Page 60 of Forever After All

“Stop.” She’d meant to shout so he could hear her over the engine, but it came out more like a whisper.

He must have heard her because he pulled the side-by-side to a stop. She leaned over the side just as everything she’d eaten today came up.

Linc grabbed her hair into his hand, pulling it back. “Brett, get to the entrance and lead them out here.”

She barely heard the truck pass, but it had to be close as its shadow rushed by the edges of her vision–a vision that was shrinking into darkness.

“Hang in here, babe. They’re coming as fast as they can.”

Jess puked again and slumped forward with a groan. The pain in her head needed to ease up. She teetered on the verge of passing out and puking again, until Linc grabbed her shoulders and slowly eased her to sitting.

Upright again, he guided her to rest her cheek against his chest. Her world was spinning, but Linc was solid and strong, holding her steady like an anchor to her storm-tossed ship.

Closing her eyes, she wrapped her arms around him. His hand cradled the side of her head, careful to stay away from the bandage. “You’re gonna be fine.”

“How can you say that? I don’t feel fine at all.”

Linc chuckled, and the humming in his chest vibrated against her cheek. “I think it’ll take more than a bump on the head to take you down.”

“I hope so, but I’m so dizzy. And tired.”

“Concussion. I’ve had a few of those in my day. It’s never fun.”

“What did you do?” she asked, her eyes already too heavy to keep open.

“Football in high school. Got hit by a line drive in a baseball game in middle school. A few fights.”

Fights? She wanted him to elaborate, but she didn’t have the energy to ask. Instead, she rested against him, letting him hold the weight of her body. It was what she’d imagine swinging in a hammock would be like. Comforting, cradling, and weightless.

Linc lifted his head at a noise, but Jess didn’t open her eyes. “They’re here. Just hang tight until they’re ready for you to move. Maybe you won’t get sick again if we move you straight to the gurney.”

That sounded like a good plan, so she waited for someone to tell her to sit up. Resting against Linc was the only thing keeping her from toppling and tossing her cookies.

“I don’t have inside bleeding,” she whispered. Was that what it was called? “It only hurts when I move or breathe.”

Linc tensed against her. “That’s not a good sign, babe.”

Jess grinned, but she didn’t open her eyes. “Babe. I want to laugh, but it’ll hurt.”

It could have been a minute or an hour before the ambulance pulled up beside them. Thankfully, there weren’t any sirens wailing. She puked once during the move to the ambulance, and the nausea seemed to settle when they put the IV in her arm.

Everyone around her was talking, but she couldn’t pay attention to any of the conversations. Icy cold slid into her arm and up to her shoulder. A shiver tensed her muscles, and the hand that clasped hers tightened.

“She’s cold,” Linc said.

“It’s the saline in the IV,” another man said.

A blanket spread over her body, but it did nothing to help the cold. It was inside, and the shivering was uncontrollable.

She heard enough to know they were arriving at the hospital. The dizziness was subsiding, and the shivering had stopped. The EMTs were preparing to transfer her to the hospital staff, and a warm hand continued to hold hers.

“How’s she doin’?” Brett asked.

Linc’s hand slipped from hers. “About the same, I think.”

Jess opened her eyes and gave her brother a quick grin. “Hanging in there. Someone needs to be at the stables. Thea can’t get Lightning and Thunder in by herself.”

Brett stepped closer to her side. “I’ll stay.” He pulled his keys from his pocket and handed them to Linc. “Take my truck.”

---