Blown Away Read Free

eyes went wide as she looked between me and the doctor like we were both crazy.
    “If you think I’m pulling the plug on my son, think again. I will
never
give up on him.”
    “Mrs. Harrington—” the doctor started, his tone gentle.
    “No. I won’t listen to this. Get out of this room, the both of you.” She pointed at the door. “Now.”
    I looked at the doctor, who nodded once and stood.
    “We’ll give you some time alone with your son,” he said.
    I followed him to the door and then out into the brightly lit hallway.
    “It’s very tough news to hear,” he said. “Some people need time to absorb it.”
    I nodded silently.
    “Is there anything I can do for you?” he asked, his brown eyes warm.
    I wanted to ask him to turn back time. To put me on that road next to Colby. Or to at least give me a chance to tell him that he’d changed my life. He’d changed me into a person who hoped and dreamed. And all my hopes and dreams involved him.
    I just shook my head, unable to speak past the lump in my throat. The doctor clapped me on the shoulder and walked away.
    I went to the waiting room and sat down. The shock gave way to grief. Colby was gone. In all the ways that mattered, his light had stopped shining on a rainy highway early this morning. And the darkness was almost unbearable.

Chapter 2
    Drew
    I gripped the steering wheel tighter as I made the turn by the hardware store, knowing Mercy Medical Center was only a couple minutes away. I’d just been with Colby last night. How the hell was it possible he was now on life support?
    Because life can change in the blink of an eye.
I knew that all too well.
    “You weren’t supposed to turn here,” Murph said, looking up from the screen of his smartphone. “The sign back there with the H said to go straight.”
    “This is a shortcut,” I said in a clipped tone.
    “Are you sure?”
    “It’s my fucking hometown, Murph. You can’t find your ass with both hands and a GPS, so shut your hole.”
    “That was harsh,” Millie said from the backseat.
    I sighed deeply. “Sorry.”
    Murph pushed up his wire-rimmed glasses and waved a hand dismissively. “Don’t worry about it. We’re all shook up right now. And he was your best friend. Or
is
. I meant is. Sorry.”
    “Sounds like he’s a vegetable, though,” Tex said from the back.
    “You’re such an asshole,” Millie snapped at him.
    I glared at Tex in my rearview mirror.
    “Sorry,” he murmured. “I shouldn’t have said that.”
    “Everyone handles grief differently,” Murph said in a diplomatic tone.
    “You think we should grieve when he’s not even gone?” I asked, shaking my head with disgust.
    “Aiden.” Murph had broken out his level, team-leader tone. “You know what the guy who listened to the radio traffic told me. His head was…Well, we all know there’s no way. He’s on life support so his loved ones can get closure. And you know I hate it. Of all the unfair crap in this world. He was helping someone.”
    Murph’s voice was thick with emotion.
    “That’s Colby,” I said, nodding. “He’d give the shirt off his back if someone needed it.”
    I pulled into the Mercy parking lot and put my truck in park.
    “Carla and Drew are in there,” I said, glancing in the rearview mirror again. “Either say you’re sorry or don’t say anything.”
    We all got out of the truck and I looked around at the rest of my team, which was now four instead of five. What a sight we made, all of us still dressed in the clothes we’d fallen into bed wearing at around two A.M . We were dirty and sweat-stained from helping with storm rescue and cleanup.
    “Aiden,” Tex said, sliding his red bandanna from his forehead and stuffing it into his back pocket. “I’m sorry.”
    He squeezed my shoulder. Tex was my size—a little over six feet tall, with broad shoulders and a football player’s build. He was brash and always wore a cocky smile. A simple, sincere apology from him hit me right in