Chapter 9
It was a parent’s worst nightmare to hear their child was in danger and they were too far away to do a damn thing.
Jenna didn’t remember what Jack even said to her, only catching on to the fact that Ollie’s car had crashed on their way to dinner.
Jack was moving fast. He got them out of the tub and into their bedroom in a heartbeat.
Neither was fully dry of the hot bathwater before he was getting them dressed.
Jenna normally could dress herself but she couldn’t seem to get her fingers to work.
“What’s happening?” she demanded. She was sitting on the edge of their bed, trying to keep her panic down, but she could feel an attack coming.
It wasn’t like the others where she suddenly lost feeling in a part of her body and then her other symptoms followed.
This was like every nerve ending in her body had suddenly been electrocuted, causing her extremities to spasm and leaving her with no control.
Barefoot and only in unbuttoned jeans, Jack hurried over to her phone.
He still had his phone up to his ear with Chip on the line.
He dialed on her phone and then put it to his other ear.
“Carlos! Chester Road, get there now! Ollie and Aaron were in an accident. I don’t know details, but assume the worst.” Then he turned his head into his phone and said to Chip, “We’re on our way.
” Into her phone, he said hastily, “Yes, yes. Just now. I’m not sure, but Chip said they hit the guardrail. ”
Jenna’s eyes widened and she gasped in fear.
Chester Road was a long stretch out of town, passing a lot of Amish fields and not much else for miles.
There were thick drainage ditches on either side of the road to also help prevent cattle from escaping.
Reckless drivers got into a lot of trouble on that road, and a good number of those accidents occurred due to an escaped cow.
Jack’s face darkened as he said to Carlos, “He didn’t say. Just get your ass there!” Then he hung up both phones, pocketing them. He started rushing about again, gathering both their shoes and the remainder of their clothing. “We’re going to be moving fast. How are you?”
Jenna gritted her teeth. Her neck and shoulders were tightening, like her head weighed too much. She tried to take several calming breaths, but they only did so much. “I’ll survive. What’s going on with Ollie?”
“I’m not sure. I had to get off the phone to get us ready.” Jack’s mask was back, but his eyes were blazing. Still, his hands were gentle as he got her socks and shoes on. “Chip said he started swerving uncontrollably and hit the guardrail. The cage flipped.”
Fear pierced her heart. “Oh, God,” she pleaded reverently.
She touched her neck where she normally had her cross necklace.
Jack had taken it off her before they’d gotten in the tub, along with her earrings.
The only jewelry she was wearing now was her wedding band, which had once belonged to Mrs. Zarin.
She wanted her cross now, but it would only slow Jack down. They needed to get to their son.
Jack pulled his shirt on and then helped her into her bra and shirt. They were as dressed as they needed to be. “They’re alive,” he told her, taking her face between his hands. “Chip couldn’t see beyond that, but he saw both moving.”
Jenna’s chin quaked as she nodded. “Thank you, God.” She took a single second to send up a longer, silent prayer. “Let’s go. My purse is downstairs.”
They were halfway down the stairs, Jenna in Jack’s arms, when Jack’s phone went off.
“Shit,” he cursed. The chair lift made holding her up and down the stairs a tighter fit but not impossible.
Unfortunately, Jenna did not have enough dexterity at present to reach into his pocket and get his phone for him.
He picked up his pace, getting her into the living room.
Jenna slumped on the couch. Helplessness and frustration warred with her constant monologue to stay calm. If she had a full attack now, she would be completely useless to Ollie. It was bad enough she was a burden to Jack. She refused to not be there for her son in his time of need.
By the time Jack got his hands free, the phone had stopped ringing.
He dragged it out anyway. “Carlos,” he muttered, hitting the button to call the sheriff back.
Just as he put the phone to his ear, their front door burst open.
Jack kept his phone where it was and had a gun trained on the door area in a swift, single motion.
Jenna had no idea he’d been armed. Seeing her husband so readily defend her should not have been so hot.
It was just Bulldog, though. “We heard. Tessa’s on duty at the ER. Bear’s already on his way with Angel and Cage. Abby and Frankie have the kids. What do you need?”
Jack lowered the gun as he said into his phone. “What?”
Whatever it was that Carlos said to him, Jenna saw Jack’s cheeks pale. Her heart started beating faster. What had happened? Had Chip been wrong and both boys weren’t alive? She was losing her fight to stay calm.
“My coat,” she told Bulldog when Jack didn’t answer him. Her voice was slurred, but he understood.
Bulldog grabbed Jenna’s jacket off the rack by the door and brought it to her. He was rougher than Jack would have been, but at this point, Jenna didn’t care. Jack stepped away, still talking to Carlos. He was taking care of their son now that Bulldog was here to help with her.
“I’m sorry,” Bulldog murmured. She must have winced and not realized it. “Can you walk?”
Tears escaped her eyes as she shook her head. Or tried to shake her head.
He must have gotten the message because she was in his arms in the next second.
He took her weight with ease. Once outside, Jenna noticed one of the club’s SUVs idling in their driveway.
Most of the snow from the winter had melted by now with only the occasional patch here or there.
The club was due to take their bikes out for their first run of the season soon.
Depending on the weather, it was usually the last week of March or the first week of April.
Grumpy would be working on getting them all de-winterized by now.
Bulldog got her to the SUV and buckled in. Every motion hurt, but Jenna bore it. She had to. Ollie was going to need his mother.
Jack hopped into the passenger seat. She hadn’t even seen him leaving the house. “Hospital,” he ordered Bulldog when the SAA got behind the wheel.
“What’s happening?” Jenna asked. She thought her voice was too low and slurred to be understood, but Jack turned in his seat to face her. She noticed he wasn’t on the phone anymore.
“Carlos says the ambulance has Aaron. They’re on their way to the hospital already. The firefighters are working on getting to Ollie.”
“He’s alive?!” Her voice was louder that time, driven by her shock and relief, but still slurred.
“He’s alive,” Jack confirmed. “But he’s hurt. Carlos thinks it’s a broken leg.”
A broken leg? They could deal with a broken leg. Her poor baby, but he was alive! He would heal! That was all that mattered.
Jack turned back towards the front. In a hard voice that was all Steel, he told Bulldog, “Chip said he didn’t see any brake lights.”
Jenna’s eyes caught Bulldog’s grip on the wheel tighten.
He pulled out his own phone and put it to his ear.
“Grumpy,” he snapped. “Get to Chester Road. Ollie’s cage crashed.
” Slight pause, and then, “I don’t know yet, but we need you to look at it.
Particularly, his brake line.” Bulldog’s jaw ticked. “Possible.”
Jenna didn’t know what was possible, but she did not like what she was hearing.
While she didn’t know enough about cars to know specifically what no taillights meant, she understood what Bulldog had just asked of Grumpy.
If the brake line was cut, did that mean the brakes and the taillights wouldn’t work?
Pain flared in her neck and shoulders again. Jenna tried to muffle her gasp, but Jack must have heard. He spun around in his chair to look at her. “What is it? What’s wrong?”
Jenna couldn’t shake her head to answer. “Fine,” she tried to insist.
“You are not fine, Jen,” Jack insisted.
Jenna, though, squared her jaw—even if only metaphorically. She would be fine, because her son needed her. She didn’t care what it took. She was not relapsing now.
Steel spotted Chip first. “What happened?!”
The prospect had blood down the front of his white shirt.
His brown eyes looked a little wild, but mentally, he appeared to be present.
“Everything seemed fine. They drove through town, stopped numerous times with no issues. Then we got on Chester Road. I gave them some distance, but could still see their cage clearly. Next thing I know, the cage is swerving. I saw no brake lights. It all happened so fast. They went right, a tire blew, and they went into the guard rail.”
Jenna’s hand in Steel’s flexed. She was in a wheelchair provided by the hospital.
Bulldog dropped them off at the ER doors and then went to park.
She was limp, but what she was experiencing was far different from any other exacerbation Steel had seen her have before.
It was like she was there mentally, but not physically.
He didn’t know if that was good or bad, and what was worse, was she kept insisting she was fine.
“Where’s Ollie?” Steel demanded.
“He hasn’t arrived yet,” Chip told them. “I went in the ambulance with Aaron since Carlos was with Ollie. They were still working on getting him out of the cage when I left. But Carlos said he was responsive and talking.”
Jenna’s arm shook. “How’s Aaron?” she asked, her words slow and deliberate. Like she was trying to suppress her slur.
Fucking hell. His son had been wounded in a car accident and his wife might be having a flare-up—and Steel was fucking useless to help either.
“Where’s Tessa?”