Chapter 2
TWO
SUTTON
The bounce of my knee wouldn’t stop. As soon as I became aware of it, I attempted to control the movement, but it was pointless.
It started right back up. Fear wrapped around me, refusing to let go.
Only seventeen hours ago, I’d been chilling with my brother, appreciating the distraction of hanging out with him.
One minute we’d been kicking back, watching my nephews shoot hoops. The next I almost dropped my phone when I listened to Nate on the other end.
Somehow I’d managed to give enough information to my brother, who’d chartered me a flight to LAX to get me there in time for a flight out to Brisbane.
“Would you like another drink before we land, sir?”
The voice cut through my bouncing leg and the thought of Jayden unconscious in a hospital bed. I shook my head and offered a tight smile, not having the energy to speak. There was always the possibility that my voice could crack.
The woman smiled kindly and moved on to the next person. Taking a moment to calm myself, I peered out the window. In the distance I saw an endless ocean, the horizon kissing the sky in a bright hue of blue.
There were no clouds to distract me, no land that I could see, just the never-ending sea, tips of white waves only just becoming visible. The lack of distraction meant that Jayden was on my mind, and all that had happened played on a loop.
I shouldn't have been surprised when Nate told me that Jayden had traveled with him and Ryan to Australia. That didn’t stop the twist in my gut when I’d found out either.
And this, all this, Jayden being in Queensland, him being in a car crash, was all because I’d pushed him away and couldn’t be honest with him.
If I hadn’t cut him from my life, no way would he have come to Australia without me, and likely that wouldn’t have been until next year.
I slammed my eyes closed, finding no comfort in the vast ocean. The only thing that would ease my terror was knowing Jayden was okay and seeing his dark oak-colored eyes for myself.
Nate had updated me by the time I’d traveled to LA hours earlier. Ryan had a broken wrist and was sporting a new cast, and beyond that was unscathed.
Jayden not so much.
He’d been struggling to stay awake. I reminded myself that he was alert and responsive, for the most part, even as my brain still clung to the thought of him being unconscious.
It wasn’t true. Thank Christ. Somehow, the only broken bone was a finger in his left hand, which wasn’t his dominant one.
He had lacerations on his face and apparently a significant cut with multiple stitches spanning from his temple to his cheek.
It was him struggling to stay awake and his brain being knocked around that had held me frozen before I’d boarded my flight to Brisbane.
With the flight being so long, I hoped I’d be able to contact his parents with good news when I saw him with my own eyes.
They’d been my first call when I’d been able to get my brain functioning.
His mom had cried, his dad taking over the call, and I’d promised them I’d do everything I could to bring their son home. Safe and well.
With Mary, Jayden’s mom, wheelchair-bound and not always in the best of health, I hadn’t even hesitated to take on the responsibility to fly out. Not that they asked—my brother had been driving me to the airport when I’d called them.
But still, Jayden was my best friend, whether he still believed it or not. And there was no way he wasn’t going to be okay.
The man would be playing at my side next season. He wasn’t breaking free from me that easily.
It took another hour and forty-five minutes to finally land, pass passport control, and head toward the arrivals gate. I knew someone would be meeting me, Nate had promised as much, and as I finally pulled out my phone to power up, a string of text notifications pinged.
Amber, Nate’s sister, would be picking me up.
I exited through the automatic doors, searching for Amber. I’d seen plenty of photographs of her over the past few years.
“Sutton.” The sound of my name snapped my attention in the direction of a young woman. Relief settled into me that she was already here.
I greeted her, surprise slamming into me when she wrapped her arms tightly around my waist, giving me a squeeze. Even though she was tiny compared to my towering height, her head reaching no higher than my pecs, the woman knew how to hug.
Emotion clogged my throat, her greeting touching, and then I froze. “Fuck, Jayden—” I couldn’t finish that sentence, too terrified to voice my fears.
“Shit, no, he’s fine. Well,” Amber winced, “he’s still struggling a bit to stay awake for long periods but is already doing so much better.”
I gasped for breath, adrenalin zipping through me so quickly, I went momentarily light-headed.
“Come on, let’s get you to the hospital. I’m under strict instructions to get you straight there.” Amber took hold of my hand like we were old friends and led me to her parked SUV.
“Your flight okay?”
It took me a moment for her words to register through the buzzing in my ears. “Yeah, good, thanks.” I stared out the window, not quite believing I was in Australia.
Since meeting Ryan Broadwater a few years back, Jayden and I had made half-assed plans to visit Ryan’s home country.
Often it was linked to us giving our Aussie friend shit, but beneath it all, there’d been an edge of seriousness.
But here I was, having traveled in a panic to see the man who should have been at my side.
A wave of frustration threatened to drown me when a series of what-ifs swept over me.
The asshole had run to Australia without me. And run he did. Why he’d done so was as clear to me as the bright blue sky I stared at out of Amber’s car.
It was my fault. I’d shut Jayden out, pushed him away.
And all because of that damn kiss last year.
Him making a statement. Giving haters and the media the middle finger to support Ryan and Nate may have been ill-thought-out.
But fuck if it hadn’t been at the expense of my… fuck, I didn’t even know what.
Jayden was my friend, without a doubt my best friend.
But that kiss had rocked my world in a way I’d never envisioned.
Ever. And while I questioned every feeling, gesture, and conversation between us and spent too many hours going over that kiss, Jayden had acted like it was no big deal.
I had no doubt he was right to do so, but that hadn’t helped me or my confusion.
“It’ll take us just over an hour to get there,” Amber was saying. “Most traffic is heading into the city, so we shouldn’t get too caught up.”
I offered a cursory smile. “No worries.” My mouth kicked up a little higher at the phrase Jayden and I used, mainly in a low, relaxed twang to mimic Ryan’s accent. “I just appreciate you coming to get me.”
She cast me a quick glance. “If you need to call anyone back home, you can use my phone,” she said.
“I have free international calls on my plan.” She cast me another look, and I noticed her cheeks pinken.
“Uhm, yeah, I know calls are expensive from an international mobile. No point in that when you can use mine for free.”
This time my smile was genuine. This young woman was worried about my cell bill, and I expected she knew that I earned several zeros on my paycheck like her brother once had.
“Thanks. I’ll just shoot off a few texts to Jayden’s family and mine, letting them know I’m here.
” I did so, and we carried on the journey, with mainly Amber filling the quiet and not putting me under any pressure to respond in detail.
I appreciated she was letting me offer simple grunts and one-syllable responses. I couldn’t give any more than that.
I tried to take in a little of the passing highway, hoping it would distract me. But the bright sun, the industrial buildings, the collection of forestry occasionally breaking up the monotony of chain stores, didn’t do much to make the journey pass by any faster.
A new tendril of anticipation threaded into my veins when we pulled off the highway. I sat up a little straighter as I focused on the cars of people going on about their day, heedless of the turmoil making my stomach ache.
The landscape changed again, and signs for the hospital caught my attention.
“Is this it?” I asked, just to break the silence, needing the sound to ground me.
“Yeah. Just need to park in the multistory.”
Wide-eyed, I nodded, my pulse picking up speed. What the hell was I even doing here? What if Jayden was so annoyed with me, he told me to disappear? What if he was injured worse than I thought, and I lost my shit?
I cleared my throat when Amber cut the engine after parking. “Does he know I’m coming?”
Her warm gaze met mine. “I don’t think so. He hasn’t been with it enough, I don’t think, but I haven’t heard anything from Nate for a couple of hours, so that could have changed.”
I bobbed my head and exited her car.
“I’m going to get you to his room. Ryan and Nate will be there, then I have to get back to Ivy.”
Guilt raised its head. I hadn’t even considered she’d left her kid to come and pick me up. We moved toward the elevator, and I shot her an apologetic smile. “I didn’t ask how Ivy was doing. Sorry. And sorry you had to come and get me.”
Amber waved me off as we stepped into the elevator, and she hit one of the buttons. “I don’t mind at all. She’s happy with Gran. And the last thing you need to worry about is my girl, not when you’re worried about your friend.”
My heart squeezed tight. Friend. What if Jayden no longer considered me his friend since I’d fucked up?
A huff of air escaped me as we stepped out onto a corridor. I followed Amber’s lead as we traveled along the mazelike path toward Jayden’s room.