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“I’m driving to your place.”
“No, you’re not. Not in your condition—you sound terrible. Pull over to the side of the road. I’ll send a car for you.”
“I’m fine, Aunt Helen—I can make it,” he lied.
“No! Pull over and wait for us. Take the time to breathe and get your head together.”
Jamie drew a shaky breath. “Okay.”
“And honey? We’ll talk your mother around, I promise. She loves you and she doesn’t want to destroy your happiness, no matter how much it might feel like that.”
Jamie thanked her and reached over to end the call, just as his eyes caught a blur of an animal darting across the road. He swerved to avoid it and tried to brake gently but his foot went into spasm, and he stepped down too hard. The swerve went into a full spin and the last thing he saw was a wall looming before him.
Then his world went black.
* * * *
It didn’t take too long for Natalie to catch up with Jamie’s Aston Martin, having driven at breakneck speed.
“There he is!” Chris practically yelled, his heart leaping for joy as they spotted the taillights of the electric blue Vanquish.
That joy swiftly turned to horror as he watched the car ahead swerve to avoid…something…and go into a spin, crashing into the stone wall that ran along the side of the road. Chris screamed as Natalie slammed on the brakes and pulled up next to the Aston.
He felt like he was moving in slow motion, unfastening his seat belt and throwing open the door of the car, running across the short expanse of road to battle with Jamie’s car door. The front of the vehicle was completely smashed in, the windscreen badly damaged. Chris fought with the airbag as he tried to get to Jamie, who was unconscious in the driver’s seat.
“Jamie?” he shouted. “Jamie?”
Jamie groaned, his brow furrowing, and Chris breathed a sigh of relief, lifting his head to yell for Natalie to call an ambulance. He stroked Jamie’s hair back from his face and looked him over—it appeared as though Jamie had thrown his arm over his face before impact, as his arm had been pillowed on the air bag and Jamie’s nose didn’t look broken. He was okay. A little battered, but he was going to be okay.
Jamie’s eyes fluttered open. “Chris…?”
“Yeah, Jamie. It’s me. I’m here.”
The corners of Jamie’s mouth twitched upwards. “Chris,” he repeated with more conviction.
“It’s alright, sweetheart,” Chris replied, kissing his forehead, still smoothing back Jamie’s hair as Natalie stood behind him, on the phone to everybody that mattered. “I’m here with you. I’m not going anywhere, I swear.”
Jamie nodded once and his eyes rolled upwards as he passed out again.
“I’m always going to be here for you, Jamie.”
Chapter 20
Chris held Jamie’s hand through the whole ambulance ride to the hospital, forcing the EMTs to work around him. They made him stay outside in the Emergency Room, though, despite Chris insisting that he was Jamie’s boyfriend, which was not a complete lie. Ten minutes later, the president walked through the doors, surrounded by six Secret Service agents and tailed by Natalie, who stayed outside with him, what with not being family either. She tightly held his hand and Chris was never so glad to have a friend with him.
He kept running the crash over and over in his head, wondering if there was anything they could have done to prevent it, if Natalie could have driven a little faster or…something. Chris wondered how extensive Jamie’s injuries were—just because he had been responsive and had no visible wounds didn’t mean that there was no internal damage or broken bones. The more he thought about it, the worse he felt.
Suddenly, as he was staring at the ground, a pair of sharp-heeled Louboutins appeared that could belong to only one woman. Aunt Helen was standing in front of him, impeccably dressed as usual, as though she were off to lunch with her rich friends and not visiting her nephew in the hospital. She held her arms out to him.
“Come here, honey,” she said.
Chris felt overwhelmed and almost childlike as he stood and she enveloped him in a hug—it was just like one of Jamie’s.
“I don’t know how he is,” Chris mumbled into her shoulder. “They won’t tell me anything because I’m not family…”
He let out a dry sob and Helen made a soothing noise, rubbing his back.
“Now don’t you worry,” she said. “He’ll be fine. I keep telling you—he’s a rubber ball. He’s been through far worse than a car accident and he’s still come out fighting.”
