Whole Lotta Sin: Rock Star Hearts - Book #3 Page 14
I shook my head.
“She’s in surgery, mate,” Josh explained. “She got hit in the stomach and bumped her head pretty hard.”
“Shit,” he cursed.
Harry sat in the seat next to mine and set what looked to be my leather duffle bag at my feet. “I’ve brought a change of clothes for you,” he said. “There’s a men’s room just outside if you want to clean up.”
“I can’t,” I rasped.
“If someone comes, I’ll let you know.”
“I can’t.”
“Sebastian… you’re covered in her blood.”
I looked at my hands and my throat tightened. He was right.
God, what had I done to deserve the love of all these people? Harry had been my assistant for years and I didn’t even know his name until Juniper walked into my life. I’d fired him more than once and he’d taken a lot of shit from me, yet here he was, making sure I was taken care of.
Which was what I should’ve done for Juniper. I fucked up with the sex tape leaking and now I’d fucked up with handling her stalker. I could’ve lost her forever the first time, but now… I was facing a much more permanent loss.
I couldn’t protect her. Everything I had wasn’t enough. Money and fame couldn’t save her. I hadn’t done enough. I’d allowed this to happen. I kept destroying her without even trying.
Anger and anguish mixed in my heart and I rose to my feet, the emotions boiling to the surface. I began to pace the length of the waiting room, passing a table laden with worn and magazines—old copies of Woman’s Day, Stargazers, Men’s Health, and National Geographic.
What if she died? I’d only just found her. Everything I was, I’d given to her. Without Juniper, life meant nothing. I was nothing.
If she died, I couldn’t go on.
The sound of the gunshot echoed through my head and I fisted my hands into my hair and tugged.
Yelling and screaming tore through my memories.
Sirens, lights, and the coppery tang of blood…
Juniper limp in my arms.
Pale and covered in blood.
I grasped the edge of the table and let out an anguished roar as I flipped it over. It crashed to the floor, magazines flying everywhere.
“Hey,” Statfield exclaimed. He was in front of me in two long strides and grabbed my shoulders.
“What if she dies?” I asked, barely holding onto my sanity. “What if she dies?”
“Juniper’s a strong woman,” he said, squeezing my shoulders. “If anyone can pull through this, it’s her, but destroying the hospital ain’t going to help anyone.”
Someone cleared their throat and we looked up, finding a doctor standing just inside the waiting room. He looked at the mess on the floor, then raised his eyebrows.
After a moment, he said, “Mr. Hale?”
“Yes,” I said, my heart twisting, “that’s me. How is she? Is…”
“If you’d come with me, I’d like to discuss your wife’s condition.”
My wife? I opened my mouth to correct him, but nothing came out. Instead, I followed him numbly down the hall to what looked like a doctor’s on-call room. A couch was underneath the window, while two sets of bunk beds were pushed against the walls.
“I apologise about the scenery,” he said, motioning for me to sit on the couch. “I know a man with your public profile prefers privacy in matters like these.”
I nodded.
“I’m Dr. Lindsey, the lead surgeon on Juniper’s case. I know it’s been a long night—”
“Give it to me straight, doc,” I said, not caring about anything but Juniper.
“She’s stable, but her condition is still very serious. She’s out of surgery and is recovering in the ICU. I expect she’ll stay there for a while yet.”
“I need to know everything. Is she going to… Is she going to die?”
He frowned. “We’re doing everything we can.”
I snorted, knowing he couldn’t make those kinds of promises.
“This is what we do know,” he began, using his professional doctor’s voice, “the gunshot tore through her stomach and imbedded close to her spine. We were able to repair the damage and are confident there won’t be any issues once she’s had time to recover. Her spine was unharmed, as were most of her other internal organs, though her uterus was sightly damaged due to the trajectory of the bullet.” He set his hand on my leg. “I’m very sorry, Mr. Hale, but we had to abort her pregnancy.”
I froze. It was like he’d reached inside me and flicked off a switch. Pregnant? Juniper was—
“She was pregnant?” I choked out.
Dr. Lindsey frowned. “You didn’t know?”
I shook my head.
“The pregnancy was only about six weeks along,” he explained. “It’s possible she didn’t know, either. It isn’t unheard of for women to not present any symptoms until they’re farther along.”
Six weeks? It’d been six weeks since she’d come back into my life. It had been six weeks since the night we’d faced off… It must’ve been then.
“I— There was nothing you could do?”
He shook his head. “I’m sorry, Mr. Hale. Your wife’s trauma was too severe. The bullet tore her uterus, and at this early stage—”
“I don’t want to know,” I interrupted. Hearing how unviable my child was—that it was too young to even have a heart of its own—was too much to handle. “Just tell me she’s going to be okay.”
“Mr. Hale—”
“Look. I get it. You can’t make me any promises.” I lowered my gaze, knowing there was more. “She hit her head…”
“She’d developed a hematoma—a bleed in her brain—that we had to remove. Our neurosurgeon is one of the best, and she was able to remove the clot.”
“That’s good, right?”
“Brain surgery is a complicated procedure,” he explained, not reassuring me in the least. “Due to the location of the blow, there’s some significant swelling. Right now, she’s in a medically induced coma. When she’s recovered enough, we’ll try and bring her out of it, but it’s not an instantaneous process. She’ll wake in her own time, when her body is ready. At this stage, all we can do is monitor her and wait.”
“Wait?” I exclaimed. “Can’t you do something?”
“We are doing everything in our power, Mr. Hale. Juniper suffered extreme trauma to her brain from the fall and she’s just undergone major surgery. We can’t push her too hard.”
I scoffed and rubbed my eyes. It wasn’t the bullet we had to worry about, but the fall afterwards. What kind of fucked-up world was this?
“Will she—” I couldn’t finish my question.
“We won’t know if she has any deficits until she wakes.”
Deficits. The word embedded in my heart like a knife covered in barbed wire.
“So, it’s just a waiting game.” I stared at my hands and knew I was a complete mess. Harry was right—I was covered in her blood. “Can I see her?”
“Of course. We can only allow immediate family at this stage, so I’ll have to ask your friends to wait where they are.”
“They’ll understand.”
Dr. Lindsey nodded and gestured for me to stand. “I’ll give you some time to freshen up. A nurse will come and get you once your wife has settled into her room.”
We walked out of the on-call room and back into the hall. He started to walk away, and I stood there, trying to absorb everything he’d just told me.
“Dr. Lindsey?” He turned. “Thank you.”
He gave me a short, sharp nod. “You’re welcome.”
As I walked back into the waiting room, everyone rose to their feet, their eyes wide with hope. I felt like a zombie, devoid of feeling, numb to everything but my base needs—right now, I could barely manage breathing.
“Harry…” I gestured for my bag.
He rose to his feet and brought it over, but it was Josh that I asked to come with me.
In the bathroom—th
e water swirling red in the basin as I washed—I told Josh everything I knew, leaving out the pregnancy. That was something Juniper needed to hear from me first. It was sacred, private, and ours.
“Could you tell the others?” I asked, staring at my reflection. I looked older, and there were flecks of grey in my hair I hadn’t noticed before. “I just… I can’t deal with anything right now.”
“No problems. Are they letting you see her?”
“Someone’s coming to get me.”
“It’s going to be okay,” he said. “She’s the strongest person I know. If anyone can get through this, it’s her.”
“I know,” I whispered, rifling through my bag. “I know.” My fingers brushed against a familiar box and I tensed. Juniper’s Christmas present. Harry must’ve put it there.
When we emerged from the bathroom, a nurse was waiting.
I followed her though the hospital, my hand tightening around the handle of my bag. When we reached the ward, the nurse asked Statfield to wait outside—I hadn’t even realised he’d come with us—and he stood a vigil guard in the hall, his guilt eating at him from the inside.
It was eerily quiet when I walked through the doors, though it was buzzing with activity. The nurse led me through the ward, telling me about the regulations for patient care and readying me for what I was about to see, but I could hardly hear her.
Then, I stepped into her room, my heart in my throat. She was there… but so far away. The nurse left me, but all I could see was the woman I loved.
I moved to Juniper’s bedside, memories of my mum flooding to the surface. I hated hospitals—the antiseptic smell, the sounds of codes being called over the speakers, the quiet hum of activity, and the sudden chaos of an emergency. Hospitals were full of life, but they were also tinged with the sadness of death.
She was hooked up to a plethora of machines—some hummed softly, others beeped intermittently—and cords ran from her arms and chest. A tube was threaded down her throat to help her breathe and the sight of it struck me deep. The left side of her hair was shaved, and someone had wrapped a thick bandage around her head. Someone had pulled up a blanket over her middle, but her arms were free. A clip, with yet another cord attached, was stuck to her index finger and an ID tag was fastened around her wrist.
She looked so pale and fragile against the stark white sheets, and her copper locks had lost their lustre. Standing beside the bed, I traced a finger over her cheek, her skin cold against mine.
“They thought I was your husband, can you believe it?” I sighed and stroked my fingers over her hand. “They’re not impressed by me, either. Kind of like you.”
She was silent. Of course she was.
“I didn’t correct them, you know. Do you want to get married? Maybe I should ask you when you wake up. Then I can take you to Paris for our honeymoon, so you can ride that carousel you told me about. Last thing I want is to get photographed riding a fucking plastic horse, but I’d do it for you. Galaxy’d give me time off to go on a honeymoon, they’d have to. After Vix and now this…” I sighed and focused on the feel of her hand in mine.
Glancing across the room, I noticed a chair in the corner. Forcing myself to let her hand go, I dragged the seat across the linoleum floor and set it as close to her as I could get. I sat and rummaged through my bag until I found the gift Harry had put in there earlier.
“I was going to give this to you first thing in the morning,” I said, opening the box.
A book was inside, the leather cover worn and fraying at the spine, the embossed title patchy. It wasn’t a first edition or anything like that. It was a book that’d been read over and over, a book that’d changed hands, a book that’d been loved to the point it bore the marks of a life well-lived—just how Juniper liked them. Pristine books were a shame, she’d said, telling me her opinion was controversial. Books needed to be opened and devoured—and cried on, thrown across the room, favourite passages underlined, the spines cracked to get to the story better—not put in a display case where the words would never reach human eyes.
“Harry helped me find it,” I went on. “He’s good at getting stuff, that guy. It’s not one of your mother’s books, but I thought you could share it with me. Do you want me to read some to you?” I glanced through the glass, but for once in my life, no one was watching.
Opening the cover, I found the first chapter and began, “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.”
Juniper and Sebastian’s story continues in the thrilling conclusion, Whole Lotta Heart!
* * *
With Juniper’s life hanging in the balance, will Sebastian be able to hold on? Or will his grief consume every last shred of happiness he has left?
Other books in the Rock Star Hearts series:
Rock ’n’ roll will save your life…
* * *
Rock Star Hearts follows the tumultuous romance of small town woman Juniper Rowe and bad boy rock star Sebastian Hale.
Will love conquer all? Or will the price of fame be too hot to handle?
Whole Lotta Love #1
Whole Lotta Lust #2
Whole Lotta Sin #3
Whole Lotta Heart #4
Keep Reading for a sneak peek at Whole Lotta Heart!
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
AMITY CROSS is the author of wicked stories about rock stars looking for redemption, gritty romances featuring MMA fighters and dark tales of forbidden romance. She loves to write about alpha males and the strong women who challenge them to fall in love.
Amity lives in a leafy country town near Melbourne, Australia and can be found chained to her desk, held at ransom by her characters.
Don’t send help. She likes it.
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Whole Lotta Heart
(Rock Star Hearts #3)
Sebastian Hale is a wreck.
Juniper Rowe, the love of his life, is at a crossroads, and he’s powerless to help her. All Sebastian can do it wait, hoping she comes back to him before it’s too late.
But when his past comes knocking, carrying threats of destruction and revenge, it’ll take a whole lotta heart to make it to the other side.
Sebastian and Juniper’s forever is waiting, but if only they have the strength to weather the storm…
Will Sebastian and Juniper be able to find their way back to one another? Find out in Whole Lotta Heart, the FINAL book in the Rock Star Hearts series by Amity Cross.
Whole Lotta Heart is coming…
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ROYAL BLOOD - Dangerous, hunky, moody assassins… with a suspenseful twist.
UNEXPECTED - Sexy rock stars looking for redemption.
EUPHORIA - A modern, dark and sexy, Jane Eyre.
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Give a new hero a try! Grab the FREE Amity Cross Starter Library today:
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