AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Turning to look out the window, Jane’s mouth fell open, poised to scream as horror and recognition flooded her with adrenaline and panic. Instinct kicked in, and in the few precious seconds before the plain white ute ploughed into them, she curled herself protectively around her baby.
Metal crunched and glass exploded. Wheels screeched and horns wailed.
Her seatbelt locked tight around her as the car was shunted sideways into oncoming traffic, and she flinched at the bang, bang, bang in the interior of the car.
An incessant ringing in her ears made her head ache and pain radiated through every inch of her body. Her face felt wet, the sickly stickiness of blood stuck her hair to her face and she tasted copper in her mouth.
Blurry masses of colour rushed around the car. Her inability to focus was annoying. Why couldn’t she see? Where was she? And what was pushing against her?
Words filtered in and out of the chaos, their volume oscillating between the softest of whispers and incoherent screaming.
Wait, was that her? No. Who was that?
She swallowed hard against the sudden dryness in her throat.
“Don’t move her.”
“Watch her neck.”
“She’s pregnant.”
“Baby, stay with me.”
“Ra…?” Jane wasn’t sure if she said the name out loud or if it was all in her head. She knew her mouth had moved because, like everything else, it hurt like hell. Breath wheezing in and out of her, she tried again to speak. She had to tell Rafe, she had to warn him.
“Ra…el….” A steel band tightened around her lungs, constricting their movement and any further words she might speak were lost in the noise.
“Shhh, baby. Everything’s going to be okay.”
Rafe sounded worried. Sad. Like he was crying. Rafe never cried. He was strong. The strongest man she knew. And if he was crying….
Oh God.
Her baby.Theirbaby.
No….
Eyes wide, a trickle of dread slid under her skin and she shivered. She was cold, shaking. Goosebumps broke out all over her body. Jane shook her head to clear the fog.
Bad move.
Everything shifted sideways, the fog thickened and the world faded to black.
Chapter Seventeen
“Mr Bennett, this really will go faster if you sit still.”
As the ER nurse attempted yet again to bandage his wrist, Rafe’s mind was a whirlwind of agony, the uncertainty of what was happening to Jane making his leg bounce at a near uncontrollable clip.
He couldn’t “sit still” if his life depended on it.
“I need to be with my girlfriend. I need to know if—” He bit the words off. He couldn’t say it.
He couldn’t—wouldn’t—contemplate the worst.
Blood.
There’d been so much blood.
