Wrecked (Clayton Falls) Read Free Page A

it.
    “Jake?” She said my name softly. It had never sounded better coming from anyone else’s lips. And those lips—they were perfect.
    I pushed through the fog and smiled at her. Dream or not, I had to try.
    “How are you feeling?” She held up a cup with a straw. “Are you thirsty?”
    What was this? I looked down at my arm and there was a damn IV stuck in it. “Where am I?”
    “You’re at New Hanover Regional Hospital. You were in an accident.” She said it so calmly, like she was talking about the weather. “I’m your nurse. My name is Emily.”
    As soon as she said it, everything came back to me. Being at Tom’s house—Daniela telling Ben—going to Gill’s, and my Jeep flipping over.
    “Are you sure I’m not dead?” She was wearing scrubs, but there was no way I’d be lucky enough to get a nurse that looked like her. Knowing my luck, mine would be an overweight 70-year-old man.
    She smiled again. “You’re not dead. You could have been. You’re very lucky.”
    “Yes, I am.” I meant having her as my nurse. I think she got it because she blushed a little. It looked adorable on her pale cheeks.
    “Would you like me to call your family? I wasn’t expecting you to wake up so soon. The medication wore off faster than anticipated.”
    “My family? Have they been here?”
    She looked at me strangely. “Of course.”
    “Just my parents…”
    “Your parents, and your brother and his wife.”
    “Ben and Molly were here?” I was surprised they’d bother after what I did.
    “I practically had to kick them out.” She looked at me for a moment before continuing. “They care about you a lot.”
    “What time is it?” I couldn’t handle thinking about how pissed Ben had to be. How disappointed my parents would be. Obviously I needed to see them, but I wasn’t ready yet.
    She glanced at her watch and then back to me. “It’s five-thirty a.m.”
    “And you’re still working? Or did you just get here?”
    “You were right the first time. I prefer working nights actually.”
    “When do you think they’ll get here?” I figured she’d know I meant my family.
    She fidgeted with the button on her sweater. “My guess is they’ll be here by seven.”
    “Okay, that gives us an hour and a half.”
    “Gives us an hour and a half for what?”
    I gave her my best grin. “To get to know each other.”
    “I’m glad to see you still have a sense of humor. It means you’re doing all right.”
    “Who says I was joking?” I tried to wink at her, but it didn’t work.
    “Your face is still bruised up.” She reached over like she was going to touch me but stopped herself.
    “Oh.” That was the first time I even thought about what I must have looked like. No wonder she wasn’t flirting back.
    “Yeah. You actually look a lot better now. You must heal fast.”
    “I do. I’d get injuries when I played football that should have kept me out for weeks, but I’d be over them in days.”
    “You played football?” The way she said it left me wondering if she really cared or was trying to be polite.
    “In high school.”
    “Cool.”
    “Yeah.”
    We sat awkwardly for a second. I usually could fill those silences easily, but my brain still felt kind of foggy.
    “I saw that you’re from Clayton Falls. Do you know someone named Mel Garrison?”
    “Melanie Garrison? Sure I do. She was a year behind me, but we went to a really small high school.”
    “Oh, cool.”
    “Where are you from?” I had to keep her talking. If we stopped, she’d probably leave to see another patient. I wasn’t ready for her to leave yet, and I didn’t feel like being alone.
    “I’m from a small town just outside Asheville. Have you heard of Ridgeview?”
    “Yeah, definitely.” I wanted to say more, to tell her that one of my friends from high school went to the college up there. But I was already getting exhausted. “I’ve heard it’s pretty.” At least my brain was functioning enough to answer her.
    She