Midwest Fighter (Kendall Family Book 2) (20 page)

“Only if they’re under eighteen.” I wiggle my eyebrows, soliciting an eye-roll from Katie. “And I’d like to point out you’re not
literally
old enough to be their mum. They’re in their twenties and this one has been around the world, fighting for his country. Nothing’s stopping you from having a bit of fun.”

“Stop. Tempting. Me.” Wiping at her face, she begins to walk away, muttering, “I need a shot of something
really
strong.”

Catching her sister-in-law’s forlorn expression as she passes by, Evelyn turns to me. “What’s with her?”

“Sexual frustration,” I stage whisper.

Braden bursts out laughing before starting out after Katie. “I’ll see if I can be of assistance.”

“Don’t even think about it!” Evelyn calls after him.

“This is all so lovely,” I say, hooking my arm through Evelyn’s as I take a sweeping look around the backyard. Charlie stands behind the microphone on the make-shift stage, tuning his guitar as his drummer’s making adjustments to his kit, and the rest of the guests start filling in to watch. “Can’t believe I’m among the privileged about to witness Thrashtag’s first public reunion.”

She grins madly, the pride for her rockstar husband glowing in her eyes. “Anyone within a mile radius will hear them. By the end of the night, the beach down there will be packed. Charlie doesn’t seem too concerned about it though. He says everyone along this side of the Hamptons is pretty chill. Most everyone knows he owns this place, and they usually leave us alone.”

“Where’s Sofia? I have yet to see her since she arrived.”

“We got into a pretty ugly fight,” Evelyn admits, flattening her smile. “I suppose I should go check on her.”

“No bother, I can do it on your behalf. You should be up front-and-center when your hubby strikes his first chord. Wouldn’t want him thinking he’s lost his biggest fan.”

“Are you sure you want to put yourself through that? She can be…difficult.”

“Haven’t you heard?” I ask with a goofy grin. “Difficult Kendall siblings is my specialty.” I kiss her on the cheek before heading back into the house.

“Third bedroom on the right!” she hollers to my backside. “You’re the best, Shar!”

As I make my way down the hallway, I hear the opening notes of one of my favorite Thrashtag songs and curse myself for being so agreeable.

“Sofia,” I call out quietly, tapping my knuckles on the door. “You in there, luv?”

With no answer after a full minute of tapping on the door, I try the handle to find it open. The room is completely bare with no sign of anyone ever having been inside, though the French doors are wide open. I start across the room, intending to close them, when my eyes catch on a patch of blond hair near the driveway. When I step outside, I find Sofia with her luggage in tow, waiting alongside the curb.

“Sofia!” I call out. “What on earth are you doing?”

She jumps with the sound of my voice. When her eyes find mine, she snatches her rolling bag and takes off in the other direction on foot.

“Wait!” I yell, taking off towards her. “Where are you going?”

She must sense I’m not far behind when she begins jogging down the sidewalk and cries, “I’m leaving! It was a mistake to come here!”

“Don’t be daft. You’re certainly not going to
walk
back to Texas!” When she refuses to slow her roll, I take off in a sprint and curse myself for not keeping up with my fitness routine because of morning sickness. This child hasn’t even found its way out, and already it’s turning my life on its head.

Sofia reaches the end of the sidewalk on the cul-de-sac and begins to cross the street. I’d be tempted to laugh at how quickly her heeled feet shuffle across the asphalt if I weren’t so annoyed. That one is even more stubborn than her brother.

“Trust me when I say your sister wants you to stay!” I tell her, crossing the street at her heels. “I’m not up to date on whatever may have transpired between you and your siblings in the past, but they all seem quite eager to mend bridges! Stop pouting and come back so we can talk this over properly! I’m horribly out of shape and can’t chase you much longer!”

I’m unable to hear her response over the deafening roar of an engine.

C
harlie’s band
finishes up their first song and everyone in the backyard loses their damn minds, clapping and howling. A small crowd has gathered where the backyard meets the beach, some of them talking with Dante and others taking pictures with their phones. Though I’ll openly admit I’m a Thrashtag fan, I don’t have it in me to applaud while looking around for Sharlo. Even though she said she was feeling okay, I have an uneasy feeling about her disappearance since she said she’d be right back. I wouldn’t put it past her to say she was fine just so I won’t worry.

Nudging my way past everyone, I start for the house and make a quick sweep of the bathrooms. Just as I’m passing one of the empty bedrooms, I hear the squeal of tires followed by a gut-clenching scream.

Adrenaline shoots through my limbs, pumping my legs. I dart through the empty room and through the open glass doors leading to the front yard, stopping in the driveway. At first I wonder if I imagined the god-awful noise, then I glance down the street and find a set of burn-out marks leading up to a dark sedan that’s crashed into a neighbor’s stone gate. But I hardly pay the car any attention before my eyes land on a woman—Sofia—running to an unmoving body.

Sharp razors of dread shoot up my spine.

I know those bloodied legs and the sandals scattered around them.

No.
No!

My legs start pumping, propelling me toward the nightmare.

When Sharlo’s broken body comes into view, I almost fall on my ass.

Her eyelids are closed and her face is covered in road-rash.

Blood soaks into the pavement around her head.

It reminds me all too much of the night I found Dad.

I stumble backward, shaking my head.

No no no! Not my Sharlo!

The sound of someone yelling my name sounds distant and fuzzy, like they’re standing at the end of a tunnel.

My stomach clenches violently as someone roars, “
Call an ambulance!”

Quiet moans send me running in the direction of the car. A gray-haired man murmurs from behind a deflated airbag in the driver’s seat. I stalk toward him and grab onto his unbuckled chest, yanking him out onto the grass by his shirt. The stench of booze clings to him like shit on a pig. A blinding need to kill him for hurting Sharlo shakes me to the core.

“I’m so sorry!” the man cries, thrashing his head back and forth. “I’m…I made a mistake! I wanted him to pay…what have I done? Oh god!
What have I done?
Please forgive me!”

His broken apology spins through my head, the words disconnected and slurred. My hand trembles, trying to make a fist.

“The cops are on their way, JD,” a deep voice says behind me. “Let them handle it.”

Then someone is pulling on my arm, dragging me away from the man.

Soon I find myself stumbling toward Sharlo’s body. There’s an earth-shattering howl that rips through the warm evening air as I fall to my knees at her side and take her limp body in my arms.
So much blood…

“You shouldn’t move her!” a woman cries.

“Don’t even try stopping him,” someone tells her. “The ambulance said they’re five minutes out. She’s gonna be okay.”

Face pressed into her blood-soaked hair, my heart seizes when I can’t find her vanilla scent.

“Come on, Shar, wake up. You can’t leave me. Come on, baby, open those beautiful eyes.”

A string of meaningless words continue to fall from my lips as my heart rips in two.

* * *

“
W
hy haven’t
we heard anything?” I ask no one in particular, continuing to pace the tiled floor.

It’s been three fucking hours since we arrived, and we haven’t gotten a single fucking update. The antiseptic smell of the emergency room does nothing to calm my nerves. When I told the EMTs in the ambulance that Sharlo was pregnant, the already tense atmosphere in the claustrophobically small space became dire as they exchanged a worried glance. It was hard to miss the look of sympathy the female technician gave me.

“They’re focused on helping Shar right now,” Evelyn says in a gentle voice, setting her hand on my arm. “She’s going to be okay, JD.”

I jerk away from her with a flare of anger coiling inside my gut. “No one has told us she’s going to be okay.”

As she shrinks away from me into her husband’s arms, her eyes red and tired from crying, I kick myself for being a dick. She’s just as upset as I am, and she has every right to be.

When they wheeled Sharlo away for surgery, I was in a haze of shock and didn’t notice who all had joined me in the ER until the police came to question Sofia and then me before promising to keep us updated. They didn’t have much information other than the asshole’s name. I was too worked up to remember it two minutes afterwards and only recall them saying he was from California.

The place has been unnaturally quiet since we arrived. The only other patients to come through have been an old lady who fell, and a 10-year-old kid who had a firecracker go off in his hand. The lady’s elderly husband and a set of freaked-out parents are the only other people waiting, and they’ve each thrown me dozens of uneasy glances since they arrived. Nolan, Sofia, Evelyn, and Charlie look various stages of worried when I take a sweeping glance at each of them. I just want everyone to leave me the fuck alone.

“Can we get you something?” Charlie offers, rubbing Evelyn’s shoulder with one hand and tugging on his ratty old baseball cap with the other. He’s always so paranoid about being spotted in public, but I think he forgets he’s made my sister nearly as famous. “Maybe you should go to the bathroom and clean up.”

Glancing down at Sharlo’s dried blood covering my hands and shirt, I’m struck with another crippling wave of fear. The woman I love is fighting for her life, and I can’t do a goddamned thing about it. “Go back to the party,” I tell them all. “It’s what she’d want you to do.”

“I’m not leaving you here alone,” Evelyn insists, folding her arms over her stomach.

Charlie hugs her from behind. “And I’m not leaving
her.”

A small sob comes from Sofia when she says, “It’s my fault she’s here. I can’t leave until I know she’s going to be okay.”

Nolan, sitting at her side in one of the plastic chairs, slings an arm around her shoulders. I almost do a double take when she leans into him, crying into his chest. Guess my stone-cold sister still has some feelings under that icy demeanor after all.

I still don’t fully understand what took place that had Sharlo chasing Sofia down the street or why the old man who hit her was blubbering about making some guy pay. Everything happened in a fucked-up blur, and my mind struggled to keep up. All I know is that I was listening to the band when I should've been looking for her sooner. I failed to protect my family.

“Shar’s dad booked a flight that leaves San Jose in a couple hours,” Evelyn reports, looking down at her phone. “It’ll be early morning before he gets here.”

Fucking-A. Can’t wait for that conversation.
Sorry, sir, for getting your daughter knocked-up and then letting some drunk asshole almost succeed in killing her.
I may as well
tuck my balls between my legs right now and head back to Minnesota.

A severe-looking older woman in blue scrubs and a matching paper hat comes charging out of the swinging doors they took Sharlo through. From her washed out expression, it looks as if something drained her of all energy. “Nolan Zimmerman?” she asks in a grave tone.

My eyes dart over to Nolan as he rises to his feet. “That’s me.”

“Come with me, please,” she tells him, gesturing with her hand.

Nolan has started to grow on me since that day at the gym when he pulled me off Freddie, but I’m suddenly jealous he’s Sharlo’s go-to person. If anyone should have the right to know what going on, it’s the father of her child.

Nolan stops dead in his tracks, pointing my way. “He’s her fiancé.”

I’ll be damned
. The white lie makes me want to hug the guy and even kiss his fucking cheek.

The woman’s lips tighten like someone who has sucked on a lemon. “You’re the only one listed as her emergency contact.”

“I just proposed to her this morning,” I blurt, all at once wishing the lie was true. Christ, I would’ve
married her
the minute I came back to the city had I known this shit was going to happen. When the woman gives me a skeptical look, I add,
“Please.
She’s everything to me.”

She gives in with a deep sigh. “Alright then. Both of you, come this way.”

Nolan hurries to my side, clapping me on the shoulder. “She’s gonna be okay, man.”

The boulder in my gut prevents me from answering. I’m on auto-pilot when we follow the woman into a small, sterile room with a set of chairs. The low buzz of the lights over our heads sets my teeth on edge. Is this the room where they break the news to families that their loved ones have died?
I make a point of standing in front of the chair and crossing my arms, letting the woman know I have no intention of sitting.

“I’m Doctor Lewis, general surgeon,” she tells us with a small bob of her head. “Miss Rockford has suffered several serious injuries. She fractured her pelvis and her right femur. We operated on her leg, but her pelvis will simply take a considerable amount of time to heal with bed rest. We had to remove one of her kidneys that was punctured in the accident, although as you may know, it’s perfectly normal for a healthy adult to function with only one. We’re most concerned about the blood collecting between the layers of tissue that surround her brain.”

As the news sinks in, I swear to fuck the floor drops out from underneath me.

“The sudden blow to her head tore the blood vessels that run along the surface of her brain. It’s called an acute subdural hematoma. We put her in a medically induced coma to keep the pressure from increasing in her skull. We’ll have to monitor her closely with CTs to determine whether or not it’s necessary to operate in order to relieve the pressure.”

Nolan sets his hand on my shoulder and squeezes. “Are we talking
brain surgery?”
he asks.

“Like I said, we’ll have to monitor her condition closely before we make any decisions.”

“The baby…” I bite out, already knowing the answer before she speaks. If her pelvis was broken and her kidney had been punctured, the little guy wouldn’t stand a chance.

Looking me straight in the eye, the surgeon’s lips turn downward. “I’m sorry. There weren’t any heart tones when she arrived.”

Pulling in a sharp breath, my fingers curls into fists. Sharlo wasn’t on board with the motherhood thing in the beginning, but had started to change her mind in recent days. Just yesterday there was a glowing light in her eyes when she showed me an article online saying our baby was the size of a kumquat. If the blood pushing on her brain doesn’t kill her, the news that our baby is gone easily could.

When I turn to leave the room, Nolan says something and pats me on the back. The woman’s voice drones on as I stumble my way back out to the waiting area, almost colliding with Evelyn and Sofia.

“What’d she say?” Evelyn asks, digging her fingers into my arms.

The lump in my throat is too large to swallow, making it feel like I’ll choke to death before I can breath again. I push past my sisters, drawn to the exit by some invisible force. Shuffling through the dim-lit parking lot, I continue on without any idea what I’m doing or where I’m going.

We lost the baby.

If Sharlo doesn’t make it either…

My chest contracts so hard with the thought that I think I might be having a heart attack.

I’m a ways down the block when I hear the pounding of footsteps on the pavement behind me. Before long a hand grabs my shoulder. I whip around, ready to beat the living shit out of something or someone. Charlie ducks as I throw my fist, narrowly escaping the blow.

“Whoa! It’s me!”

The near-hit felt good. I don’t know how to deal with the dark emotions surging through my chest other than to hit it out with my fists. I look away from Charlie, unable to speak.

“Nolan told us,” he explains. “I’m sorry about the baby. I can’t fucking imagine what you’re feeling right now, man. If that was your sister in there…” He stops short, shaking his head. “Jesus, I can’t even think about it without wanting to bust something. Look, bro, I get it, you don’t want to talk. That’s cool with me. But Sharlo’s gonna need you to keep your shit together once she’s awake. And she
is
going to wake up because we both know that feisty woman is strong as hell.”

He grabs the back of my neck, waiting for me to look him in the eye.
“She’s gonna be okay.
You hear me?”

Clenching my jaw together, I feel a tear roll down my cheek.