Chapter 16
16
OWEN
Screaming and shouting, coming from what sounds like Jade, instantly sends my mind spiraling, and I sprint out of my room at the same time as I haphazardly fumble, doing up the zipper on my shorts.
My world falls away as I find Jade standing at the bottom of the stairs of my villa, covered in blood, frantically bouncing a crying Poppy in her arms.
Oh no.
Flying down the stairs, my head in a spin, I can’t get to them fast enough. “What’s happened? Are you hurt? Is it Poppy?”
Panting, tears running down her face, she wails, “It’s Mom. She needs a paramedic. Now.” She stares at me, looking terrified. “She’s fallen down the stairs.” She turns and flies out the door. “Come.” Her feet slap loudly against the hot concrete as she runs back to her villa.
Gregor jumps down the stairs at lightning speed too, his phone already in his hand. “I’m calling an ambulance now.” He runs behind me as I follow Jade.
“What the fuck is the number?” Gregor sounds distressed .
“Google it. Now,” I demand, gritting my teeth.
“It’s 199 in Cyprus.” Cobra appears as if by magic. “I heard the commotion.” He justifies why he is here, when in fact it’s all hands on deck as far as I’m concerned.
Sprinting, I run ahead to get to Mari.
I’m not prepared to find her lying in a puddle of blood as it oozes out of what looks like a deep gash on her forehead and onto the stark white marble floor, making it look like something out of a crime scene.
Mari moans when I crouch down and call her name.
“She tumbled all the way down.” Jade is seemingly unaware of how frantically she is bouncing Poppy, making me worry.
As Gregor races through the door, I instruct him to take Poppy away from the scene. The last thing I want is my little Pop-a-doodle traumatized as her grandmother bleeds out onto the floor.
Gregor scoops Poppy out of Jade’s arms and passes his phone to Cobra.
“C’mon, beautiful. Let’s go find some toys for you to play with.” Gregor disappears into the makeshift playroom Jade and Mari set up for Poppy. “There, there, you’re okay, Poppy,” he coos calmly, closing the door behind him, her sobbing dying down.
Jade falls to her knees by her mother’s side, worry deeply etched into her forehead.
“My leg.” In a daze, Mari groans, reaching down lazily, then moves her hand to her head.
I grab it before she makes contact with her deep cut, which looks like it needs stitches, and wrap her hand in mine reassuringly.
I look at Jade. “Hotshot, look at me. ”
Her eyes bounce between her mom and me, then to her mom again.
With my free hand, I cup her face to get her attention. “Jade, listen to me.”
Her already pale face grows paler. “She’s hurting,” she whispers.
“I know. But listen to me. I need you to go into the kitchen and grab me lots of towels. Do you think you can do that?”
Jade nods her head a tiny amount, her face wet with tears.
“Great.” I move my eyes in the direction of the kitchen. “Go, Hotshot.”
In a flash, Jade is on her feet and scurrying about in the kitchen, scooping the supplies into her arms.
While my attention is fixed on Mari, in the background, Cobra’s deep voice is giving our address details over the phone.
Using soothing words to reassure Mari, I rub my thumb over the back of her hand, coaxing her to stay awake and asking her questions about the day and date.
Taking her time, she answers me, correctly every time, which I take as a good sign.
Cobra finally says the words we’ve been waiting for. “The paramedics are on their way.”
Jade returns with the towels, and I gently cover Mari’s split head with one, applying a little pressure to suppress the blood that is still pouring from the wound.
“I shouldn’t have brought her here. This is all my fault,” Jade cries again.
Before I get the chance to reassure her, Cobra has pulled her off the floor, wrapping his arms around her.
“Well, you wanted to bring her. And this is where we’re at,” he says matter-of-factly.
What the fuck ?
“Jade,” I say sternly, concerned about Mari, but wanting to reassure her. And punch Cobra in the nuts.
She breaks free from his hold, pushing herself out of his arms.
“None of this is your fault,” I tell her as she sits back down on the floor next to her mom, holding her other hand. “It was an accident, Jade. She could have fallen anywhere.”
She wipes her nose with the back of her hand. “But she’s been dizzy and I should have made sure she went to the doctor sooner.”
“And now we’ll find out why she’s been having those spells. She’s going to be just fine.”
“She is?” She sniffles.
“She is, Jade. I promise.” I feign positivity, trusting Mari has a slight fracture and needs some stitches and nothing more.
Within ten minutes, the paramedics arrive and they confirm Mari needs to be taken to hospital.
Jade climbs into the ambulance to accompany Mari, and as soon as they leave, I jump into Jade’s jeep to follow them. It pisses me off when Cobra hops into the passenger seat, but I bite my tongue.
My backside numb, I wiggle in my seat as we’ve been sitting in the waiting room for hours. I rest my hand on Jade’s thigh and give it a reassuring squeeze.
“How long do you think they’ll be now?” Jade asks hopefully as she ends her call with Gregor and Blake, who have been taking care of Poppy tonight. She was clearly unsettled by earlier events, and they’ve only just got her to sleep. What I wouldn’t give right now just to cuddle that little pudding in for the night. I slept like a log yesterday on the sofa when she napped on my chest, and we had a little snuggle together.
“Shouldn’t be much longer.” I sigh heavily, eager to find out how Mari is doing. I’ve grown incredibly fond of Jade’s mom.
We’ve been waiting for over three hours as it’s been a busy evening at the hospital, causing us to have to wait longer to get the results of Mari’s X-rays.
The doctors confirmed that Mari needed sutures to close the deep wound on her forehead, reassuring us they would carry out further tests to understand her dizzy spells, too.
Jade yawns, tipping her head to the side to rest it on my shoulder, and I thread my fingers into hers.
“I’m thirsty.” She squeezes my hand.
I kiss the top of her head. “There’s a coffee station down the corridor. Let me get you something.” I stand and stretch out my stiff legs to get the circulation flowing again.
“Would you like anything, Cobra?” I inwardly scoff at his stupid fucking name. I wish I knew his real one.
“A coffee. Black. No sugar.” He’s firm with his order.
“Please?” I say as if he were a child. His manners are appalling.
He stares me down while Jade shakes her head at me subtly, as if to say, Not now . So I let it slide. For her.
Before I fetch our drinks, I lean down and kiss Jade on the lips, and just as I thought, Cobra watches our whole interaction, his dark stormy eyes wild enough to sink a ship.
She’s mine, asshole.
Hands off.
It’s taking longer than expected because the filtered coffee machine had to be refilled. Holding three polystyrene cups teetering on top of the other, being careful not to burn my hands, I navigate myself through the winding hospital corridors back to our seats.
I round the last corner, only to find Cobra cupping Jade’s face in his hands as she tries to pull away.
My world turns on its axis, my brain trying to figure out why the hell he is touching her and why the fuck he isn’t listening to her when she’s telling him to stop.
She sounds desperate, and I hear her adamantly say, “I’ve told you before, Cobra. I don’t see us like that. You’re my boss.” Sounding distressed, she desperately tries to pull the palms of his firmly gripped hands from her face. “Get your hands off of me.” She grabs his wrists, stepping back.
“Jade, don’t be like that. You know we’d be great together.” He bows his head as if going in for a kiss, the snake tattoo on his forearm appearing to move across his skin as he wrestles with her.
I see red.
Running along the corridor, not giving a shit if the boiling liquid spills out of the plastic lids and burns me, I bellow, “Get your fucking hands off her. Now.”