Last Chance: A Second Chances Novel (11 page)

When I pulled out onto the main road, I could see the line of cars up ahead. Dread settled into the pit of my gut, and even though it was against the law, I charged past them all in the center lane, as far up as I could go. The second I saw Lara’s mangled car, everything stopped. There were no blaring lights or sirens, but there were people trying to help get her out of the car.

Jumping off my bike, I tossed my helmet to the ground. “
Lara!
” I shouted. There were people getting out of their cars, but I pushed past them, not caring who I knocked down in the process. “Get the fuck out of the way.”

There were two men who pulled Lara out of her car and carried her over to the grass. There was glass everywhere, blood all over her body. “Lara,” I choked, falling to the ground beside her. Her phone was in the middle of the road and I blamed myself. If she hadn’t been talking to me, none of this would’ve happened.

“Do you know her?” the older man asked.

I nodded. “She was on her way to my house. I heard the accident through the phone.” Lara was so still, her body covered in blood. My hands shook when I took her pulse, but it was there. Eyes burning, I covered her with my body and cried. “Don’t you dare fucking die on me. I just got you back.”

“I saw it happen,” a woman murmured, coming up from behind. Sirens blared in the distance, and then the ambulance came into view, along with the police.

“Help is here, baby. Just hang on.”

The lady behind me kept talking. “I was almost to the light when I saw the guy in the truck not even attempting to stop at his light. It all happened so fast.”

Anger burned in my veins. I looked over at the truck, where blood was splattered all over the windshield. I’d never wished anyone dead before, but if he wasn’t, he’d wish he was after I got through with him. It was his fault.

“Move aside,” the paramedics shouted. There were two of them, a young man in his twenties, and another one, most likely in his forties. “Sir, you need to move,” the older one said. It took all I had to leave her side, but I watched them check her vitals and load her onto the stretcher.

“I’m going with her,” I told them. I followed them to the ambulance and the younger paramedic did a double take as they loaded her inside.

I heard him whisper to his partner, “Holy shit, I think that’s Luke Collins.”

Jumping inside, I sat beside Lara and held her hand.

The older EMT sat by her head as the younger one got into the driver’s seat. He asked, “Is there any information you can give me on the victim?”

Closing my eyes, I squeezed Lara’s hand, wishing like hell she’d squeeze back. “Her name is Lara Jacobs. She’ll be twenty-nine years old tomorrow.”

“And what is your relationship to the victim?”

I opened my eyes, my chest aching so bad I could barely breathe. “She’s my girlfriend.”

Other than seeing Lara’s limp and bloody body, having to call Summer was one of the hardest things I’d ever had to do. I’d always thought of myself as invincible and strong, never one to show weakness. Knowing there was nothing I could do to help Lara made me feel useless. The thought of losing her terrified the fuck out of me. The only thing I could do was pace the waiting room floor, until the doctors were done.

“Luke!” Summer shouted. She ran toward me, with Evan following closely behind her, holding a sleeping Emma-Grace in his arms. They both looked just as bad as I felt. Summer jumped in my arms and broke down. When I had called her, I could barely talk. All I told her was that there was an accident and they needed to get to the hospital. “How is she? What happened?”

The pain in my chest was unbearable. I held her in my arms, wishing like hell it was Lara instead. And now I didn’t know if she’d be alive to tell her how much I loved her, and would always love her. Summer stepped back, eyes and cheeks red from crying.

Evan slapped a hand on my shoulder and hugged me, trying his best not to wake Emma-Grace. “I’m so sorry,” he whispered. “I can’t imagine what you must be going through.”

I swallowed hard. “Hell.”

He let me go and I didn’t know if I could even speak. My throat was so tight, I could barely breathe.

“What happened?” Summer demanded. Evan put his arm around her and held her close.

“She was T-boned by a guy who ran a red light. The police were in here just a few minutes ago. They believe he was drunk. There was an open bottle of rum found in the wreckage.”

“Son of a bitch,” Evan growled. “Who was it?”

Teeth clenched, I shrugged. “Don’t know. All I know is the fucker’s dead. He deserves it, after what he did.” Now he couldn’t hurt anyone else. “Other than that, I don’t know much else. When we arrived, they rushed her away.”

“Oh my God,” Summer cried, collapsing into a chair. She rocked back and forth, holding her head in her hands. “What if she doesn’t make it?”

Evan sat beside her, consoling her. “She will, sunshine. Lara’s a strong girl.”

She looked up at me. “How did you even know she was in an accident?”

Before I could explain, Grayson charged through the door, his murderous glare fixed on me.

“W
hy is it every time Lara gets involved with you, she gets hurt?” Grayson shouted. He stormed my way and I was more than ready for a fight. He was the one who’d brainwashed Lara from the beginning, keeping her away from me.

Summer stood up and stepped in Grayson’s path. “Stop! I won’t have any of this macho bullshit right now. This isn’t helping anything.”

“That’s right,” Evan agreed. “You need to calm down.”

Grayson then fixed his glare on Evan. “What did you say to Lara? You were one of the last ones to see her.”

Brows furrowed, Summer turned to Evan. “What does he mean?”

Evan was about to speak, when one of the doctors walked into the room. His attention immediately went to Summer, probably recognizing her from the woman he just operated on.

“You must be Lara’s sister?” he asked.

She hurried over to him. “Yes, how is she?” We all congregated around him and he acknowledged us all with a nod.

“I’m Dr. Prince. I wanted to give you an update on Ms. Jacobs.”

“Is she going to make it?” Summer cried.

Dr. Prince cleared his throat. “We’re trying to control the internal bleeding right now. Her body took a tragic blow and she needs to be stabilized before I have any answers. We’re not there yet, but we’re doing everything we can. She also suffered a traumatic hit to the head, and we won’t know the full extent of the damage until she wakes up. I’m sorry I can’t give you any other details at the moment. I’ll be back to give you an update after her next surgery.”

None of us could say anything, probably because the shock of it all was too much to take in, but Evan held out his hand. “Thanks, doctor. We’ll be here.”

When the doctor left, the room fell into complete silence. Head injuries were what scared me with riding because they could leave you brain dead in a heartbeat. If that ever happened to me, I’d want someone to put me out of my misery. The thought of seeing Lara like that scared the fuck out of me. She didn’t deserve any of it.

Summer wiped away her tears and kissed Emma-Grace on the head. “Why don’t you take her home? I’m going to stay until I can see Lara,” she said to Evan.

“You sure?”

She nodded. “There’s no sense on keeping her here. I’m sure the media will be coming around for questions. Oh, and we need to let everyone know the restaurant is closed until further notice.”

Evan kissed her hand and stood. “I’ll make calls. I’m sure Kate will want to be here too.” He glanced at me and sighed. “She’ll pull through, brother. I have no doubt.”

Evan was always the optimist, even when we were kids. Unfortunately, I didn’t share in his opinion. Something didn’t feel right, and I had no clue what it was. Shortly after he left, exhaustion took over and my eyes grew heavy. I didn’t want to sleep, but my body couldn’t take anymore.

I awoke to the smell of coffee. All night long, I’d dreamt about Lara, about all the times we never got to share with each other. The only date I ever took her on was the one to the party the night we slept together. I never got the chance to do anything with her, to see her face light up when we’d do something fun. I dreamt about everything I might not ever get to do with her.

Opening my eyes, Evan was there with three cups of coffee. I sat up and groaned as the muscles in my back protested. Grayson and Summer were still asleep in their seats.

Evan passed me a steaming cup. “Morning. I thought you could use this.”

“Thanks,” I said, taking a sip.

“Anything new yet?”

I shook my head. “No. Still waiting. Don’t you have football practice?”

“We’re on break until summer camp starts up. I was going to use these couple of weeks to help out at the restaurant.”

Summer jerked awake and gasped, her gaze darting around the room. “Did I miss anything?”

Evan pulled her into his arms and kissed the top of her head. “Not yet, sunshine.”

Reaching for a coffee, her lips trembled. “Where’s Emma-Grace?”

“With Kate. She wanted to be here, but she knew watching Emma would be a tremendous help.”

Summer sniffled. “Once I know Lara’s okay, I’ll get Emma-Grace so she can come up here and see her.”

My focus drifted to the hallway, and landed on Dr. Prince steadily walking toward us. “Here comes the doctor,” I said, jumping to my feet.

Summer shook Grayson awake and everyone stood up, waiting those agonizing last few seconds of uncertainty.