Hearts in Darkness Collection by Laura Kaye
Chapter Seven
Despite the rocky start to the morning, Makenna had a great day with Caden and her family. Breakfast, a late lunch full of yummy leftovers, and an afternoon of board games that had everyone laughing and teasing. With Cameron gone, the whole atmosphere changed from tense to easy, at least that was the way it felt to her. She was itching to confront Ian about inviting him, but she didn’t want to create new tension. It could wait until after the holiday.
It was late as their group walked out of the movie theater after seeing the last showing of a new action flick, their bellies full of Chinese food and popcorn—everyone had been ready for a change of menu after several meals in a row of turkey and stuffing. The sidewalks were crunchy with rock salt and patches of ice that hadn’t been shoveled away.
Four inches of snow had fallen yesterday, which wasn’t bad for Pennsylvania. But then freezing rain had fallen over night after the streets had been plowed, so driving had been more hazardous today then it’d been yesterday, but luckily her dad and Caden hadn’t minded bringing them out to the movies.
“Be safe heading home, kids,” her dad called as he, Ian, Collin, and Shima passed Caden’s Jeep and headed over to Dad’s Ford Explorer.
“Will do,” Caden said, unlocking the doors. Makenna hopped in the back seat so Patrick could have the front.
Yawning, Makenna secured her seatbelt and sagged back against the seat as Caden pulled out of the lot. He followed her dad’s car through the commercial area around the mall to where the surroundings became suburban and then almost rural-looking on the way to their house.
As the lights receded, Makenna’s eyelids grew heavy. And against the backdrop of Caden and Patrick talking, she finally stopped fighting it and let herself drift off.
A sudden jerk startled Makenna awake. Screeching tires. The Jeep fishtailed hard in one direction and then the other.
“Fuck,” Patrick bit out.
The Jeep came to a hard stop, jolting Makenna against her seatbelt and knocking the breath out of her.
Both men seat turned to her. “Are you okay?” they asked.
“Yeah. What happened?” Her eyes focused on the scene out the front window. Two cars sat just off the road at an intersection. One was an Explorer. “Oh, my God. Dad.” She ripped at the seat belt buckle.
“Makenna, call 9-1-1. Patrick and I will check it out,” Caden said. He flew out of the driver’s seat, ran to the trunk and grabbed something, and then ran toward the accident. Patrick was already opening her father’s car door.
She pressed the phone to her ear as she jumped out of the Jeep. Caden had managed to stop in plenty of time, his Jeep just off the road. He’d placed an orange cone at the back corner of his vehicle.
“Nine-one-one, what is your emergency?” the dispatcher answered.
“I’m calling to report an accident,” Makenna said, jogging toward the scene, heart racing. She recounted what’d happened and let the dispatcher know that an off-duty police officer and paramedic were on scene.
“Can you put me on with either of them when they’ve assessed for injuries?” the dispatcher asked.
“Yes. Let me get them,” Makenna said. She didn’t know how either Patrick or Caden did this kind of thing every day, because just the act of calling 911 had adrenaline flowing through her system until she was shivering. It was more than just the cold, she knew that much for sure. Dread flowing through her, she approached the driver’s side of her father’s truck and could see that the front end was crumpled.
Patrick leaned into her father’s door while Caden stood in the rear driver’s side doorway, a big medic kit opened next to him. She peered in to see Collin, bleeding from the forehead and grimacing. Oh God.
“The dispatcher would like to talk to one of you,” she said.
Patrick held out his hand, and she passed him the phone. He rose and stepped away from the vehicle.
Makenna leaned in and gently touched her father’s arm. The air bags had deployed inside the car. “Daddy, are you okay?”
“Yeah, yeah, peanut. The seatbelt just took the wind out of me. I’ll be fine,” he said, his voice like gravel.
“Hang tight, Collin. I don’t want you to move until we can get your neck immobilized, okay?” Caden asked, snapping off one pair of gloves and putting on another. “Let me check your dad. I’ll be right back.”
Makenna stepped away to let Caden pass and Ian came around from the passenger side. “Are you okay?” she asked him.
“Yeah. Shima and I are fine. Collin didn’t have his seat belt on, though,” Ian said, the words not critical, just worried.
As she watched, Caden listened to her father’s heartbeat and took his pulse, and then he unbuttoned her father’s shirt and examined his chest in the dim overhead light.
“How are they?” Patrick asked Caden, phone still pressed to his ear.
“Collin has a mild head injury, a scalp lac, and a probable rib fracture,” Caden said in a calm, confident voice. Makenna’s chest squeezed with worry as Patrick relayed the information to the dispatcher. Caden continued, “Mike has an elevated heart rate and chest pain reproducible on palpitation and movement, which means a possible sternum fracture. At least, that’s what I can tell without more diagnostics.”
God, both of them needed to go to the hospital. Makenna couldn’t believe this was happening. Her brother repeated Caden’s diagnosis.
“EMS is within range,” Patrick said. “I hear the sirens.”
Makenna had just cued in to them, too.
“All right, Mike. Cavalry’s almost here. They’ll get some pain meds in you and you’ll be good as new. Just try to sit still,” Caden said.
“Thanks, son. I’m okay,” her dad said, the strain in his voice belying the words.
Caden snapped off his gloves and moved to the back seat again. As worried as she was about her father and brother, she was also fascinated to see Caden in action—confident, totally in control, rushing in to help without having to be asked. Exactly what he was trained to do.
A few minutes later, two police cars, two ambulances, and a firetruck rumbled into the scene, their red and blue lights circling over everything. As the crews got out of their vehicles, Patrick met up with the police and Caden joined the paramedics as they unloaded stretchers and backboards from the rear of their rig. He was deep in conversation with them, clearly recounting what he’d learned about the men’s conditions.
Makenna leaned into the driver’s seat. “The ambulance is here. Just hang on,” she said.
Her father gave her a tight smile. “Don’t you worry.”
When the paramedics approached the car, Shima cleared out of the back seat, and one of the paramedics went around and took her place, the other leaning in through Collin’s doorway like Caden had done.
Makenna and Ian stepped back too, making space for the crews to do their job. Caden fell in beside her, his gaze running over her face. “Are you sure you’re okay?” he asked, taking her cheek in his hand. “I know you were asleep when it happened. I tried to stop as gently as I could.”
“I’m fine. Really. What happened?”
Caden frowned. “The damn ice. The second driver tried to pull out of the cross street without sufficient lead time and his back tires caught ice, which stalled him half-way out. So your dad had to swerve to avoid him, but he hit a patch of ice, too, and caught the vehicle’s back quarter panel before going off the road.”
“It was lucky Dad responded so quickly,” Ian said. “I thought for sure we were going to broad-side him.”
Nodding, Caden said, “It could’ve been a lot worse, that’s for sure.”
“It’s bad enough,” Makenna said, her throat going tight.
“Come here,” Caden said, pulling her into his chest. “They’re going to be all right. You’ll see.”
“Thanks to you,” she said, peering up at him. “This would’ve been so much scarier if you weren’t here.”
He shook off the compliment and rubbed her back.
Soon, the two paramedic crews had Dad and Collin loaded onto stretchers. They told Caden where they were going and said the family would have to follow by separate vehicle. As the crews loaded the stretchers into their rigs, Patrick waved Ian and Shima over to the police, who seemed to be asking them questions.
Patrick joined her and Caden. “You four go ahead to the hospital. I’ll finish up here and one of these guys will give me a lift home to get my car when we’re done.”
“Okay,” Caden said. The two men shook.
“Thanks for everything, Caden. It means a lot,” Patrick said. “Keep me posted.”
“We will. Wish I could’ve done more,” he said.
When Ian, Shima, and Caden had given statements, they loaded up into Caden’s Jeep and made the quiet drive to the hospital. Shima sat next to Makenna, concern radiating off of her, and it touched her to know how deeply concerned Shima was for her brother. She really cared.
But getting to the hospital didn’t give them any answers, because while Dad and Collin were being evaluated, all the rest of them could do was wait. Within an hour, Patrick had come, but they still hadn’t heard from anyone in the emergency department beyond filling out some forms on both the James men’s behalves.
Caden was a godsend through it all. Grabbing coffee for all of them. Staying close to Makenna’s side. Holding her hand. Explaining to everyone what was likely happening to Dad and Collin respectively so they’d all understand why it was taking so long—the scans they both required were probably part of the hold-up.
This would’ve been so much harder if Caden hadn’t been there. More than that, it felt like he belonged there. As part of the James clan. At her side.
“Mike and Collin James family,” called a woman’s voice.
They all stood at once, her and Patrick going fastest to join the woman near the doors to the ER.
“I can only allow one person back for each patient,” she said.
Makenna turned to Ian. “Do you mind if I go with Patrick?”
“No,” Ian said. “Just text me when you know more.”
Giving Caden a quick hug and a kiss, Makenna agreed. She gave Shima a nod, too. “Will let you all know as soon as we can.” And then she was rushing to her father and youngest brother’s sides, heart in her throat to know that they were going to be okay. She couldn’t lose any of these men that she loved. Not her father, not her brothers, and not Caden.
Because the pain of it would absolutely shatter her.