Page 45 of Summer Ride

She jolted up and threw up all over Lea.

“I’m sorry,” she said with a groan as she leaned back.

Lea chuckled. “Hey, if I didn’t want to be coated in bodily fluids, I wouldn’t have become a doctor,” she joked. “We’re almost there.”

“They need to check motels,” she said, closing her eyes. “He’ll take her to a motel. Someplace cheap, close to where he took her. He’ll want to cut her first, quickly, while she’s afraid.”

“Who will?” Brett’s question came from somewhere in the car.

Of course, with Lea being there, Brett was bound to be nearby.

“I called Lea and Brett when you wouldn’t wake up,” Carter interjected. “You had me worried.”

“Axel,” she answered. “He’s the one that took that little girl, Abigail. The one that’s missing from the state park.”

The car was silent for a heartbeat. “How do you know this?” Brett asked.

“She looks like me. Abigail does. Back when I was her age. When he kidnapped me, he took me to the closest motel. That’s what he’ll do with her.” Since she was keeping her eyes shut, it was much easier to tell them everything. To spill all of her dark secrets to her friends. “He won’t want to waste any time. He’ll cut her and use her as many times and ways as he can in the first hour.”

“Shit,” Brett and Carter said at the same time.

She lay there in silence as Brett called someone on his phone. The phone connected to his car, so they all heard the conversation as Brett relayed what she’d told him to one of his buddies in the police department.

When the car finally came to a stop, she was wheeled into the brightly lit hospital.

Carter sat beside her while she waited to be taken back to a private screening area. Then she was wheeled into the x-ray and MRI rooms. She lay still while they ran scans, took blood, and asked her a million questions about her health.

When Lea found her almost two hours later, she had a frown on her lips.

“What?” Kara asked.

“Well, there are a couple things. First off, you have a slight concussion. Nothing to be worried about, but you’ll need someone to watch you for the next twenty-four hours. I’ll want to see you if you continue to feel dizzy or fall anymore.”

“I should have caught you,” Carter said with a frown as his hold on her hand wavered.

Kara squeezed it, not wanting to let go of him. “I shouldn’t have stood up too fast. I’m so sorry I threw up on both of you.”

“Well, that leads me to the other thing. I know that I had you on Mono-Linyah birth control, and that you said you took them regularly, but… It appears somewhere in between we missed something.”

“You mean…?” Carter interrupted with an excited tone while his hand tightened in hers. “We’re pregnant?”

“Very early stages.” Lea nodded with a slight smile. “Maybe a week or two at this point. I want to take more blood and do a urine sample as well. Just to confirm our timing.”

Kara’s entire body shook once, then tears started flowing from her eyes. She couldn’t tell if they were out of happiness or fear. “Oh, god. I had wine last night,” she said with a gasp.

“One glass is fine,” Lea said. “But I wouldn’t drink anymore.”

“No, I’m done.” Kara nodded her head a few times.

“Hey.” Carter’s voice sounded so close to her ear. “I know it’s not the timing you wanted.” He kissed her.

“No, it’s…” She closed her eyes.

A baby. She was going to have a baby. Carter’s baby. She was going to be a mother.

“I… I want kids. It’s perfect timing,” she said with a laugh. Then the realization hit her, and she turned back to Lea. “Brett? Do they have any news?”

“I’ll go check. I’ve been a little busy running through your labs and charts.” She turned and left.