Consumed: A Devil Chaser's MC Romance (2 page)

“Do whatever you need to do to bring her back to me,” I told him feeling totally defeated.

“We’ll do what we can. You keep talking to her and let me know if there is any change.”

I spent the next few hours watching her and praying for some kind of sign that she would wake up. She’d move her hand, or blink her eyes, but nothing more. The doctors said something about her being in a minimally conscious state and that I needed to be patient. The wait was excruciating, but I had to hope that she would eventually find her way back.

Chapter 1

Courtney

Something wasn’t right. I was having such a hard time waking up. There was a hand moving up and down my arm, so I knew someone was there with me. I could hear the sounds of their mumbled words, but I couldn’t understand what they were saying. I had no idea why I was in such a haze. My body felt so heavy, and it was difficult to move. I tried to lift my hand, but I felt so weak. I just wanted to go back to sleep.

“That’s it, baby. You gotta keep fighting. Come back to me, Court,” Bobby said with such love in his voice that it tore at my heart.

I finally forced myself to open my eyes enough to see him standing there beside me. Even with my blurred vision, I could see the worry in his eyes. He had dark circles under them like he hadn’t slept in days. I still couldn’t understand what was going on, but I could tell by looking at him that something awful had happened.

“Court, can you talk to me? I need you to say something, baby,” Bobby pleaded.

I was stuck in a fog. Everything was moving so slowly, and I couldn’t clear my head. My mouth felt like it was filled with cotton, and my throat was completely dry. It had to be the worst hangover in the history of all hangovers. I felt
terrible
. I cleared my throat and was finally able to say, “Bobby…?”

He leaned over and kissed me on the lips. He brushed my hair out of my face as he reached over and hit the nurse’s call button. “I can’t believe it. You came back to me,” he said excitedly.

“What…? What’s going on?” I asked.

He kissed me again before he said, “You’re in the hospital, baby. There was an accident.” He continued to rub his hand gently down my arm as he spoke. I tried to think back, but I couldn’t remember anything.

Before he could continue, a nurse rushed in and asked, “Is everything okay?”

“She’s awake!” Bobby said as he stepped out of the nurse’s way.

“Welcome back, honey. You gave us all quite a scare,” she told me. She hit the call button again and told them to send the doctor to my room. “We need to run some tests, Bobby. You’ll need to go out in the waiting room for a little while.”

It took the doctors several hours to do all their “tests”. I felt like a bug under a freaking microscope as they checked all my vitals. The doctor told me they would do more testing over the next few days, but he was confident I would make a full recovery. I was still struggling to understand how I got there in the first place, so I asked, “Why can’t I remember what happened?”

“It’s perfectly normal, Courtney. Things may come back to you slowly or all at once. Just give it some time. I’m sure your family can help you put the pieces together,” the doctor replied.

“This all seems so strange,” I told him. “I feel so lost.” Physically, I was already feeling better, but I was still confused about everything that was happening.

“That’s understandable. Just give it time. I’ll be back later tonight to check on you, but call me if you need anything.”

“Thank you, Doctor,” I told him as he walked out of the room. It wasn’t long before Bobby came back in.

“You doing okay?” he asked.

“I don’t know. I can’t even remember how I got here, Bobby.”
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                

“You crashed your car into a ravine on the way to the clubhouse ten days ago. You’ve been in a coma,” Bobby said with concern in his voice. “You were babysitting John Warren for Lily and….”

“Oh my God! Was he with me? Is John Warren okay?!” I asked frantically. I panicked at just the thought of him being hurt. He was still so little, and even so Lily had trusted me to watch him. I wouldn’t have been able to live with myself if anything had happened to him.

“He’s fine, baby. Everything is fine. None of that matters now. We just need to focus on getting you better,” he said calmly.

How was it possible that I’d been in a coma for so long? Just hearing him say the words out loud changed something inside me. I could see my life laid out in front of me, and I didn’t like what I saw. There was so much more I wanted for myself. I felt empty. So much had been happening around me, and I’d been stuck waiting on my life to begin. I’d wasted so much time, and I couldn’t ignore my feelings any longer.

The pit in my stomach grew deeper as I watched Goliath and Lily come into the room. They were followed closely behind by Renegade and Taylor. Seeing them standing there only reminded me of what I didn’t have. Bobby gave my hand a quick squeeze before he walked over to greet them at the door. My heart twisted as I watched Goliath move closer to Lily and wrap his arm around her waist. The agonizing tightness in my chest grew as I glanced over to Renegade and Taylor. He stood only inches from her, claiming her in an unspoken embrace. I was being stupid. Seeing them like that shouldn’t have bothered me, but it did. These men knew what they wanted, and they didn’t let anything stand in their way. No obstacles, big or small, could’ve kept them apart. It should’ve been that way with Bobby, and it pissed me off that it wasn’t. I was angry with him for not showing me
that
kind of love and furious with
myself
for letting it go on for so long.

As soon as Bobby finished talking to them, Lily and Taylor rushed over and hugged me tight.

“I was so excited when Bobby called to tell us you had finally decided to wake up. Courtney, you had us scared to death!” Lily told me excitedly.

“I’m still trying to wrap my head around everything that’s happened. This whole thing is so surreal. I can’t believe I’ve actually been in a
coma
,” I explained.

“It was awful seeing you like that. I kept expecting you to pop up and start telling us one of your wild stories,” Taylor said with a smile.

“You know me… it won’t be long before I’ll be driving you all nuts again,” I said, forcing a laugh.

We’d only been making small talk for a few minutes when Bobby said, “Guys… I really appreciate y’all coming by, but Courtney needs her rest.”

“No! Don’t go yet,” I told Lily as I took hold of her hand. “I… I need to talk to Lily alone.” After being with them all together, I wasn’t ready to be alone with Bobby. The reality of our relationship was crashing down on me, and I wasn’t ready to deal with it just yet. I needed time to sort things out.

“You need your rest,” he told me firmly.

“
No
, Bobby. You’re not listening to me. I need some time
alone
with Lily,” I snapped.

Irritation spread across his face as he said, “I’ll give you some time, but I’m not going anywhere. I’ll be outside if you need me.” He leaned over and kissed me on the forehead before he walked out of the room. My heart sank as I watched him go. Something inside of me had changed, and I didn’t understand it. I longed for things to be different between us. I needed to know that he wanted me, but I respected myself enough not to ask for it. I couldn’t accept things the way they were anymore.

I turned to Lily and said, “Lily… I’m so sorry about the accident. I don’t know what happened, but you have to know I would never do anything to hurt John Warren. I love that little guy.”

“Stop, Courtney, I know you would never do anything to hurt him. We all know that. This wasn’t your fault. Bobby will explain everything to you later.”

“I hate that I can’t remember anything. It’s driving me crazy,” I told her.

She sat in the chair beside me and glanced over to me with a look of such sadness it made me want to cry. “It was bad, Courtney. We were worried that you weren’t going to wake up. You really had us scared. Poor Bobby has been a wreck. He hasn’t left your side the entire time.”

“Can we please talk about something else for a little while?” I asked. “I’d rather hear about everything I’ve missed.”

She gave me a questioning look but didn’t push. Instead, she smiled and said, “Girl, I don’t know where to start. Tessa will be here a little later…. Izzie has a really high fever, and Tessa thinks she has the flu. She took her to the doctor to get tested.”

“That’s awful. Please tell her to call and let me know how she’s doing,” I told her.

“I will. Umm… I guess you didn’t know that she asked Bishop to postpone the wedding until you were out of the hospital….”

“What? No, I didn’t know that!” I screeched.

“She told him that she just couldn’t do it without you,” Lily said.

“I can’t believe she actually postponed the wedding! She was so excited! Now I feel like I messed everything up for her,” I told her regretfully.

“Don’t be silly. None of this was your fault. Tessa couldn’t bear the thought of not having you by her side. It just wouldn’t be the same without you there,” Lily told me reassuringly.

“I don’t know about that. I’m sure Bishop would have liked it to be just them, but Tessa is worth the wait. So tell me… what’s going on with you and Goliath?”

“Things couldn’t be better. John Warren’s biological father, Maverick, found us, and let’s just say it was
complicated
. He eventually decided that John Warren is safer here with us, so he’s going to let him stay. We’ve even made plans to adopt him.”

She looked over to the door to make sure no one was there, and then quickly turned to me. A wide smile spread across her face as she leaned in and whispered, “I have a little secret. I’m not sure if it’s okay to tell yet, but I have to tell someone.”

“I love secrets. You can tell me…. I won’t tell a soul! It’s in the vault!” I said as I brought my fingers up to my mouth and pretended to zip my lips.

“It’s still really early, but… I’m pregnant! Goliath and I are going to have a baby! Can you believe that?” Her eyes gleamed with excitement as she shared her news with me. Lily was such a special person, and I was truly happy for them.

“Goliath is going to make a great dad, Lily. He’s been so wonderful with John Warren. I’m sure he’s thrilled.”

“He is. He’s already talking about finding us a new place to live. He wants us to move into a bigger house at the end of the month.”

“I’m so happy that everything is working out so well for you two. You really are perfect together.”

“Is everything okay with you and Bobby? You know you can talk to me. I can tell something is up, because normally you never want him to leave your side,” she ventured.

“I really can’t explain it, Lily. It’s like this whole accident thing made me see everything so differently. I could’ve died. It’s made me realize that life’s too short. I’m tired of wasting time on something that just isn’t going to happen,” I told her.

“Courtney, you’ve been through
a lot
. Give yourself some time to sort this all out before you make any rash decisions you might regret later.”

“That’s just it. I’ve given it time… too much time. You know as well as I do that the men in this club don’t let things stand in their way. They know what they want, and they go after it.
Nothing
gets in their way.”

“I know it looks that way, but there’s so much more to it. You can’t compare your relationship to others’. Bobby loves you. Everyone knows that.”

“I know he cares about me, but that’s not enough. Bobby’s never shown me that I’m the one for him. I can’t do it anymore,” I told her. I couldn’t believe that I’d actually said it out loud. As hard as it would be to let him go, I knew I had to do it.

“I don’t know what to…” Lily started before Bobby suddenly walked back into the room.

“How’s she doing?” he asked Lily.

“I’m fine, Bobby,” I said, answering for her.

“Um, I really need to get going guys. Goliath has plans for us this afternoon, but I’ll be back soon.” Lily quickly stood up and leaned over to give me another hug. “Call me if you need anything,” she whispered before heading for the door.

“I will. Thanks so much for coming. It really meant a lot to me,” I told her.

Lily smiled as she walked out of the room. She looked so happy. I had to give Goliath credit. He was completely committed to Lily, and he wasn’t afraid to show it. That’s the way it should be. I took a deep breath and tried to find the right words to say to Bobby.

“You doing okay?” he asked.

“I’m okay,” I told him. Physically, I really felt fine, despite being in a coma for the past ten days. It was my heart that was having the problem. I knew what I needed to do, but it was just going to be hard to follow through with it.