Page 76 of The C Agreement

Her eyes ballooned, and she slapped a hand over her mouth. “Oh my God.”

I flew out of the chair, wanting to demand what was wrong, but I didn’t want Beau to hear me.

Beginning to pace, she said, “Yes, I’ll be there as soon as I can.” She nodded. “Yes, I will call them to let them know.” She stopped. “Beau, I will call our parents too. Please. Go be with Em.”

She hit End and looked up at me. “Em was in a car accident.”

It felt like the air had been knocked out of me. I hadn’t expected her to say that.

“Beau is freaking out—rightfully so—and he can’t get ahold of her parents or our parents.” She marched toward her purse and yanked out her keys. “I told him I’d meet him at the hospital and make some calls along the way.”

I ran after her. “I’m going with you.”

Putting up a hand, she shook her head. “No. You aren’t at my house, remember? There’s no way you’d know Em was in a car accident.”

“Are you serious?” I scowled at her. “Em is my friend too.” Plus, I didn’t want Rayne to have to do this alone.

“Okay. Then, we go in our own cars. Give me a ten-minute head start, and I will tell Beau I called and told you, if he doesn’t call you first.”

Hands on my hips, I nodded. “Fine. I’ll give you five minutes and not a minute more.”

* * *

RAYNE

In the end, Cade must have given me at least a ten-minute head start because he showed up almost fifteen minutes after me.

“Cade?” Beau squinted over my shoulder from where we stood in the ER waiting room.

I spun around to see Cade jogging toward us.

“What are you doing here?” Beau asked. Scrunching up his nose, he said, “It looks like I’m going to have to give you another rain check.”

“Dude, don’t even worry about it. And Rayne called me.”

My brother looked at me. “You did?”

“I didn’t know if you’d remembered to call him in your panic.” I threw up my hands and chuckled awkwardly. “He is your best friend.”

Beau flung an arm around me. “Thanks, sis.” With his free hand, he pointed at me. “She really is the best. Not only did she get ahold of my parents, but she also found Em’s parents, who are on their way.”

Cade looked at me. “Yeah, she’s pretty great.”

My brother frowned.

“Can we see Em?” I asked him before he thought too hard on what Cade had said about me.

“Yes, yes. Go in. She’s in room 11. I’m going to call her parents myself. I need to fill them in on what happened.” Beau hugged me. “Thanks for calling everyone and for getting here so fast.”

“You’re welcome, and of course. You’re family.”

Beau went outside to make his call, and Cade and I went in to see Em.

“Hey, I need to use the restroom. I’ll be right there,” Cade said.

I nodded and went on to find room 11 quite easily and knocked.

“Come in.”

---