Heart & Hope (Rosewood Ranch #2)

Chapter 31

Chapter Thirty-One

REED

E very inch of me is so heavy. My head pounds. The droning in my ears, so loud. I shake my head to dislodge it. It doesn’t budge. Glass falls. Warmth trickles down my forehead. Sharpness cuts into my hands. The inside of my truck is blurred and wrong. The roof lining of the truck is beneath me.

Upside down.

We’re upside down. The seatbelt bites into my hips and one shoulder.

Ruby . . .

God, no. Please no!

I push the airbags aside, reaching to find her.

Hanging from the driver’s seat, her hair is littered with glass. The side of her head by her ear is soaked with a streak of bright-red blood. She’s out cold.

“No, baby,” I rasp.

She’s still.

Her chest is barely moving. I tug at the belt, raging against its hold with a scream. The scaly fingers of heated anxiety claw through my center, stealing the last of my shaky breath. The seat belt tightens, and my lungs cave in.

I shake my head until stars burst into the sides of my vision.

Snap out of it, Rawlins! Ruby needs you.

I grind through a groan and push the button on the seat belt with one hand, bracing myself with the other on the roof. The second the belt releases, I crash into the roof lining and the truck sways. Ruby swings with the movement. Tiny pieces of glass dig into my neck and shoulders. The sting barely registers.

Pushing myself upright, I shuffle on my seat cautiously toward Ruby over the glass. “Rubes, baby, wake up.”

She doesn’t move. But the truck does. Fuck.

I can’t see well enough past the airbags to tell where we are. But by the way the truck rolls and shakes with my slightest movement, it’s not somewhere stable.

I wedge myself under her and support her shoulders. “Beautiful, you gotta wake up.” My voice cracks, my body screaming with the pain of impact and hundreds of tiny bits of glass weaving their way under my skin. “Ruby Jane Rawlins, wake up !”

I sob into her shoulder.

Sweet Jesus.

God, how could I let this happen to her? I should have insisted I drive. Made her pull over.

A sweet, coppery tang winds through my senses.

Blood and strawberries.

I sweep my thumbs over her cheeks. “Baby, wake up, please. We gotta get outta here,” I whisper.

The warmth I felt earlier reaches my shoulder. My white dress shirt is now red on my left side. Bile rises in my throat, burning. I run my hand over her neck, hunting for a pounding pulse, only to find a thready one.

We need help.

I scan the truck for one of our phones. Mine is wedged between the seats above me. I grab for it. My hands shake too badly to tap the screen.

“Siri, call 911, on speaker.”

“Calling 911.” The ringtone starts.

“911. What’s your emergency?”

Eyes closed, I swallow down a ragged breath.

“Help, please. Highway 87 northbound from Great Falls. The truck has rolled. She’s out cold. Please, hurry.”

“Stay on the line, sir, an emergency unit will be...”

Hushed voices float around. The pounding in my head is gone. But something holds me in place. Body heavy with fatigue, I open my eyes. Florescent lights burn my eyes, and a light-green curtain sways, surrounding the hard bed I’m on.

An IV is sunk into a vein in my hand. The cotton stretched over me is not my shirt. I push to sit up. My head spins, but the sensation fades with a few deep breaths.

Ruby.

I swing my feet from the bed and rip the needle from my hand, tossing it onto the covers. The curtain moves, and Ma has me in her hold a heartbeat later.

“Oh, my boy. You should be resting, sweetheart.”

“Where’s Ruby?” I choke out.

Ma pushes back, holding me at arm’s length. “She’s down the hall. I tried to call her family, but her father’s receptionist said he wasn’t to be disturbed.”

“Did the hospital try?”

“They did. Same response.”

“Fucking hell. Pack of lousy, good-for-noth?—”

Ma’s hand lands on my arm, and she gives me a sad smile. “She has you.”

I push past Ma and make for the curtain. Cool air swirls up my legs and over my ass. Fuck me.

“Here,” Ma says, handing me clean jeans and a t-shirt with a sad smile that sends my gut plummeting. She slips out, and I pull the clothes on as quick as my aching body will let me. Every single cut on my skin burns. The glass is gone, but the sting remains. On bare feet, I rip the curtain back and stagger toward Ma, who is standing outside a bay marked Emergency 1.

Closest to the nurse’s station. That’s not good.

When I reach the curtain, Ma grabs my hand and nods, scrunching up her face. I know that look. She is trying to prepare me. Air leaves my lungs like a fucking vacuum. Harry appears by the corner of the hall and walks over, wrapping himself around Ma.

I turn back to the curtain and will my lungs to expand, to fill with air so I can move forward. With a shaking hand, I slide the fabric back. Ruby lies on the bed in the same gown I had on a moment ago. Her hair is still caked with blood, her face is cut up from the glass. A bruise the size of my palm is over her forehead and temple. Her chest rises and falls in a steady rhythm, her hands by her side. One finger is covered by a gadget, the other hand has an IV drip in it. The machines nearby monitor her vitals.

I fiddle with the bed rail, getting it to go down, and sit on the side of the bed. I trace my fingers over her cheeks and tuck a stray piece of hair behind her ear. The curtain hisses, and a doctor walks in.

“Mr. Robbins?” His glance drops to my hand, where the wedding band still sits on my ring finger.

“Yes.” I offer up my hand. “Reed.”

He shakes my hand, confusion filtering over his features. “You were in curtain six. Isn’t it Rawlins?”

“Long story. Can we focus on Ruby?”

“Fine. I take it you’re discharging yourself?”

“Yep.” I return my focus to Ruby.

He stares at me for a heartbeat before tracking to the bed. “Your wife has had a hard knock, but her scans came back clean. We sedated her a little earlier. Nothing major, only a Valium. She woke up agitated, she was panicking, calling for you.”

Ruby needed me. And I wasn’t fucking here.

“How long ’til she wakes up from the sedative?”

“A few hours and she will be up. I suggest you be here when she wakes up this time.”

He nods and writes something brief in her chart before walking out and replacing the curtain. Ruby scared is one thing I can’t accept.

I lean over and dot a kiss to her cheek. “Hey, baby. I’m here, beautiful. Whenever you’re ready.”

She doesn’t move.

Just lies there, breathing slow and steady. I can only imagine the dreams she is having right now. I hope to hell she’s not reliving the truck careening off the road. I don’t want her to be scared. That tears me up. Standing, I drag the only chair in the cubicle to her bedside and sink into it. Dropping my head on the side of the bed, I fold her hand between my own.

My body is sore and tired. My head more so, from the months hustling, trying to reconcile with the fact that Rubes is leaving soon. I close my eyes and the room spins. I press her hand to my lips again and let sleep take me wherever the fuck it wants.

“Reed...” Ruby’s voice is weak and raspy. I snap my head up and jolt onto the bed. She leans forward, and I help her sit up. When she is steady and sitting comfortably, I lean back to study her face, needing to see in her eyes that she is okay.

“Baby, you scared me,” I choke.

Her eyes widen, pulling with fear.

I take her face in my hands and move closer. “Hey, hey, you’re okay. You’re safe. I’m right here.”

She shakes her head. “Olive... my work... your—” She tilts her head with a whimper. “Your truck .”

Sobs spill from her lips, her fingers sliding into her hair.

Fuck my goddamn truck.

“Ruby, I don’t care about the truck. It’s just a vehicle.” I don’t know what to say on the other two points. I don’t know Olive or how Big Corporate deals with this sort of misconduct.

“You loved that thing.” Tears track down her reddened cheeks. Her face crumples, and she winces.

“Ruby Jane Rawlins, I love you so, so much more.”

She loses it, sobbing hard as I pull her into a hug. I rub her back, dotting kisses to her hair as she lets out every ounce of fear, stress, worry, and hurt. The last few days have been too much. What I wouldn’t give to make all the hard things in her life disappear.

As her sobs fade, she leans back and wipes her face with her hands. Her brown eyes land on mine. “I need to go home, Reed.”

“Sure, baby, I’ll take you home. I’ll grab Harry’s truck.”

“No.” Her voice is barely a whisper. “I need to go to my home. I’ve ruined everything. It’s a disaster. I need to try and fix it.”

The stone in my throat sinks, transforming into a full-on fucking anvil in my gut. And it must show on my face, because hers breaks again. She schools it back and sucks in a breath.

“I need to figure out what I want. And where I go from here. I need to talk to Olive. Maybe my parents?”

Forcing air into my lungs, then back out, I stare at our hands, tangled together.

“Sure, Rubes, whatever you need. I could drive you. We could talk.”

“No, Reed. I have to do this by myself. I’ll fly home. Take a week or two. Maybe a little longer.”

The tear in my heart grows with every beat it takes. If Ruby needs time, I’ll give it to her. I’d give her anything, no matter the cost.

“I’ll book your flight and pack your stuff, beautiful.” I stand and release her hands.

“Reed.” Tears stream down her cheeks.

“It’s okay, Rubes. You don’t owe me a thing. You take care of yourself this time.”

I wander into the hall and toward the exit. A hand rests on my shoulders, and I turn back, dazed. Harry stands with my boots and cap in his hands. “I’ll take you home, son.”

I don’t respond, simply following him through the doors and into the midday warmth. Ma waits by the truck. I slide into the front passenger’s seat, and she shuts the door and hops into the back. As we pull away from the Great Falls hospital, I replay Ruby’s words over and over in my head.

The hour and a half that it takes to drive to R & R Ranch flies past, me lost in my head and all. I spill from the truck and wander inside.

“Let me pack her things, sweetheart,” Ma says.

“No, I’ll do it.”

I pad upstairs and into the room that has been Ruby’s for months. Not that she slept in this bed even one night. Her clothes are neatly stored in the cupboard and dresser, and it doesn’t take me long to have the woman I would give up everything for packed up. The only item left is her Coach Love perfume. The one that had me addicted to her from the moment I met her.

Strawberries.

I can’t bring myself to pack it, so I don’t.

Ma clears her throat from the doorway. “So, you two really married?”

I still, hand holding the zipper halfway. “No.”

“Would that be such a bad idea?”

I turn to face her. “Ma,” I say incredulously.

She shrugs and waves her palms up. “You’re amazing together, just sayin’.”

“Ruby has plans.”

“So do you. Look at everything the two of you have created. I see the way you are with her, hon. That matters—it’s so important. It is what makes this life worth it.”

Maybe, but it’s irrelevant.

Sickening sensation winds through my core, spreading to my arms. The tingle in my hands starts, and I sink onto the bed.

Fuck.

I try to pull in air, but it’s too thin.

I strain to hear the sounds around me, but she’s not here. I hear nothing.

I grope to feel my surroundings, and don’t find her soft skin, her soft, velvet lips.

I can’t . . .

I can’t without Ruby.

I grapple to pull in a breath, and stars creep into my vision. My hands cramp up as my shoulders heave, my lungs screaming for air. Choking sobs tumble out.

Ma is in front of me, her palms on my face. Her face blurs as I slide from the bed, knees hitting the wood floor. I lean forward, trying to shake the pain from my arms.

Nothing gives.

“. . . Reed,” Ma coaxes.

I rock back and forth. Images of Ruby, her cut-up face, her hanging from the seatbelt upside down. Her happy laugh and smile, all faded as she lay still in the hospital bed.

Ruby distraught over those fucking hussies that ruined her event and her plans. The lawsuit. The months she lost on her own work because she was here, helping me.

Sweet Jesus.

I groan, pushing to my feet.

“Reed? Are you alright?” Ma’s face sharpens, her brows lowered, her eyes devastated.

“I can handle it.”

She grabs my hands. “No, you— You got this from me. The anxiety. I’m so sorry.” Worry lines her face.

“I’m fine, Ma. I can handle it. Ruby taught me.”

Yet another thing that beautiful woman gave me. How can I ever repay her for that? For giving me my freedom back. All she did was give and give. She helped me, and what did she receive in return?

A fucking nightmare.

I’m not going to take away the things Ruby wants so I can have the one thing I want. God, I’m an utter idiot for telling Hudson what to do when this was where him and Addy were at. It’s not as simple as being in love. It ain’t.

“Can I borrow your truck?” I ask Ma as I push past with Ruby’s bags and head down the stairs.

“Of course.” She doesn’t follow.

Harry is waiting by the door, arms crossed. Hat pulled down, brows lowered. God above, what now?

“Your truck was towed to the wreckers.”

“Sounds about right.”

“Insurance will cover the cost of a new one.”

“Thanks.”

I couldn’t care less. I grab my coat from the back of the door and make my way to Harry’s truck. “I’ll be back in a few hours.”

“Take your time, son.”

I toss the bags in the back seat of the silver Chevy and climb up into the driver’s side. When the engine fires up, the first sob lodges in my throat, cutting off my air supply. After everything that has happened, never in a million years would I have thought this is how Ruby and I would end.

My forehead hits the steering wheel, hands gripping it until my knuckles turn white.

My heart cracks right in two.