Come To Me (6 page)

“It’s
clear you still have feelings for her,” Jasmine began, “so what happened?”

He
took a breath and said, “I went to her office one day at lunch time to surprise
her. She told me earlier she had a hellish day. I brought her takeout from her
favorite place. No one was at the desk out front, her door was closed, but I
knocked once and then pushed it open.” He looked away for a minute then at her
again. “The joke was on me. I’d surprised her, she was sitting up on her desk
when I opened the door without a stitch of clothes on from the waist down. Her
shoes were off and her fucker of a secretary was kneeling at her feet. When he
turned around to see who’d interrupted them, I saw his face wet with her cum.”
He pounded the table. “Sonofabitch.”

“Whoa!”

He
smirked. “Yeah, whore indeed.” He stood up and took her hand. “Come on let’s
get out of here.”

He
didn’t give her a chance to protest, she was still reeling from what he’d told
her. She felt sorry for him. He was a good guy and she could tell he really
loved his ex. There were a lot of screwed-up people out there, male and female.
Tony had driven and he had the valet bring his car round. But when the valet
pulled up, she moved around to the driver’s side. He’d been drinking quite a
bit.

“Let
me drive.” He got out of her way and went around to the passenger side.

After
he got in, he gave her directions on how to get back to the condo. She was
still unfamiliar with the area and they were in Old Town Alexandria. They had
to get back to the city but they weren’t far.

When
they reached a light, Jasmine turned to him. “I’m sorry that happened to you.
You’re a nice guy and I’m sure you’ll find someone else. Someone who
appreciates what you have to offer.” He was just as good-looking as Baron and
he didn’t seem to be anywhere near the player Baron had been before they’d met.
So she was at a loss as to why someone would throw him away.

He
stared at her. “You know Baron is a lucky sonofabitch. When he told me about
you and that he was hopping on a plane to go meet you, I thought he was nuts. A
fool. Now I know I was the fool, ‘cause I sure as hell should have jumped on
the plane with him and given him a run for his money.”

Jasmine
grinned. “Yeah, it might have worked if I hadn’t already fallen in love with
him.”

Tony
took her hand and kissed it. “Thank you. And I damn well would have tried.”

The
light changed and she entered the intersection. She saw a blur out of the
corner of her eye just before something big slammed into her. Her head smacked
against metal, hard, then it felt too heavy to hold up. Every part of her body
screamed in pain, and she couldn’t seem to move. She inhaled, but the bitter
smell of smoke and rubber burnt her lungs, tearing her eyes. All she could see
was the face of this familiar, gorgeous man telling her, “Hang on, babe. Don’t
leave me. Hang on.” Everything slowly faded into black.

“Tony
what the hell happened? Is Jasmine all right?”

As
soon as Tony called him last night, he’d been trying to get home. Three fucking
flights and ten hours later, Baron’s plane landed. All his friend could tell
him was that he and Jasmine had been in a car accident and she hadn’t awakened.
With each flight hop, he’d checked in with Tony. So far, the doctors couldn’t
find any internal bleeding. There didn’t seem to be anything wrong with her but
a blow to the head, some slight swelling from a concussion but they couldn’t
wake her.

He’d
rushed from the airport and had taken a cab straight to the hospital. He’d
tried to call again to get an update, but the call went straight into
voicemail. He sent him a text letting him know he was on his way. As soon as
the taxi pulled up in front of the hospital entrance, he paid the guy, got his
bag and ran in toward the information desk. They directed him to the third
floor. He asked for Jasmine’s room at the nurse’s station but heard his name
called and spun around.

“Baron.”

“Tony.”

They
hurried toward each other. Tony’s arm was held up in a brace, and his face
appeared tired and worn with shadows under his eyes. He looked behind his
friend to see if he saw a familiar face. He didn’t know why or what to expect,
but the fact she wasn’t there and what had happened finally got through to him.
The fear snaking down his spine almost paralyzed him.

“Wh…
Where’s Jasmine?”

His
friend put one hand on his arm. “She’s alive, but in a coma. The doctors think
she’ll come out of it. They hope to know more soon.”

“Oh,
God.” He clasped Tony’s arm. Alive, she was alive.

“Come
on, let me take you to her room.”

Tony
turned around and went down the hall. Baron placed one foot in front of the
other and followed his friend. They passed two doors and stopped at the third
one that was open. The sight of his Jasmine lying on that hospital bed had him
rushing forward to her side. He dropped his bag on the floor, picked up her
hand and squeezed it, but there was no return pressure. Her eyes remained
closed and she seemed to be asleep, but his heart seized. He couldn’t stand
seeing her like this. He bent until his lips hovered above hers.

“I’m
here,” he whispered, then kissed her. “Wake up my sleeping beauty. Please, God,
let her wake up.”

Something
nudged him at the back of his knees. He turned around. Tony had placed a chair
behind him.

“Sit
down, man. I was just on my way downstairs to buy a sandwich and some coffee.
I’ll bring you back something.”

“Thank
you.”

After
Tony left, Baron turned back to Jasmine and ran his fingers over her eyelids,
her cheeks, her lips. He took her hand and kissed it, then lowering it, he kept
it enclosed in both of his. “I miss you. Please come back to me. I need you in
my life. I’ve just found you. Come back to me.”

But
there was no flicker of movement, no hint of awareness. Nothing but the rise
and fall of her chest, which was the only thing keeping him sane. The knowledge
she was alive.

Tony
returned and handed him a bag, but in truth he had no appetite. He placed the food
on the nightstand by the bed. He did drink the coffee. Tony filled him in on
all the details of the accident, which wasn’t much more than he’d told him in
between flights. Someone had run a red light and hit them, causing the car to
go into a tailspin and be struck again, which flipped it. Tony pulled Jasmine
from the wreckage just before the car went up in flames. His friend had
sprained his shoulder yanking her out of the seatbelt and airbag. But the
airbag probably saved her life. As did his friend.

“I
will always be grateful to you, man,” Baron said, glancing over at him.

“I’m
sorry, bro. So sorry. If I hadn’t been wasted, she wouldn’t have been driving.”

Baron
shook his head. “No. This was not your fault. Don’t blame yourself, but the ass
that ran the red light. And I’d hate to think what would have happened if you
had been driving wasted.”

“The
cops came to the hospital and I spoke to them earlier. They told me the man was
drunk, didn’t have a scratch on him. They took him off to jail. So you’re
right.”

A
doctor entered the room, cutting off their conversation, and introduced himself
to Baron as Doctor Kilgore.

“Do
you have any more news for us, Doctor?” Baron asked.

“The
good news is there’s no sign of hemorrhaging. Her brain may be traumatized,
which is why she’s unable to respond while it reorganizes itself. It’s a
protection mechanism as a result of the blow to her head, but from the EEG we
ran, the brain-wave patterns don’t show any alarming abnormalities. She should
waken at anytime, but we’ll keep monitoring the situation. And if she doesn’t
come to on her own by morning, then we’ll do a CT scan and, depending on those
results, take it from there. But right now we treat this one day at a time.”

“And
when she wakes up, will she be all right?” Baron asked.

“That’s
hard to say. It depends on how long she’s in the coma, but I’ll know more by
morning and we’ll talk again then.”

“Thank
you, Doctor,” Baron said. Tony echoed his sentiments.

After
the doctor left, Baron sat in the chair again but glanced over at Tony. “You look
like shit, man.”

Tony
laughed without mirth. “You’re talking to your mirror.”

“Go
home. I’ll stay the night with her.”

His
pal shook his head. “No way. I’m staying to watch over you both.”

Chapter
Eight

“Oh,
my head.”

“Hey,
there. Take it easy.”

She
opened her eyes and stared into the blazing green ones she’d remembered seeing
in a dream. She blinked. She let her gaze roam over the rest of his face. He
seemed familiar. His mouth opened and closed but he wasn’t saying anything. Who
was he? He was gorgeous and she knew him. She shut her eyes and shook her head,
trying to clear the cloud around her brain. She opened her eyes again and
looked around not recognizing the room, but its sterile appearance and the fact
she was in a hospital bed clued her in.

“What…
What happened?”

Her
ears seemed stuffy like she was sick. She felt weak but this wasn’t a cold. She
was staring directly at the man in the room and saw his mouth moving, but she
couldn’t hear a word he was saying. Was he even speaking?

“I’m
sorry, but what did you say?” She raised her hands and placed her palms over
her ears. She couldn’t hear herself.

He
took her hand and squeezed it. She squeezed back, smiling at him. He returned
her grin and leaned closer. Again his mouth moved, but again she didn’t hear a
word he said.

“What’s
going on? I see your mouth moving, but you aren’t saying anything. Can you hear
me?” Fear crept up her spine, especially when she saw his eyebrows rise like he
was surprised. He released her hand and straightened. He held up one finger,
then he said something else and left the room.

She
tried sitting up, but her body had other ideas, and her head fell back to the
pillow. What was going on? Why was she there? Who was that guy? She racked her
brain. He seemed familiar, like she should know him. She had a vague
recollection of his face just before she passed out. An accident. They were in
some sort of accident and he saved her life. But who was he? And…who was she?
Who was she?

Just
as she was about to panic, the man came back with a nurse and another man in a
white lab coat. Hopefully they could clear all of this up.

She
saw the doctor’s mouth moving and shook her head. She heard nothing he said.
Her breath began to come faster. “I…I can’t hear you. Why can’t I hear you?
Shouldn’t I be able to hear? I can’t even hear me.”

The
doctor turned to the nurse. The woman’s nametag revealed her name: Cathy. She stood
beside him and said something. She had a notepad and wrote something on it. The
doctor took a pen out of his pocket and held it close to her ear. At first she
shied away from it, but he held her head, indicating he wanted her to stay
still. She continued to watch him. But then Cathy handed her a pad along with a
pen. She took it from the woman’s hand and read it.

‘My name is Doctor Kilgore. Did you hear
that?’

She
looked up at them, confused, then back at the man and shook her head. “No. Hear
what?”

The
doctor held his hand out and touched the paper. She turned it over to him and
watched him write on it. He returned it to her and she read it.

‘I clicked my pen several times. First near
your right ear, then your left.’

She
looked up the physician, and felt her heart rate increasing. “I…I didn’t hear
anything. Shouldn’t I be able to hear that? I can’t even hear myself. My ears
are stuffy.”

Doctor
Kilgore turned the pad again and wrote on it then gave it back to her.

‘We’ll run a few tests and see what’s going
on.’

“Okay,”
she said. “But I don’t understand. What happened to me? I remember an accident…
An explosion?”

The
doctor put his pen to the paper.
‘Yes,
that’s right. You were in a car accident and you’ve been unconscious for the
last two days.’

“What?”

The
man who’d been with her earlier rushed to her other side and took her hand. She
held onto it like a lifeline, finding it impossible to believe what she’d read.
She glanced back and forth between him and the others in the room. “Is…is that
true?”

At
least they could hear her since both men nodded.

It
looked like Doctor Kilgore spoke to the man in the room with her and then left.
The man said something to the Cathy, and then he motioned to the note pad, but
just turned it in her hand and wrote,
‘Be
right back.’
Then he left the room.

After
he’d gone, Cathy took the pad from her and wrote,
‘I’m leaving this with you so you’ll be able to talk to your fiancé. He
and his friend have been worried about you.’