She's the One: COunting on Love, Book 1 (30 page)

Dooley nodded. “Yeah.”

“What happened?” Amanda asked.

Dooley shifted in his chair as if a little uncomfortable, but he met her gaze. “They were on Dodge, going through the 72nd Street intersection. Ryan, um…”

Amanda straightened. “Ryan what?”

“He…ran the red.”

She stared at him. Her whole body went cold. No. That couldn’t be right. Ryan wouldn’t do something like that. Of course, people made mistakes, but surely Ryan would very specifically
not
do something like that if he had other people in the car.

“He
what
?” Conner demanded, straightening.

Amanda could feel the tension emanating from him. She tightened her arm around him, but wasn’t sure if it was for his sake or hers.

Dooley nodded. “That’s what the witnesses said. The truck that hit them didn’t have time to stop.”

“No fucking way,” Shane said firmly. “No way. Ryan wouldn’t mess up like that. No way.”

Dooley looked at his buddies. Kevin and Mac both nodded, supporting Dooley’s story.

“They’re looking at traffic cams and stuff, but it could take a while,” Mac added.

“Fuck that.” Shane pulled his phone from his pocket and dialed. No doubt calling the station or a buddy who could find out what those traffic cams showed.

“Conner?”

They all swung toward the door where a physician in a long lab coat had stepped into the waiting room.

Conner got to his feet and Amanda stood with him, not willing to let go of him for a moment.

“Ben Torres,” he said to Amanda, offering his hand. “I’m one of the trauma surgeons here.”

She nodded, not able to speak. She really hated the word
trauma
.

“What’s going on, Ben?” Conner asked.

“Emma’s still in surgery. They tell me things are going well, but a little slower than expected. But that’s likely more of an issue with Nate than it is anything to do with Emma.”

Amanda breathed deep. Yes, Nate was in with Emma. He’d take a lot of time, go over everything thoroughly, be sure everything was okay.

“Olivia is still unconscious,” Dr. Torres told them. “Which isn’t great, but they haven’t found any bleeding. They’re monitoring for swelling.”

Amanda dug her fingers into Conner’s arm. She knew she was holding her breath. But she really wished Ben Torres weren’t quite so calm and cool. She wanted the information fast.

“Isabelle is banged up and sore, but she’s conscious and stable. She wants to see you.”

“And Ryan?” Conner asked.

“Also bruised and sore. But he’s okay.”

“Can we see him?” Amanda asked.

Dr. Torres cleared his throat. “He’s asked not to have anyone in right now.”

Amanda frowned. “He said that?”

“He asked me to convey the message.” Torres looked directly at Amanda. “To
all
of you.”

Everything in Amanda protested at that. First of all, Ryan wasn’t the type to close himself off from his friends. Except that maybe he was. Being supported after a car accident where he’d been injured and felt at fault was, after all, more complicated than what these guys typically did for one another. More complicated than Ryan liked things.

But she
wanted
to see him. As much as she wanted to see her sisters. Which rocked her world more than a little bit. Ryan had quickly moved up her list of priorities, that was for sure. And not being able to see for herself that he was fine was not acceptable.

She did things for people for their own good, whether they liked it or not, all the time.

Why should Ryan be any different?

“That’s bullshit,” Cody said. “If he wants to be left alone, he’ll have to throw us out himself.”

Shane returned to the group, having just hung up his phone. “Ryan had a green,” he told the group. “He was swerving but the truck blew the red. Apparently that’s very clear on the camera.”

“So that just leaves us to find out why he was swerving and not paying attention,” Gabby said.

Everyone turned to look at her. She looked right back.

“What?” she asked. “We all know Ryan. There’s no way he was driving crazy unless there was a good reason.”

Amanda really liked Gabby.

“I’ll take Conner and Amanda up to see Isabelle,” Ben said. “We want to observe her overnight, so she’s up on third floor.”

Amanda looked at Cody and Shane as Conner started after Ben. They’d go and see Ryan and snap him out of this I-don’t-want-to-talk-to-anyone funk “Um.”

Conner glanced back. “What?”

“I’m…going to go see Ryan.”

Conner stopped and turned fully to face her. “What?”

“I’m going to go see Ryan. I’ll come to Isabelle’s room in a little bit.”

Conner crossed his arms. “You’re going to see Ryan instead of Isabelle.”

Amanda crossed her arms too. “Yes.”

“You’re going to see my friend Ryan—the guy who put three of my sisters in the hospital—instead of seeing your sister who was just in a car accident?”

Conner was looking at her like she had announced she needed to get a pedicure before she could see Isabelle—like it was the stupidest thing he’d ever heard.

But she wanted to see for herself that Ryan was okay—and being ornery. She wanted to hear him argue with her and try to throw her out of his room. She wanted to touch him, run her hands over the body that made her feel more comforted and more alive than anything ever had.

She needed the smile that he gave her when she was riled up about something.

Because she was keeping it together pretty well at the moment, but there was no doubt that she was riled up.

If he thought she’d been a mama bear before, he hadn’t seen anything yet.

She was about to go mama-bear for the man she loved.

Amanda lifted her chin and met Conner’s gaze. “Yes.”

“I don’t even know what to say to that,” he said. Clearly he meant for his expression or his tone of voice to be enough to convey his displeasure without saying it word for word.

Well, it did. She got it. She knew he didn’t like this. But that didn’t change anything.

“You don’t have to say anything at all. But I’m going to see Ryan.”

Conner’s expression changed quickly from displeased to angry. “Fine. When you do, ask him what in the fuck he was doing with my sisters in his car.”

Amanda felt
her
temper spike a few notches at Conner’s tone. “He went to pick them up for me,” she said calmly, in spite of the way her heart was pounding.

“What?
Why
?” Conner demanded. “How did Ryan even know they needed to be picked up? And why didn’t
you
go?”

And that was it. Amanda’s temper snapped. Sure, it might have been a bit of her own guilt at play or all of her own questions—what if she’d gone instead? Had he been driving distracted because of her? Was he in a hurry to get back to her, so hadn’t been obeying the speed limits?—but she did not like Conner’s clear accusation and suspicion.

He was suspecting that she’d been with Ryan and she most certainly had been. She wasn’t even slightly embarrassed about it and she was more than happy to answer all of Conner’s questions.

“Because when Em first called, I couldn’t answer because I was in the middle of having hot sex up against the wall in Ryan’s hallway. And because he returned the call while I was in the shower after the hot sex up against the wall in his hallway. And because he offered to go pick them up so I didn’t have to get dressed again after the hot sex up against the wall in his hallway.”

The look on Conner’s face would have been humorous if she hadn’t just given her brother a shock that would ripple between them for a very long time to come.

Then, as he processed what she’d said, his expression changed from befuddled to shocked and, finally, to disappointed. The look she’d hoped never to experience from him again. The look she’d specifically
worked
never to experience from him again. For a moment she was flung back to that night when he’d walked into Coach’s office and seen her at her absolute worst.

But then Ryan’s face came to mind. That low point had been a long time ago. She had nothing to be sorry for when it came to Ryan.

Ryan needed her. Isabelle didn’t. Conner would be there for Isabelle. Shane would be there as soon as he thought he could get there without upsetting an already tormented Conner. Sure, the guys and girls in the room would be there for Ryan. But, while Conner and Shane loved Isabelle every bit as much as Amanda did, no one there loved Ryan as much as she did.

And he needed to know that right now.

Or maybe she needed him to know that right now.

After several long, tense moments where no one said a word or even moved to itch their noses, Conner simply nodded, then turned and started for the elevators again.

“Conner!” She ran after him and grabbed his arm. “Do
not
go up to Ryan’s room. I mean it. Leave this between the two of us.”

“Don’t ask me that,” Conner said, jerking his arm from her hold. “It can’t be just between the two of you, and you know it.”

She did know it. Her brother and sisters were such a part of her life that they would be a part of anything big that happened in her life—like bringing someone else into her heart. “Don’t go up there now,” Amanda said, wanting to reach out again, but resisting. “He’s
my
first stop. Go to Isabelle.”

Shane moved in beside them and put a hand on Conner’s shoulder. “It’s okay, buddy,” was all he said.

But it resulted in Conner actually taking a deep breath. He stared down at Amanda. “Ryan comes before Isabelle for you?”

She swallowed hard. “At this moment? Yes.”

Conner wanted to say more, she could see it in his eyes, but he didn’t. And she was pretty sure she was glad about that. He was stressed and hurting. He’d been fighting with Shane already today, then the accident and now her bombshell. Whatever he would have said would have probably been regrettable. She appreciated his restraint.

He turned and stalked to the elevator doors. He punched the button and then looked at Shane. “You coming or what?”

Shane gave Amanda a tiny nod. “It’ll all work out,” he said softly. Then he turned on his heel and joined Conner as the elevator arrived.

She watched the doors slide shut. Shane was on his way to Isabelle’s room with Conner. Maybe it would all work out.

Amanda faced their friends. “I’m going up to see Ryan,” she told them.

They all nodded with wide eyes.

“I’d appreciate it if you’d all give us some time before you come up.”

“Of course,” Dooley said quickly.

“Yeah,” Cody agreed. “We’ll just…wait here.”

“That would be great,” she told them.

She walked confidently to the elevators and pressed the up arrow firmly, absolutely positive about what she was doing. She waited for the car to arrive, not even shifting her weight foot to foot. She also didn’t glance over to the tiny crowd of people whom she could feel watching her. She was sure about what she was doing. Upstairs with Ryan was where she needed to be right now, where she
wanted
to be.

She was inside the elevator with the door shut before she let herself really fill her lungs. The air went in easy, but as she let it out, it was shaky and her eyes got a little blurry.

She was in love with Ryan. She wanted to see him, needed to be sure he was okay.

But dammit, Conner was her brother, and no matter how old they got, or how responsible they were, or how much she cared about another man, it would always hurt to disappoint her big brother.

The elevator dinged, then opened, and she stepped out onto the third floor, then realized that she didn’t know if Ryan was on the third floor.

Feeling distracted and restless, she turned toward the nurses’ station.

The woman behind the counter looked up Ryan’s name and directed Amanda back to the ER. Apparently Ryan wasn’t going to be observed upstairs. Which meant that he was fine.

One of the huge knots in her gut let go with that knowledge. Her sisters were still less than fine, but at least Ryan was okay.

The door on the exam room where Ryan waited was partially open and she didn’t hear any noises from the other side, so she cautiously pushed it open and peered inside.

Ryan lay, propped up in the hospital bed, his head back and eyes closed.

“I thought
I
was the one who was supposed to be waiting in bed,” she said quietly.

His eyes snapped open and he sat up quickly. “I told Torres to keep you all out of here,” he said crossly.

“Dr. Torres relayed your message,” she said, moving farther into the room, beyond relieved to see him looking and sounding well. Irritable, but well. “I chose to ignore it.”

“I’m shocked.”

She went to the side of his bed. She resisted touching him, but it was incredibly hard. He was clearly fine. Bruised maybe, annoyed for sure, but fine. But she wanted to crawl right into the bed next him, wrap her arms around him and not let go.