Parker reached up and turned the radio down. "How old is Finn?"
"I don't know." I glanced toward my brother. "You don't think that was him, right?"
"How the hell don't you know how old he is? You guys are dating, right?"
"Yes, but I haven't gotten around to having him fill out the full survey." I rolled my eyes at him. "I'm sure he's fine. We're just over reacting."
"No, you're under-reacting. We were just at Bear Creek, and if Finn was upset, where else would he go?"
"Stop." I turned down the road to his father's shop as tears burned my eyes. "You're scaring me."
"Well, I'm scared too." Parker's voice rose, and I reminded myself that he was just a kid. Anything tragic was scary, but nothing tragic had happened. Finn was probably at the shop, working himself into a hole so that he didn't have to think about my father's attack.
I pulled up and turned to my brother. "You want to go in with me?"
"No. Just go find out what the hell's going on and let's find Finn."
I nodded and got out of the car, pulling my jacket in tighter, and jogging toward the open door. The place was empty, which I would have expected for a Sunday morning, but the two cars out front led me to believe someone was somewhere in the building.
"Hello?"
"I'm back here. I'm coming."
"Milly?" I called out and jogged toward the sound of her voice. I met her in the middle of a short hallway and by the look on her face, I knew the accident was Finn. "Where's Finn?"
"Oh honey, he got in an accident on the slopes yesterday. Did Clark not call you?" She moved toward me as dizziness washed over me.
"What kind of accident? Is he okay? Where is he?"
"He's at St. Mark's in a coma. He's going to be there for a few days and then they'll try to bring him out of it."
"In a coma?" I choked on a sob that rose sharply inside of me. "Oh my God."
"I know, sweetheart. It's pretty bad, but they're hopeful that if they let him rest that his body will repair the damage to his brain."
"I need to get up there. Where is he again?"
"I'll drive you. No need to have you in the bed next to him."
"My brother is with me." I reached for her, and she pulled me into a warm hug as I started to cry.
Fear crashed in around me at the thought of losing Finn before I really got him. Things had moved so quickly between the two of us, but I wasn't planning on slowing them down. I wanted to push full speed ahead to see what the future had in store for us. I was a risk taker, and he was one person I was willing to bet the whole lot on.
"I'll take you both. Dry your eyes, sweet girl. It's all going to be okay."
I pulled myself together and turned, walking quickly back out to the jeep to get Parker out. He took one look at my face and got out of the car, walking around and pulling me into a hug.
"Is he okay?"
"I don't know. He's in a coma right now." I squeezed him and walked to Milly's truck, getting in and scooting over to make room for my brother.
They introduced themselves as I sunk into my thoughts, not capable of talking without crying. I had to force myself to think about various designs to keep my mind off of the feel of Finn's hands all over me, his sweet lips hovering above mine.
I thought I might explode by the time we made it to the hospital, but I'd pulled myself together. We piled out of the truck and walked into the ICU together. I worked hard not to jog toward the room number Milly called out to me. Stopping in front of the door, I turned to my brother, who had stopped and was staring into space wide-eyed.
"I don't want to go in. I'll stay here." He crossed his arms over his chest.
"Call Dad and tell him to come get you. Tell him what happened. Okay?"
"Yeah. I'll do that." He pulled his phone out, and I glanced toward Milly.
"I'll stay with him. Go on in there. Clark's in there. He'd love to see you, I'm sure."
Right. After Finn's accident really boils down to being my fault, or my Dad's really.
Taking a deep breath, I knocked and pushed the door open.
Clark stood and gave me a sad smile. "Chloe. I'm glad you're here. I didn't have your number or..."
I lifted my hand. "It's okay. Really."
"He's doing better. Thank God." Clark moved to one side of the bed, and I move to the other, my breath catching in my chest.
"What was he thinking?" I bent down and brushed my lips by his ear. His beautiful face was covered in black and blue bruises. There were tubes and wires everywhere. I held in the scream that pressed against my lugs as I wept as quietly as I could.
"They think he can hear us," Clark whispered through his own tears.
I nodded and kissed the side of Finn's face several times before whispering in his ear. "You better come back to me. You're not a boy anymore, Finn Warner. You're a grown-ass man. My grown-ass man. Please don't leave me here without you."
Clark turned and walked to the window as a deep sound of grief left him.
I kissed Finn's face once more and pressed my cheek to his forehead. "Please wake up. Please."
Chapter 26
Three Days Later
Finn
A strong hand held mine as I came too from the long sleep I'd been in. It took me a minute to get my eyes to open, but I wasn't in a hurry. The last thing I remembered was not being able to see anything, so the blurry colors that danced before my eyes were a blessed relief.
"Finn?" My father's voice caught my attention, and I languidly turned to find him as my vision cleared a little more. I was almost too scared to try and speak, but I knew it was foolish. Fear had never been something to bind me before. It wasn't happening now either.
"Dad?" I groaned, my head hurting far worse than it had in the past.
"Thank God." He leaned over me and pressed his cheek to my forehead, which was beyond awkward, and yet not. He was my Dad, and I'd most likely given him the scare of his life.
"What happened?" I licked at my lips and tried to move around, finding out what worked and what didn't.
"You were in an accident over at the new hill that opened up. You took a pretty bad fall."
"Anything broken or missing?" I couldn't help but look around the room slowly, half hoping to find Chloe. Maybe no one had told her that I was hurt, or worst yet, maybe they did and she wasn't interested in coming to see me. I deserved that shit completely. Ignoring her because of her father's actions? Stupid.
"Broken foot, but it will set thanks to your cast." He moved back and rubbed my chest rhythmically like he did when I was a kid and had a bad dream. "You had a concussion that they figured would fix itself if they put you in a medically induced coma."
"Damn," I mumbled and closed my eyes, arching my back just to make sure nothing hurt.
"Seems to have worked. You're talking. You can see me, right?" He leaned over, and I reached up pushing at his chest.
"Yes, and I can smell the ten cups of coffee you had this morning." A smile lifted my lips, and I looked around again. "I need some water."
He moved from the bed and poured me a glass before pressing the button that lifted me to a reclined seating position. "Let me go tell the nurse you're awake. They'll want to bring the doctor in."