Page 7 of Love Me Again

"Noooo!"I scream, and Josh caught me as my legs give out as if someone just yanked the floor out from under me. Josh cradles me in his arms, and we both hit the floor. Aimee and Jo come running over to us. I keep screaming Cole's name over and over again.

Cole wasn't gone. He wasn't.

He promised me…he said he was coming back home. Cole wouldn't lie to me. "Josh…Josh, he wouldn't leave me, he wouldn't! Please say he's not gone. Please, tell me he's coming back. TELL ME!" I scream at him, sobbing, pushing at his chest. Josh cries, shaking his head.

"I wish I could, Shayla." He whispers, and I weep into his chest as he rocks me. Aimee and Jo both come closer, and they all hold me while I weep. Josh's phone rings and he reaches down to answer it. "What?" He snaps angrily at whoever it was on the other end.

Josh looks down at me, sobbing in his arms. "Where? Okay....okay. Thanks." He heaves a sigh and nods before hanging up. "Shayla, hey, hey, they found him. He's alive. Cole's alive." He tells me, taking my face into his hands. I open my eyes and look at him.

"What?"

"He's in critical condition, but he's alive," Josh tells me, and I cover my face with my hands and wail helplessly.

"Oh God." I whimper. "Josh, please, take me to him." I plead, curling my fingers in his shirt, and he nods. They help me up, and we all leave the house. I sat in the back seat of Josh's car, my head in Jo's chest, crying while she brushes her fingers through my hair.

I was praying with every bit of faith I had in my heart for him to be okay.

He has to be okay.

Ifanything happens to him, how am I supposed to survive? I wouldn't. I couldn't go on without him.

That brief moment, I thought he was gone. I was ready and willing to join him. The pain was unlike anything I've ever felt in my life. When we pull up outside the hospital, I open the door and run to the reception desk with Josh and the girls on my tail. "Tristan Cole Hoult. Where is he?" I ask, sobbing, and the nurse looks at me and blinks.

"What's your relati—"

"I'm his wife! Where is he?!" I yell, slapping my hands hard on the desk. The nurse types away on her computer while I pace frantically.

"He's just been brought in by an air ambulance. Go to the Intensive Care Unit on the third floor. The nurse's station will give you more information." I don't even wait for her to finish before I take off running down the corridor.

"Shayla, slow down," Aimee calls out as they all chase me down the corridors of the hospital. Josh grabs my arms and pulls me to him as I pant.

"Shayla, hey, slow down. You're pregnant!" I fight in his hold and shove him away from me.

"Let me go!" I shout and push the door to the stairs and race up as fast as my legs would let me. I look around the signs and run to the end of the corridor where the ICU was. I stop when I see a team of doctors and paramedics rush through with a stretcher toward me.

I felt my soul leave my body when I saw it was Cole. "COLE!" I scream and race over to the stretcher. He was unconscious and had a deep cut on his head where he was bleeding severely, leaving a trail of his blood on the floor in the corridor as they push him through. "Cole, baby, I'm right here, I'm right here. You're going to be okay. You have to be okay. Please, I'm begging you, don't you give up on me. I love you so much." I wail.

"Miss, please step aside." The doctor utters, and I take hold of his bloodied hand.

"He's my husband. Please, save him, please don't let him die." I sob helplessly, and he nods.

"We'll do everything we can, I promise, but youneedto let him go now." I weep and let go of his hand—following them till they rush him off into the OR.

"Cole!" I whimper, shouting out to him as Josh wraps his arms around me to stop me from running through the doors to the operating room. I look down at my hands stained with his blood and cry.

My knees shook under my weight, and I fall into Josh's arms, my screams echoing in the corridors.

"Shayla, hey, shh, shh. Cole's going to be okay--he's going to be okay. Look, he's fighting to stay alive for you and your baby. Now you must do the same for him. Youneedto be strong for him." Josh kept whispering in my ear as I sob, unable to catch my breath.

"Josh is right, Shay. You have to be strong for him and your baby. He's going to pull through this. Cole will never leave you, babe." Aimee comforts me as I sob and shake my head.

"Why us?" I whimper. "Why does this keep happening to us? We were finally so happy. Why can't we just be happy Aimee, why?" I sob, and she hugs me.

"Shayla, it was an accident," Jo tells me, brushing my hair away from my face. I shake my head.

"I should have gone with him," I whisper, staring at my trembling hands. "I should've been with him."

"Shayla?!" I look up and see Cole's mother running toward me, looking every bit as wrecked as I was. She falls to her knees in front of me, and we both sob.

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