Back to Me (Carolina Rebels 1)

Mere. Please be okay. Please be okay.

“I’m here at the hospital; where is she?” I interrupt.

“Go to the nurses’ desk in the ER and they’ll direct you to her.”

“Is she okay?”

“She’ll be fine,” he assures me.

I pull into the first parking space I see and rush inside. My phone starts ringing with a call from Marc, and I answer.

“I don’t have time for your shit, Marco.”

“What the hell, man?”

“Meredith’s been in a car accident and I’m at the hospital. Is this important?”

“She okay?” I’ve never heard him be as serious as he sounds right now.

“I’m about to find out.” I hang up as I walk to the nurses’ desk. “I need to see Meredith Quick. John Graham said you could take me back to see her.”

She opens her mouth to object when I hear, “I’ll take him myself.” I turn around to see a nurse. “I’m John. You can follow me.” I follow him through a wide door.

“Can you tell me what her injuries are?”

“She mostly suffered from bumps and bruises. She’s one of the lucky ones from the accident. She did have some cuts on her face that’ll need stitches. Her phone was in her pocket and we took it before we sent her to get some scans run.” He opens the door to a room. A nurse is holding Leo, but Meredith isn’t in here. “We almost had to pry the dog from her for the scans. The officer said she wouldn’t leave the scene without him, so here he is. You can wait here for her.”

The other nurse hands me a trembling Leo. His white fur is tainted red. He whimpers in my hands, but I gently rub his head. The nurses leave me alone in the room. I take a seat and carefully move my hands over his body to see if he whines. Leo could be injured, too. He doesn’t whine, so I’m assuming he’s most likely okay. He snuggles closer to my chest and slowly stops trembling. I’ve checked the dog out; now, if I could only check Meredith out and make sure she’s okay, too.

I bolt from my seat when the door opens. A bed is wheeled in and finally. Finally, I see her. Bandages are taped to two different places on her face and her clothes are covered in dried blood. I swallow hard at the sight. That seems to be a lot of blood for a person who is supposedly fine and only needs a few stitches.

“Noah!”

“What the fuck are you doing, Mere?” My voice is thick with emotion and harsher than I meant. She reaches her hand out, and I take it, stepping closer to her.

“I’m okay,” she says softly. At least she realizes I’m not actually upset with her, but the circumstances instead.

“The doctor will be in shortly for your stitches,” another nurse says before stepping out of the room and leaving us alone.

My eyes roam over her body over and over, looking for another injury. It takes a lot of self-control not to strip her naked, run my hands over her body, and reassure myself that all I see is all the harm she received. Mostly, she only has those two cuts. How did all that blood come from just two cuts on her head? She squeezes my hand hard. My eyes fly to hers.

“I’m okay,” she repeats.

“You scared me to death, Meredith. I came home, you weren’t there, and you weren’t answering your phone. I couldn’t figure out where the hell you were. I called Erica to make sure you left and then she tells me she can see my car in a pile-up on the damn news. I didn’t know what I was walking into here. I didn’t—”

“Noah, I’m okay. I’m right here.” She squeezes my hand again as if it could remind me.

I lean forward and kiss her softly on the lips just once. “What happened?”

“I don’t really know. I went home, got Leo, and I couldn’t stop thinking about a milkshake, so we left to go get me one. I was on the way back, and next thing I know, there’s nothing but brake lights. I couldn’t stop in time. I hit the car in front of me, and I know one hit the back of me. I think I was at

the end of it. I’m not sure. I was kind of out if it,” she points to her head, “and I just wanted to make sure they didn’t leave Leo behind.” Some fire appears within her now. “I wanted to punch one of the officers because he kept trying to say he’d hold onto him for me, but I didn’t want to leave him with anyone else. He was terrified.”

“I was terrified, Mere.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Excuse me.” We look over at the entrance to the room to see John. “There’s a Marc here saying he would like to see you, Meredith. Is it okay if he comes back?”