Surviving the Pain (A Baby Saved Me Series Book 1) (19 page)

“Good, now then,” Sage said as he returned to his seat and looked each of them in the eyes. “I’m here to enlist your help for a surprise for Ember and Hudson.”

Ember
stared at the clock. Sage had been gone for so long. She missed him. It was as if when he left, she feared he’d never come back again. Moreover, that this was all just some kind of sick and twisted joke. She was so focused on the time and her thoughts that when her cell phone rang she actually jumped in her spot on the couch. When she looked at the caller ID, her heart dropped.

“Hello,” she answered quickly and nervously.

“Is this Ember Watson, Hudson Jacobs’ mother?” A female voice on the other end questioned.

“Y-y-yes,” she stammered. Ember had no idea why she was so scared, but she was. It was as if her mother’s intuition was telling her something was horribly wrong.

“I’m calling on behalf of your son. He’s had an accident…”

That was all Ember heard before she was on her feet and grabbing the keys to her car, looking everywhere for her cell phone to call Sage. It wasn’t until the woman spoke again that she’d remembered she was even on the phone. Ember didn’t let her get much out before she demanded to know what hospital.

“I know you want to tell me exactly what happened, but right now I want to be with my son. Tell me which hospital so I can get there.” Ember all but yelled into the phone.

“He’s been life-flighted to Harbor Union Hospital.”

“He’s been… what!” She screamed dropping her keys.

“He was out on the grounds today for a break in studies. They are allowed to go out to the common and relax some. No one can tell us exactly what happened, but somehow he was hit by a car…”

“I’ve got to go,” she said as she grabbed her keys and ran out the door to her car.

The minute she was behind the wheel, she called Sage too scared to actually put the vehicle in drive. It took four rings before he finally answered the phone.

“Hey beautiful, I…”

“I need… I need… Please! Oh God!”

Sage
listened to Ember break down. Unable to finish a complete thought, he could hear the fear in her voice. It set Sage on edge immediately. He stood and prepared to run if he needed to.

“Baby, I need you to tell me what’s going on.”

The minute Sage spoke those words everyone in the room was paying attention. He could feel the concern rolling off them in spades. This was what he was glad to have. Family. People that would do anything for, with you.

“Come get me, please.” She cried hard. “We have to get… It’s Hudson…” She said before breaking off into sobs again.

“I’m on my way, baby. Do you hear me? I’ll be there in five minutes.”

“What’s going on,” Grey yelled as Sage ran from the house.

Holden and Aspen were shouting his name too, but all he could think about was getting to Ember. At the same time, Sage knew he’d be pissed without an answer if this were one of them. So, Sage yelled at them to get in his truck. Without another word, they all piled in his truck, and he floored it to the apartment. He hadn’t even asked where she was, so he hoped she was there.

“What’s going on man?” Holden asked leaning up in the seat.

“Something has happened with Hudson. Ember is a wreck. I swear…” his sentence trailed off as his tires squealed under the sharp turn into the apartment parking lot. He could see Ember in her car. The minute he came to a stop, she was running to him.

Her arms wrapped around his neck tightly as she sobbed hard. He lifted her in his arms and carried her to the front passenger side of his truck and placed her inside, buckling her. Before he backed away from her, he kissed her hard, trying to offer them both some kind of comfort.

The minute he was in the driver’s seat, he took off. “Baby, I need to know where I’m going.”

Ember
was lost. She didn’t know what to do or think. She was numb. Her baby had been hit by a car. Worst still, he was life-flighted to a hospital over an hour away. No matter how hard she tried, breathing was getting harder. The minute she saw Sage pull into the parking lot, she came to life. He gave her his strength.

“Baby, I need to know where I’m going.” He spoke calmly, but she could hear the fear in his voice.

“Harbor Union Hospital. That’s where they life-flighted him to,” her voice was nothing but a bare whisper.

“What!” Sage roared causing her to jump and floored the gas. “What the fuck happened to my son!”

“I don’t know. All I know is that he was out in the commons at school to relax some, and he was hit by a car somehow. I hung up on her and rushed out the door and called you. Oh, God! I’m going to lose my baby, aren’t I?”

Suddenly, Sage slammed on the brakes. Horns blared behind them, and tires squealed as they swerved to avoid a collision. He turned to her and took her face in his hands. The heartbreak she saw in his eyes caused her to gasp in shock.

“We will
not
be losing our son! Do you hear me?” He urged her to believe him as a tear fell from his eye.

All Ember could do was nod her head. She was speechless by the intensity of his voice and the fear and sadness in his eyes. Turning back forward, he dropped the truck in drive and floored it once again. Ember watched wordlessly as Sage drove them to the hospital. He shifted his fingers to a button on his steering wheel, pressing it.

“Call Rufus,” he said loud and clear.

The anger, fear, sadness, it was pouring off him in waves. Behind all that, though, there seemed to lie a little guilt. Blame for what, she didn’t know, but it wasn’t warranted. Soon, the ringing stopped, and a man’s voice answered.

“Sage, my boy, what do I owe the honor of two calls in such a short period of time.”

“My son has been life-flighted to Harbor Union Hospital. He was hit by a car at school, on school grounds,” he growled into the phone. “You know I never ask for anything,” his voice broke, and Ember watched another tear fall down his cheek.

“Oh, son, what can I do to help? I’ll do whatever I can to help you. You’re family. No one messes with my family.”

“I want you to find out who the fuck did this to my son. Anything, everything… I’m on the way to the hospital with Ems now. We don’t even know…” He didn’t finish the thought that apparently they both were thinking.

A sob escaped from each shattered piece of her heart. Her son could be dead, or dying, and if that happened, she wouldn’t survive.

“Oh, dear, sweet child, don’t you worry about a thing. You are marrying my son. We have you covered. At all costs.”

“He’s so small…” she sobbed, the pieces of her heart splintering with every word.

Sage reached over and pulled her to him, hugging her tightly as his body shook with his quiet sadness. He was trying to stay strong for her, but she didn’t need him too. She needed him to relate, to understand. Ember already felt like she’d been losing her damn mind. This was only going to make it worse.

“Please Rufus, please find out what happened,” Sage’s voice was so broken and jolted from his tears, that she worried they may not make it to the hospital.

“I’m on it, son. I’ll come out that way now, once I get the guys started on it.”

“Thank you,” he breathed.

“Thank you,” Ember said as well.

“Don’t mention it, dear. I’m hanging up now. I’ll be there soon, son. Real soon.”

After Sage had said okay, the call ended. There wasn’t much about Rufus that Ember knew other than the little that Sage has told her, but if he’s going to help find out what happened to their baby, she didn’t care. She just didn’t care.

“Call Dad,” Sage said suddenly, and her heart froze in her chest.

She had no idea why he’d be calling his parents, but she didn’t want them anywhere near her son. But as soon as the voice filled the truck, Ember started to bawl. He called
her
dad, not his. Just the sound of his voice sent her over the edge.

“What’s wrong, Ember?”

“Sir, I need you to get to Harbor Union Hospital right away.”

“What’s going on,” her father questioned again, but she could hear things being moved and the jingle of his keys in the background.

“It’s Hudson. He was hit by a car at school today.”

“Why are they taking him to Harb…”

“He was taken by life-flight, daddy. Please hurry,” she pleaded with him.

“I’ll get your mother and be there before you know it. Don’t worry about calling anyone else. I’ll let the guys know.”

“They’re in the truck with us,” Sage said, and Ember had to turn around to see their sad faces.

“Can you call Jada, Isa, Bex, and Zee, please? I haven’t called anyone, but Sage.” Ember said as she stared at the guys in the backseat reaching out her hand to them.

“Zea is currently with your mother now, but I will call the girls hun. You just get there safely, okay. I love you both.”

After saying their goodbyes, another call ended. The silence inside the truck was almost suffocating. She turned around in her seat once again and laid her head down in Sage’s lap. Here she thought that she’d be sharing incredible news with him, and now this devastation has hit. Why could they never get a break? It seemed like something was always hitting her, her son, or probably even Sage.

As she cried in Sage’s lap, he ran his hand over her hair and shoulder. Every so often he’d whisper to her how much he loved her. If Sage hadn’t been here when this happened, Ember just wasn’t sure she’d have made it through it all. Not that they’ve gotten through anything, but she could tell that Sage was going to save her, again.

Before long, they pulled up to the hospital and all five of them ran into the emergency room. The place was swarming with people, but Ember had her sights set on the nurse’s desk right as they walked in and nothing stopped her from getting there. She shoved people out of the way that were just standing in the way talking about the weather. When she got to the desk, she choked on her words. Several times she tried to ask for her son, but fear choked her. Sage, thankfully, took charge.

“We need to find out information on our son. He was brought in here from his school by life-flight. They called my wife, his mother, to inform us of the accident.” Ember held her breath while she waited for whatever this nurse would tell them.

Sage’s
whole body was stiff. It was killing him inside, but he had already broken down once. He couldn’t afford to do it again. Ember needed him and so did Hudson. No matter how much it killed him, Sage was determined to hold it in until he was alone. The only peace of mind that Sage had right now was that Rufus was on the case. That man would turn mountains for his family and thankfully he considered Sage one of his own. In fact, three years ago, Rufus had adopted him. Yeah, he was a legal adult, but he didn’t want his parents as his any longer. The only concern that Rufus had was what his last name has come to mean. Sage didn’t care. He didn’t want to carry that name any longer. It was something that Sage had yet to tell Ember. She would be a Tortelli, not a Jacobs. His son also carried this tainted last name, but Sage hoped to fix that very soon.

After supplying the nurse with their son’s name and birth date, she led us to some kind of conference room and told us that we’d have an update soon. The minute the door closed, Ember began to pace. She paced so much and fast that she was making him dizzy. Reaching out, he grabbed her and pulled her close. There was no amount of protecting her in this. Hell, there wasn’t a way he’d be able to save either of them from the pain they would be going through. Sage wasn’t kidding himself. He knew it was serious. To be life-flighted in, for one, was cause for that assumption. It was also because they were standing in a conference room and not in an emergency room or surgical waiting room.

Unsure of the amount of time that had passed, a knock sounded on the door. Both Ember and Sage froze. Sage’s heart stopped completely in his chest. He didn’t know what he should do, but he was afraid to even breathe. Soon, the quiet worry filled them again as Ember’s parents emerged from behind the door. When they had been led in there, they informed them that his grandparents would be showing up. They had to supply the nursing station with their names for them to be allowed back.

Not but a half hour later and Rufus was entering the room. Everyone stared at him in shock. They all knew his business, but all he could hope was that they’d take the time to get to know him before making judgements.