Blue (Darkness Falls #3) (13 page)

Despite a restless night, he awoke before Noelle did and spent a moment admiring her in the dim glow of the morning sunlight that was filtering through the curtains. In this light her hair looked almost like a pool of blood against her pale creamy skin. He brushed a curl from her face and she stirred.

“Morning.” She mumbled sleepily.

“Morning.” He moved over her. “Are you ready for your hour to start?”

“Huh?” She blinked, not quite at the surface yet.

“I get an hour to make you beg.” He grinned and she sighed, closing her eyes again.

“What time is it?”

“About seven.” He glanced at the clock on the bedside table.

“Amelie will be up soon. We haven’t got time.” She tried to roll over but he wasn’t letting her get out of it.

“She can wait.”

“Blue, she’s five.” Noelle groused. “You don’t make a five year old wait. If we don’t get up and feed her, she’ll come in here looking for us.”

“You could ask Thomas to make breakfast.” He suggested and she opened her eyes and fixed him with a glare.

“You’re passing the care of your children onto someone else already so you can get your kicks? That’s low, Blue. Really low.”

“I can’t help it that I woke up with needs.” He felt slightly wounded by her assessment of him.

“I didn’t say we couldn’t fuck, just that we couldn’t take an hour over it.” She smiled, closing her eyes again. “Make it quick, Sasquatch.”

“Well that’s hardly romantic.” He complained, but didn’t waste any time dragging her nightie up to her hips and sliding his fingers into the folds between her thighs.

“I’ll give you romantic.” She grinned. “Thomas, go and put the kettle on.”

“Yes Mistress.” The sub slipped out from the end of the bed and ruffled his hair, still sleepy.

“Thank you.”  She reached up and snaked her fingers into Blue’s hair. “I haven’t forgiven you for being an asshat.” She warned him, but there was affection in her eyes.

“And I haven’t given up on us yet.” He warned her in return. “You and me…it’s going to happen. Sooner rather than later.”

“I know you’re not used to people saying no to you, but you might want to get accustomed to the feeling.”

“Your body isn’t saying no.” He thrust two fingers into her slick channel and she gasped, her legs falling apart of their own volition.

“I know better than most how your body can be used against you.” She reminded him. “Don’t read anything into this, Blue. If it’s going to get complicated, we’ll stop right now.”

It was too late. It was already complicated. It had got
ten complicated the moment he’d let her walk out the door to Sean and realised that the aching in his chest was a broken heart. It was the worst of the old clichés – he hadn’t realised how much he wanted her until he let her go. He wasn’t going to make that mistake again.

He didn’t bother to answer, going down on her instead until she was ready and aching for
him. When he entered her, they made love quickly and fiercely, finishing just in time before Amelie came running through the door complaining that she was hungry.

“Go on down to the kitchen.” Noelle told her. “I’ll be there in a few minutes.”

“That could have been awkward.” Blue laughed, flopping onto his back. “That girl has impeccable timing.”

“Much like her father.” Noelle shook her head. “I don’t understand why I’m getting up to make breakfast. They’re your kids.”

“Because I don’t know how to cook.” He shrugged. “If I tried to feed us, I’d burn your nice new house down.”

“Fine.” She went to the bathroom and seconds later he heard the shower start up.
The temptation to join her was almost overwhelming, but he knew she wouldn’t appreciate it. He’d just have to wait his turn.

In the morning they played board games. It was chucking down outside and none of them felt like a third day of shopping. The camera crew asked a lot of questions while they had a captive audience, but mostly they just had quiet time.  After lunch, Blue found Noelle putting her coat on.

“Where are you going?” He leaned against the doorframe that led into the living room.

“I need to take Thomas to the Manor. He’s gone too long in the cage already and he’s back to work tomorrow.”

“You can’t take him into the play room here?” Blue frowned.

“Not unless you want to explain the screaming to your girls.” She smirked and he felt his blood seething in his veins. Fuck. Just the thought of her in her red leather corset made him hard.

“I hate that I’m not going to be there to fuck you while you’re buzzed.” It came out as a growl and she reached up to pat his cheek, mocking him.

“James is up and about. Maybe I’ll let him take care of it as a reward for healing like such a good little boy.”

“He could never do the things to you that I can.”

“Perhaps not.” She buttoned her coat right up to her neck. “But he can also give me a lot of things that you can’t. Maybe you should think about that before you persist with this crazy idea of us as a couple.”

Without giving him a chance to respond, she called Thomas to heel and strode out of the front door into the pouring rain, thankfully taking the camera crew with her. Blue stood and watched until the car faded from sight, wondering how he was going to turn this around. She had to know that he didn’t mind her being with her subs. He didn’t know how to make her understand that he wasn’t Gabriel. Being with Blue wasn’t an all or nothing decision.
She was too complex to find just one man that would give her everything she needed.

The girls were happily watching a movie by the time he went back inside, so he stepped into the kitchen to call Cal and find out what was going on. There was still no news on Alexandra and it was starting to make them all antsy.
She had to be absolutely raging that they’d infiltrated her safe house and taken the girls.

With a churning premonition of dread, he went to watch the film with the girls. He just wanted this to be over soon.

At six o’clock Amelie started grousing that she was hungry and Blue went to fix her some toast, wondering where Noelle was. It wasn’t like her to miss a meal without at least letting him know she was going to be late. She had to be out of the play room by now. He gave Amelie her toast and then decided to call Noelle. If she wasn’t going to be home, they could order food in. He wasn’t happy cooking in her fancy kitchen.

He rang her mobile, but she didn’t pick up. Disconnecting, he tried Thomas’ number, but the sub didn’t answer either. The feeling of dread from earlier resurfaced with a nauseous churning in his stomach. He tried Noelle’s number again and, when she still didn’t answer, he called The Manor. When no-one answered there, he knew that something was really wrong. Someone
always
answered the phone at The Manor. Starting to panic, he pulled up Cal’s number and was about to press the button to dial it when the doorbell rang.

For a moment he froze, unsure what to do. If it was Alexandra, he didn’t want to open it with the girls here. “Blue? Open up, it’s me.”

What the hell was Cal doing here? Blue rushed to the door and dragged it open. “What’s wrong?” He demanded, taking in at a glance how pale the older master was. “Where is she?”

“She’s in the hospital. Storm is coming to watch the girls. You need to get your shoes on and come with me.”

The hospital? Blue couldn’t move. “What happened?” He whispered, his blood roaring in his ears.

“I don’t know the details, just that a car ran her off the road.” Cal forcibly turned Blue around and pushed him in the direction of the hall cupboard.

“How bad is it?” Blue resisted the movement.

“She’s alive.” Cal said helplessly. “That’s all I know. Get it together, Blue! She needs us.”

“Yes, of course.” In a daze, he pulled his boots on, listening without comprehending as Cal spoke to the girls.

“I’m coming.” Lisette’s tone was strident.

“No sweetie.” Blue stepped up beside Cal. “If she…if she…” His chest heaved as the tears spilled over.

“If she doesn’t make it, you don’t need to see it.” Cal finished for him. “Storm is coming. You’ll eat some dinner and we’ll call from the hospital. If she’s okay, you can come and visit.”

Lisette flung herself into Blue’s arms, her own tears spilling over. “Bring her home.” She begged him. “We just found her.”

“I know, sweetie. I know.” He kissed the top of her head and then disentangled himself from her clinging embrace.
“We’ll call as soon as we have news.”

They passed Storm on the steps and she waved, her face grim, as they ran for the car without stopping. It felt like all the anxiety and fear that had been rippling through Blue since Alexandra had come back into his life had exploded into a maelstrom of torment. He just couldn’t seem to gather his thoughts.

“Luckily the camera crew didn’t see it.” Cal was really shaken. His knuckles were white on the steering wheel but Blue didn’t have the presence of mind to worry about his capacity to drive. “Thomas called me while they were cutting her out.”

“Wait, what?” That caught his attention. “Thomas called you? Why wasn’t he in the car?”

“He was following behind with the camera crew in case they got lost.”

“She was driving on her own? With no security?”

“Blue, she was not at fault here.” The Master’s voice was controlled. “Find a different outlet for your anger. We need to figure out what the hell to do here. If it wasn’t an accident, if it was Alexandra…” He lost his thread of thought for a second, his knuckles white on the steering wheel, and that scared Blue more than anything else ever could. He’d never seen the Master lose it before. “The Police are going to be involved. We need to decide now if we give Alexandra up to the cops or we let them investigate that stupid damn church that keeps picketing us.”

Blue couldn’t even begin to think about it. He was too worried about Noelle to care about what happened after he saw her.

They drove the remainder of the way in silence and Cal pulled up right outside the entrance. “Go.” He commanded, although it was gentle. “I’ll park and then find you.”

“Thanks.” The tears unexpectedly began to fall again as he surged out of the car and ran for the doors. “Noelle Winters?” He asked the nurse at reception and she looked him up and down.

“Are you a relative?”

“I’m her fiancé.” It wasn’t that much of a lie. They would be married one day. “Is she still alive? I couldn’t get hold of anyone.” He dashed away the tears from his face and her face softened.

“Yes, she’s still alive. Come with me.” She led him to a family room across from the emergency surgical ward and told him the doctor would be with him shortly.

“Hey
, man.” When Blue pushed through the door, Raze greeted him quietly. They were all there, the band members, looking pale and strained. He wondered who had called them.

“Well fuck me if this doesn’t
have a horrible ring of déjà vu.” He swallowed, forcing down the memories of that horrible night when Noelle had got drunk out of her tree and slashed her wrists. That was the last time they were all together in a hospital, waiting to hear whether she was going to live or die. “Have they said anything?”

“No.” It was Raze that answered. The others seemed to be too numb with shock. “They took her straight into surgery.”

“Where’s Thomas?” He’d been on scene at least. He could give them some idea of what they were dealing with.

“He was going
apeshit. They had to sedate him.” Raze swiped the beanie from his head and rubbed at the stubble beneath. “He’s sleeping it off.”

Jax’s
phone beeped and the guitarist pulled it from his pocket. “Fuck me…” It was a long drawn out breath and his hands began shaking.

“What? What is it?” Blue demanded as they all turned to look at him.

“I…” Jax blinked and swiped the screen clear. “You don’t want to see it.” The guitarist’s eyes filled with tears and Blue felt his Master sliding beneath his skin.

“Don’t want to see what?”

Luke’s phone beeped and he looked at the screen. “Oh my god!” His gaze jerked up to meet Blue’s. “There are photographs of the crash online.”

“You don’t want to see it.”
Jax tried again, but Blue had to know. He held his hand out and Luke handed the device across with reluctance.

For a moment Blue closed his eyes and prayed for her safety and then he opened them and looked at the image in front of him. It was worse than he could have imagined. The passenger side of the car was completely caved in, as though another vehicle had rammed it at speed from the side. The rear of the driver’s side had been almost bisected by a lamp post and the front was wedged up against a post box. Had the car been two feet forward, or two feet backward, she would have been killed outright. The roof of the car had been cut away like a tin can, but there was enough glass on the passenger side for Blue to see a smear of blood.

Every muscle in his body clenched. He wanted to lash out. He wanted to see her. He wanted to implode and fall to his knees, howling until the world came right again.

“Blue?” Cal had come in without anyone hearing him. “The Police are here. They need to speak to you.
Alexandra was seen at the crash site. They know it’s her.”

“I have to wait for the doctor.” The world started spinning and he sank to the floor. “The nurse said the doctor would be here soon. I have to wait for him. I can’t go anywhere.”

“Blue, they found a body.” Cal’s face was so grim it was as though it was carved from stone.

“What?” Blue’s head jerked up and he gaped at Cal. “Alexandra?”

“The car mounted the pavement and crushed a pedestrian.” Cal swallowed, shaking his head. It would be easier for all of them if the crazy bitch would kill herself, but apparently she intended to stick around.

“So she’s going down for murder?” It was Raze that asked and Cal shook his head.

“I doubt it. They’ll probably charge her with causing death by dangerous driving or something, but they’ll at least get her for attempted murder for Noelle.”

“It’s not long enough.” Blue shook his head. “She needs to disappear forever.”

“Then you’d better hope we catch her before the Police do. She fled the scene.”

It was a tense ten minutes while Cal tried to stall the officers before the surgeon finally came to speak to them. “Are you the fiancé?” He asked Blue and, to their credit, none of the assembled band members protested.

“Yes.” Blue’s throat was parched. “How is she?”

“She’s stable now but we’ll need to keep her in for a few days.” The surgeon sat down. “Our main concerns right now are her brain and her lung. She broke several ribs in the impact and two of them punctured her left lung. We’ve drained the chest and realigned the ribs, but it will have to be monitored. The more pressing concern is how hard she hit her head on the window. She has two fractures in her skull and some spinal oedema from the whiplash. It can take a few hours to build so we’ll be monitoring that closely. If it’s looking like it will occlude the spinal column, we’ll have to drain it.” He paused for a breath.

“She’ll be able to come home soon, though?” Blue jumped in, barely taking in a word the man was saying.

“Son, this isn’t going to be a quick recovery.” The surgeon shook his head. “She’s got hairline fractures in her pelvis, a broken left wrist, multiple contusions and a dislocated right shoulder. She’s going to be in a world of hurt when she wakes up. Hospital is the best place to manage that.”

Cal laid a hand on Blue’s shoulder and Blue swallowed the protests he’d been about to make. Cal would sort it out. He always did. “When can we see her?” He asked instead and the doctor looked around at them all.

“She’s in recovery at the moment and then they’ll clean her up and take her up to the ward. Someone will come and get you, but I'm telling you now that she’ll only be allowed one or two visitors at a time. I suggest the rest of you go home until visiting hours. She’s going to be woozy and disorientated.”

“I’m staying.” Raze set his jaw, but no-one was going to argue with their little Noelle’s Papa Bear.
She loved him like no other.

“I’ll bring the car round.” Keys got up, but Cal caught his arm, waiting for the doctor to leave the room.

“You know this is going to be all over the news by morning?” He reminded them. “I’m happy to keep throwing resources at this, but I’d appreciate some help. I can’t protect the club, The Manor, the children and the hospital at the same time as trying to track Alexandra down. My resources are finite until such time as I can find a suitable security firm.”

“We’ll speak to John, see if he can get our guys in at short notice.”
Jax promised. “We’ll be able to cover Noelle here and at home, but you need to find this bitch and quickly.”

“I’ll do my best.” They dispersed, Cal promising to go home and let Lisette and Storm know what was going on. He’d be back first thing in the morning.

Blue spoke to the Police officers, giving a brief statement while they waited for Noelle to be ready, but he was still dazed and shaken. In the end, they agreed that he could go in the next day and make a formal statement when he was a little calmer. He had enough capacity to know that he needed to speak to a lawyer before he went into the station. He didn’t want to let anyone know he had the girls until this was over. The last thing they needed was Social Services getting involved and Cal couldn’t keep putting out fires. There was only so much he could do.

When they were finally allowed in to see Noelle, she was drifting in and out of consciousness. The side of her head was swollen from where it had slammed into the window
; her neck was in a brace and her left arm was in a cast. She blinked up at them a few times with clearly no idea where she was and after an hour or so, Raze decided to go home and get some rest. She’d appreciate their presence more in the morning.

Blue woke in the night, neck stiff and aching from his awkward position in the chair, to find the nurses carrying out their obs. “How is she doing?” His voice was like rusted gravel.

“She’s okay.” The nurse nearest to him smiled. “Her vitals are all fine and we’ve got her on morphine. The rest will do her good.” They finished up recording things in Noelle’s chart and then the nurse paused again. “You should go home.” It was gentle but firm. “You can’t do her any good in this state.”

“I’m not going home.” He couldn’t even contemplate it.
“This is all my fault.”

“Were you driving the car that hit her?”

“No.”

“Then this isn’t your fault.” She s
aid, giving him a direct gaze. “Get over your guilt complex, because that sure as hell won’t help her either.”

Feeling defensive for reasons he couldn’t describe, he felt he had to explain himself. “It was my ex that did this.” He told her. “She attacked Noelle because she can’t bear me loving someone else.”

“You are a free man. Love who you please.” She laid a hand on his shoulder and squeezed it in gentle reassurance. “You can’t live all your life a captive to your fear.” Wisdom imparted, she moved on to the next ward and the next patient, leaving him to ponder her words.

“Blue?” There was something tickling his face and he jerked upright.

“Noelle?” Taking a couple of seconds to pull it together, he rubbed his face and focused on the woman lying before him. “Are you awake?”

“It hurts.” She whispered.

“I know. You’ve got a lot of broken bones.” He reached for the button to call the nurse and pressed it. “Do you know why you’re here?”

Her pale face wrinkled in thought. “I don’t remember.” She blinked, her eyes filling with tears. “What happened?”

“You were in a car crash.” He sat back as the nurse came in and checked Noelle over.

“A car crash?” Her voice cracked into a whisper again. “Where?”

“What do you remember?” It was easier to start from the beginning.

“We were at the theatre.” She said slowly, frowning. “We were all dressed up, we went in and got to our seats and then…” Tears rolled fate and wet down her cheeks. “Then it just goes dark.”

The theatre? That was two days ago! He looked to the nurse and she frowned, motioning with her head to the door as she told Noelle she’d get her some more morphine.

“I just have to go speak to the nurse, okay, sweetie?” He kissed her hand and then followed the nurse out into the hallway.