Page 71 of Slow Ride

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Wren clung to Jordan’s hand so hard she was probably in danger of ripping it off.

“Sorry,” she muttered, and tried to let go.

He wouldn’t let her.“It’s okay, Wren.We’re almost there.Then we can see for ourselves that he’s mostly in one piece.”

“I think I might be sick.”She groaned and wrapped her free hand around her middle.

“Need me to pull over?”Van asked.“We’re almost there.GPS says three minutes.”

“Don’t stop,” she begged, and Jordan tucked her against his side and rubbed circles on her back with his open palm.

They’d raced to the middle of nowhere, halfway between Middletown and whatever city Kason had been planning to meet Rick and the tour bus in.Van’s systems told him the tour bus was parked in the hospital lot, so Rick must have come as soon as he’d heard too.

Fortunately Van had thought to collect them from Kason’s pool, given them time to find their clothes despite his obvious panic, then driven them straight to the hospital with him.

Wren’s frantic phone call to Devra meant most of their friends were probably not far behind them either.Van had reached out to Rick for status updates, but for some reason Kason’s manager wasn’t responding.

What did that mean?Had the accident been worse than they’d first thought?

Could Kason be dead?Was Rick avoiding talking to them on phone?She knew from experience people preferred to deliver that sort of news in person.

Her stomach roiled.No!She refused to believe fate could be so cruel as to take away not one but two of her soul mates before she’d gotten a chance to tell either one that she was in love with them.There, she’d admitted it, even if only to herself.

Kason was so confident on stage and with her that his sweet sincerity and uncertainty around Jordan completely undid her.She would make sure she told him so next time she had the opportunity.Hopefully it wouldn’t shock him too bad, because she planned to fight for the potential she saw between the three of them.

As she should have done in the past.She knew too well what was at stake if she failed.

Though not right now.Not while he was hurt and… “Please, let him be okay.”

“Wren, this probably isn’t the time, but… I want you to know that seeing you this way has made up my mind.”Jordan’s jaw was set.

“About what?”She looked up at him, grateful for the distraction.

“I’m quitting my job.I’m never going to put you in this position again.Accidents happen, sure, but there’s no reason for me to keep risking my life for something I don’t even support any more.I’ll hand in my resignation letter first thing Monday.”He rested his forehead on hers.“I could never bear to scare you like this.It’s going to be okay, Wren.Whatever happens when we go in there, we’ll get through it together.”

She took the first full breath she’d managed in over an hour.“Thank you.”

They might have discussed it some more except they turned into a parking lot and whizzed past Kason’s fancy bus out on the perimeter.

Van skidded to a stop under the emergency room portico, tires chirping as he slammed his car into park.They filed from the car at the same time and ran for the hospital.

They were met at the door by someone who recognized Van and immediately began to give him a status update.Probably another member of Kason’s security team, or maybe the bus driver.He walked as he talked, leading them to Kason.

Wren couldn’t hear a single word the man said as her worries buzzed around her brain.She needed to see him, to hug him, to make sure for herself that he would be okay.

Jordan still held her hand.When she stuttered in the doorway to Kason’s room, it nearly yanked Jordan’s arm out of the socket.He turned to face her and she wondered if he could tell she was completely losing her mind seeing Kason in a hospital bed.It took a moment before she realized he wasn’t hooked to any of the machines on the periphery of the space, and that he looked aggravated, not weak or broken.

His left leg was propped up on a stack of pillows, encased in a cast from the knee down.

“Come on, Wren.He’s all right.See for yourself.”Jordan nudged her along.Then she couldn’t stop herself.She crossed the distance between her and Kason and crushed him in a hug that probably didn’t feel as good to him as it did to her, given his tumble across the blacktop.

Then she pulled back and scanned him from his head to his toes, which stuck out of the black cast.Other than a few scrapes on his forearms and a patch of abrasion and a bruise on one cheek, he seemed okay.

Before she could stop herself she asked, “Did you break a leg?”

Kason’s gaze whipped up and met hers.He smiled slow and wide, then laughed before wincing.“Yeah.I guess this time I did.My tibia, to be exact.”

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