Carried Away: A Small Town Romance (The Moore Brothers Book 2) (16 page)

J
ames watched
Ellie run from Ian’s house. Betrayal and disappointment surged in his chest while something hollow and aching settled into his stomach. He finished his beer in one long swig.

The front door slammed and James knew Ellie was gone and that hollow feeling imploded with desperation. She was gone. She left and if he knew Ellie he would never see her again. Ellie and his baby just ran out the door. His family was slipping through his fingers.

James dropped the beer bottle onto the table and ran after her, the crowd of people in the hallway still parted from her passing, whispering and staring. He burst through the front door in time to see her drop her keys. He called after her, but the wind ate his words. And then she pulled away, a spray of water churned to life under her tires.

James was about to go back inside when the headlights in the car behind her flared to life and without hesitation, the vehicle pulled out onto the road and took off after her. James’s blood ran cold. There was nothing wrong with what happened and yet, it seemed more than ominous. Ellie was in danger and James knew it, every instinct in his body on fire. He had to find her. Had to save her.

“Ian!” James burst through the door, screaming for his brother to find him right there in the hallway, on his way to find James outside. “I need your keys!” James held out his hand, rainwater rolling down his face.

“What happened?”

“There’s no time! Give me your damn keys!” James shook his hand in exasperation while Ian grabbed his keys off the table near the door.

Ellie would go home to her apartment. She would pack her things, chalking the stuff she had at his house as a loss, and then she would disappear. And as angry as he was, as hurt as he was, he couldn’t let her do that. His need for her was too great. He couldn’t go back to an empty life, a life without purpose or necessity. He wanted Ellie with him. At his side for the rest of his years, and if she had his baby in her stomach? If they could be a family?

His desire to protect her surged inside him, churned with adrenaline and James was nothing but reaction. He barreled through the rain towards Ellie’s apartment and finally caught up to a pair of taillights gleaming red through the storm. If he squinted, he could see Ellie in front, driving recklessly, blowing through stop signs. Worry clenched his heart, but when the car between them didn’t stop either, anger joined the fray.

Ellie was in danger.

If only he had been more understanding when she told him what was wrong. If only he’d pulled her into his arms and told her how much he wanted to have a family with her instead of losing control and letting his emotions rule his voice. But now was not the time for regret. As he watched Ellie fly past her apartment, he knew she had realized she was in trouble. James slammed his foot down on the gas pedal, his brother’s supercharged engine growled in agreement, sending the truck surging forward, a predator towards prey.

His heart stopped when he saw the car in front of him slam into Ellie. She swerved, lost control and in a moment of absolute horror, her car flipped three times and came to rest upside down in a ditch. Her assailant fishtailed and spun to a stop. James pulled off the road, his brakes squealing in protest. He leaped out of the truck into the rain, his heart beating a frantic rhythm, a tribal drum of fear.

The man in the car that hit Ellie was slumped over against the steering wheel, the deflated air bag hanging like a blanket in his lap. One look at the car told James that guy wasn’t going anywhere. Fishing his cellphone out of his pocket, he dialed 911 and raced towards Ellie.

She hung suspended by her seatbelt, unconscious, blood dripping from her head. Her arms hung, limp and somehow so wrong and James counted his heartbeats until the paramedics arrived.

B
oth her arms
were broken and there was a minor gash on the back of her head and major gash at her temple. James rode in the ambulance with her to the hospital and answered all the questions the paramedics asked.

“She’s pregnant,” he said when they asked about any pertinent medical history.

“Does she plan on keeping the baby?” The EMT paused, a hypodermic needle millimeters from piercing her skin.

James didn’t hesitate. “Yes.”

The EMT sighed and put the needle away. “We should be thankful she’s unconscious right now. She’s gonna be in a lot of pain when she wakes up.”

“Why? Can’t she have anything for the pain?”

“Noting stronger than ibuprofen, I’m afraid.”

When they got to the hospital, they wheeled her away from him and James settled into the long process of waiting.

E
llie woke
in little blips of consciousness. There was pain. There were questions. People calling her name. And then there was the steady beep of a machine at her side and her arms were ablaze, torturous fires of agony rolling from her wrists to her shoulders.

Her eyes blinked open and the world was sandpaper, harsh and gritty. She tried to swallow, to wet her dry tongue. She turned her head and the world spun, crazy and drunken and absolutely terrifying. Her eyes fluttered closed.

She remembered the rain. Telling James about the baby and running to her car. She remembered headlights behind her. The shriek of metal scraping metal and way the world looks through a shattering windshield.

Her eyes bounced open and she gasped. Tried to sit up and pain raced through her body. She cried out and collapsed back into her pillow.

Someone appeared at her side, gentle hands on her face, smoothing back her hair. “It’s okay, sweet Ellie,” said a voice. “It’s all going to be okay.”

She tried to murmur her agreement, but she slipped back into the dark waters of unconsciousness.

T
he next few
days were hell. She couldn’t have anything stronger than ibuprofen because of the baby and she literally writhed in pain. Her arms were agonies she didn’t think she could endure. She couldn’t think over the pain. Couldn’t hear what people were saying to her. She moaned like a wounded animal and thrashed her head side to side and grit her teeth when the world spun.

Through it all, James sat at her side. He didn’t speak to her. He didn’t expect anything of her; he just wiped the sweat from her brow and reminded her that it would all be okay. And eventually it was. The pain receded, and then subsided and she could finally think in a straight line again.

But that brought a different kind of pain with it because she didn’t know what it meant that he was here with her. Didn’t know if it was guilt that kept him with her. Didn’t know if she had been forgiven. Didn’t know if this was just an extension of the fairy tale and once again, found she was afraid to breathe for fear of ruining everything.

James slept in a cot they wheeled into her room. Ate at the cafeteria and brought her back treats that he fed to her with the patience of a saint. He brought a brush for her hair and then laughed when he realized you don’t brush curly hair. He brushed her teeth. He helped her to the bathroom. He was everything she needed. Still. Some more.

He told her what happened. How he followed her, though he didn’t say why. She hoped it meant he forgave her, but didn’t trust hope. His teeth clenched when he described watching Ben ram her. How the cops pulled him raving and wild from his car, a frenzied animal spewing threats on Ellie’s life. Ben went to the hospital in handcuffs while James road in the ambulance with Ellie.

On the day they released her, James helped her into his truck and leaned across her to buckle her seatbelt. “There you go, sweet Ellie,” he said with a smile.

She watched him walk around the front of the truck, his powerful body moving with confidence. His handsome face so welcome and familiar. They still hadn’t spoken about the great big
what now
hanging between them and her stomach seethed with worry.

James pulled himself up into the driver’s seat and closed the door gently, careful not to rock the truck and cause her pain. “I bet you’re ready to get home.” He turned the keys in the ignition and the engine came to life.

She wasn’t at all ready to see her apartment again. Wasn’t at all ready to go back to surviving instead of living. Ellie shrugged and then groaned, the movement hurting her arms.

“James?”

He turned to her, a question on his face.

“What now?”

He refocused on the road and swallowed. “We get you home and into bed. Get you set up with the things you need. And you rest until you’re healed.”

“That’s not what I meant. What about us?” Anxiety fluttered in her stomach and she leaned her head back against the headrest, the movement of the truck making her dizzy after so much time spent lying still in bed.

“I think that’s pretty obvious. Don’t you?”

“Clearly, I’m still feeling a little unsure or I wouldn’t ask.”

James sighed and kept his eyes on the road. “I love you, Ellie Charles. When you ran away from me at Ian’s house, when that door slammed between us, I knew without a doubt that I couldn’t face my life without you. And then, when I watched your car flip down the road, and I thought that I’d wasted my last moments with you by yelling and being childish, my whole … I don’t know ... my entire being rejected the idea.” He turned to her, his eyes wide and misty with unshed tears. “I am yours, and you are mine, and I will cherish every last minute with you as if it were truly the last time I’ll see you.”

A surge of emotion so powerful she couldn’t name it stole Ellie’s voice. She swallowed hard and smiled at James, as the tears in her eyes made him wobble and glimmer. “And the baby?” she finally choked out.

“Yes, and the baby.” He smiled as if that clarified everything.

“What does that mean? I need you to be clear because I need to be sure. I can’t live in vague spaces right now. I can’t handle wondering, not knowing. I need you to tell me exactly what you mean so I don’t have that little tiny voice in my head telling me I’m an idiot for believing in the fairy tale.”

“What fairy tale?”

“The one where you swoop into my life and give me everything I need. The one where I used to be scared and alone and barely able to take care of myself and then you show up and rescue me. The one where I love you and you love me and we get to live happily ever after. A family.” Her throat constricted on the rest of her words. Her need for the fairy tale too powerful to contain.

“If this is a fairy tale, then welcome to your happily ever after.” James slowed the truck and turned on his turn signal and Ellie realized that he wasn’t turning into the parking lot of her apartment complex. The broad expanse of his driveway stretched out before her. The windows of his house glittered in the early morning sun while the ocean reached out to meet the sky.

James pulled up to the house and turned off the truck, twisted in his seat to place a gentle hand on her cheek. “Welcome home, sweet Ellie,” he said, and then kissed her lips, claiming her for his own.

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lown Away