my chest, holding the scarf in place. I look down at her tear-streaked face, “I’m so sorry, I should have listened to you,” she cries weakly, causing my chest to tighten.
My throat is too tight to speak so I just lean down and kiss her head. Then her eyes start drifting close. Shit! “Hey Jules don’t fall asleep. I need you to stay awake ok? Come on look at me.”
“I’m so tired,” she mumbles sleepily, barely keeping her eyes open.
“I know baby but not yet, you can sleep after the doctor sees you.”
I can tell she’s trying but I’m not sure she’s going to be able to hold off much longer. “Hurry up man, what the fuck is taking so long?”
“We’ve only been driving for 2 minutes. We’re almost there.”
Sure enough less than a minute later we pull up to emergency. Kayla holds opens the back door while I run out with Julia in my arms. As soon as I walk through the doors a nurse spots me and comes running with a bed.
“What happened?”
“She fell and hit her head,” Kayla tells the nurse as I lay Julia down reluctantly, not wanting to let her go. I follow the nurse as she starts to wheel her away.
“Is she allergic to anything? Any medications?” Jesus! I don’t know, is she? She never used to be… I don’t think. Goddamn it! I should know this.
“No,” Kayla answers crying.
“Can you hear me miss? What is your name?” the nurse yells, causing Julia to moan in pain.
“Jesus lady, do you need to fucking yell like that, she has a goddamn headache.”
“Easy Jaxson, she’s just trying to do her job,” Cooper says trying to calm me down.
“Well she can fucking do it quieter.”
When we get to a room the nurse tries stopping me from entering. “Sir you can’t come in, you have to wait out here.”
“I don’t think so lady. I go where she goes.”
“Sir I’m sorry…”
“Please let him stay with me,” Julia whispers weakly grabbing my hand.
I look at the nurse and dare her to say no. “Alright fine!” she says giving in, “But you better watch yourself or you’re out. Sheriff, I want you in here in case I need him removed.”
“I’ll wait for you guys out here. Just come tell me right away when I can see her,” Kayla says.
Cooper kisses her, “She’s going to be okay baby. Why don’t you grab us some coffee from the cafeteria? Hopefully by the time you’re back we’ll have some answers.”
I miss the rest of the conversation since I follow close with the nurse while Julia still grips my hand.
Julia opens her eyes a little more when the nurse dims the lights.
“That better?” the nurse asks softly.
Well at least she’s stopped fucking yelling for the time being.
“Yes a little. Thank you.”
“On a scale from one to ten what’s your pain?”
“About an eight.”
“Are you hurt anywhere else?”
“My ribs,” she says pointing to her left side.
Shit I didn’t even think to check her for other injuries. The nurse grabs a sheet to cover Julia’s lower half and then lifts her dress exposing her beautiful toned stomach. I suck in a sharp breath at the sight of her ribs. They’re already turning blue and she has road rash starting from her hip all the way up to where her bra is.
“Wow, what did you fall on dear?” the nurse asks in astonishment.
“On my driveway, well I more slid, I guess,” Julia looks at me anxiously. I sit in the chair by her bed and bring her hand up to my mouth. I’m trying to control the rage that is consuming me, not wanting to upset her more.
“The doctor will be in any minute. In the meantime, I’ll go get you something for the pain.”
When the nurse leaves Julia looks at me sadly, “How did you know to come?”
“Kayla told me you were ending it with him. I knew it wouldn’t end well.”
“I’ve made a mess of everything. I’m so sorry,” she says touching my mouth that’s cut from when Cooper and I went at it.
I shake my head, “It’s not your fault baby,” before I can say anything else the doctor comes in looking more like a med student than a doctor.
“Hi Julia!” he says smiling familiarly at her.
“Hi Doctor Carson.”
“Call me Blake, remember?” he says with a wink.
Who the fuck is this asshole?
I see him glance down at Julia’s hips where the sheet isn’t covering. I rip them up covering half her stomach. When he looks at my narrowed gaze he loses some of his confidence.
“And you are?”
“A friend,” I say menacingly.
He looks away wearily then he clears his throat, “Nurse Debbie says you had quite the fall,” he walks to Julia’s injured side and removes the scarf. “This is going to need a few stitches.”
Before he starts the stitches he asks her simple questions like her age and name. I decide if the prick asks for her phone number I’m going to lay him out, thankfully he doesn’t.
He shines a light in her eyes checking for a concussion then starts probing her forehead around the cut with his fingers, making her gasp in pain.
“Watch it asshole,” I say warningly.
“Jesus Jaxson lay off. He’s trying to help her,” Cooper says.
Shit! He’s right I need to chill out. I take a deep breath to calm myself and look at the doctor, “I’m sorry, just be careful with her. She’s in a lot of pain.”
The doctor nods and continues his work. The nurse brings Julia the pain medication while the doctor starts on her stitches. It’s only a few minutes before he steps back and looks at her, “Well Julia, you’re all finished. Now you do have a small concussion. So we have two options, either you can stay here for the night as you will need to be woken up every 2 hours or, if you have someone at home who can do this, then I can let you go home with them. I will also give you something for the pain to take with you. You might need it for a day or two.”
“I’ll be taking care of her,” I say before Julia can answer.
“I figured,” the doctor mutters under his breath causing me to glare at him again.
Julia looks at me in surprise, “No! It’s fine Jaxson, I’ll stay here. No need to keep you or anyone else up all night,” she says guiltily.
“Don’t argue Julia, I said I’ll do it.”
She lets out a tired breath, “Ok, thank you.”
The doctor looks at me, “As I said, it’s important to wake her every two hours. Ask her simple questions like her name or her age. The drugs could make her drowsy and a little disorientated so expect that. But she should be able to answer the easy questions. If she seems worse bring her in, otherwise I expect a full recovery.”
“Thank you Blake.” I tense when Julia uses his first name.
“No problem-o,” he winks again at her. What a jack-ass. He sees my glare and clears his throat. “Nurse Debbie will bandage your ribs and show you how to care for the dressing. Take care Miss Julia.”
I turn to Julia when he leaves the room, “How are you feeling?”
“The pain has lessened, I’m just really tired. Where’s Kayla?”
“I’m going to get her now,” Cooper says walking out the door.
The nurse comes in as he leaves, “Alright dear, I’m going to put some ointment on your ribs and bandage you up. Keep this up for a couple days, it will prevent infection. Cover it with saran wrap when you shower ok? You will probably need some help with it.”
“I’ll be helping her,” I say reassuring the nurse. I watch and listen carefully to her instructions.
“Ok all set, you can leave when you’re ready. Take your time.”
“Thank you,” Julia says tiredly, barely keeping her eyes open.
Kayla comes rushing in the door, her eyes blood-shot from crying. She leans over and hugs Julia gently, “I’m so glad you’re ok.”
“I need to know what happened tonight Julia,” Cooper says cutting in.
“Not now! She’s too tired. We can talk about it tomorrow,” I say firmly.
Cooper lets out a frustrated breath, “Fine, but we can’t leave it past then. I have a feeling I’ll be having that dick-head’s father on my ass, so I need to know details.”
I forgot about Cooper being the sheriff. I can only imagine what shit he puts up with when he has to deal with arrogant pricks like the Jennings.
“Come on Jules, let’s get out of here,” Kayla says helping her out of bed.
“Whoa,” Julia grabs on to Kayla unsteadily.
I quickly come around and pick her up.
“I can walk Jaxson, I just need a minute.” I ignore her protest and keep walking. Once we reach the truck I look down to see her sound asleep. Jesus, that didn’t take long.
Ten minutes later Cooper and Kayla help me get Julia into her house. “Her room is at the top of the stairs to the right,” Kayla says quietly.
“Thanks,” I look to Coop now, “I’ll call you tomorrow when she wakes up.”
I start walking up the stairs when Kayla starts in at me, “No funny business Jaxson, or I will kick your ass.” I shake my head, whatever Cooper has been showing her he needs to tone it down. That’s the second time she has threatened to cause me physical harm.
I keep the lights off as I walk into Julia’s room and lay her down gently on her bed.
Fuck! What the hell am I going to do about her dress
? I run downstairs hoping Kayla and Coop haven’t left. I see the tail lights on Coop’s truck as they drive away. Shit! I go back in and stare down at Julia with indecision…
Just don’t think about it and do it.
Taking a deep breath I turn her so she’s laying on her uninjured side and unzip her dress then roll her to her back again. I start sliding the dress down her body when she moans, “Mmmm Jaxson.” Holy fuck! I freeze thinking she’s awake, my semi-erect cock goes painfully hard now. When I look closer I see she’s sound asleep. Christ! I take a deep breath and try to control the need that’s consuming me. Once I get her dress all the way off I decide to torture myself more and stare down at her beautifully sculpted body. Jesus! She’s fucking perfect. Of course her bra and panties match the dress she was wearing, the pale yellow looks good against her smooth olive skin. Rage tears through me again when I see her bandaged ribs looking so out of place on her. Shaking my head I pull the blankets over her and sit on the floor by her bed.
I’m not worried about falling asleep so I don’t bother to set my watch. Being in the Navy we were trained to go with little or no sleep for days at a time. I lean my head back against the wall and watch her sleep.
An hour and a half later I try waking her, “Jules,” I shake her gently while sitting next to her on the bed. She gets a frown on her face, “Come on baby I need you to wake up.”
“No!” she mumbles and slaps my hand away, making me chuckle.
“What’s your name?” I ask in amusement. When she doesn’t answer I shake her again, “Come on I need you to answer me.”
She surprises me when she growls, “My name is Julia, I’m 24 years old and you are Jaxson… my EX-best friend. Now shut up and leave me alone,” she rolls over and is out cold again.
Shit! She’s pissy when she’s tired.
I settle back down in my spot on the floor. Clearly by her EX-best friend comment she’s far from forgiven me. I will find a way to make this right. I would have made it up to her before now if I hadn’t been holed up in that fucking rehabilitation clinic for 9 months.
I stretch out my legs and come into contact with something under her bed. I reach under to see what it is, hoping I didn’t break it. I’m shocked as shit when I pull out a framed picture of Julia and I from my graduation. I forgot that she had Sawyer take this; she looked so fucking beautiful that day. I remember how shocked I was when I heard her cheering when they called my name, shocked and happy as fuck.
Staring at the picture brings back memories of her graduation. I went to surprise her, just like she had me. It had been three years since I’d last seen her. I found out when I got there that she had a boyfriend, someone more in her league, a med student. She had no idea I was there, I didn’t want to fuck up her relationship. And well, to be honest, I didn’t want her to realize just how different I was from the guy, to realize how unworthy I truly was of her, even her friendship. From what Coop could gather from Kayla, the guy was good to her. It drove me crazy thinking of anyone touching her but me. I know I don’t have a right to feel that way, especially after what I’d done, but I can’t help it. My emotions and feelings have never made sense when it comes to Julia.
I snap out of my thoughts when I hear Julia moan. It’s only been an hour since I woke her last. I look over to see her holding her head. I put the picture back under the bed then get up quickly and sit beside her.