Sing Like Nobody's Listening Page 7

  The line was quiet for a moment. “Is she okay?”

  “Why would you ask?”

  “Because I worry about her.”

  That was the answer Errol had been hoping for. “She's not. I just called her an ambulance.”

  “Shit! What's happened?” From the sound of his voice, this guy was someone who cared.

  “I don't know. I just got home and found her. She's taken a nasty knock to the head and....”

  Kenzie opened her eyes and looked up at him.

  “It's okay, Kenzie. The ambulance is on the way.”

  She scowled and then winced as she attempted to shake her head. “No need. I'm fine.”

  “You're a long way from fine.” Errol spoke back into the phone. “She's come around. Can you tell her she needs to get into that ambulance when it arrives?” He held the phone out to her.

  She looked at it, then up at Errol. “Who is it?”

  He brought it back to his ear. “What's your name?”

  “My name is Chase. Please can I talk to her?”

  He handed it to Kenzie. “It's Chase.”

  She winced as she tried to shake her head again and pushed the phone away. Errol held it next to her ear. “Just talk to him.”

  He watched tears well up in her eyes as she whispered. “Please don't tell Megan.”

  ~ ~ ~

  Chase's heart was thundering in his chest. “What's going on? Are you okay?”

  “I'm fine. Please don't say anything to Megan. She'll only worry.”

  “Kenzie, I wouldn't even know what to tell her. That guy just said he called you an ambulance. What's happened?”

  “I fell and banged my head. I'm fine. I have to go. The ambulance is here and I don't need it.”

  Chase stared at the phone in disbelief. She couldn't just hang up. What the hell was going on? He dialed her number and listened to it ring.

  It was the guy who answered. “Listen. I need to make sure she gets to the hospital. I'll call you when I know where they're going to take her. This was more than an innocent fall. Can you get over here? Where are you?”

  “I'm in California!” Damn. He wished he was in Tennessee right now. His mind was racing, trying to figure out what to do. He wanted to go to her, but how the hell could he get there? She'd said not to tell Megan, but he'd have to. She didn't have anyone else, he knew that much. “Please call me back as soon as you know anything? I'm going to see what I can do.”

  “Okay. I have to go. They're going to let me go in the ambulance with her.”

  Chase hung up and went to find his keys.

  “Are you okay?” asked Eddie.

  “No. Some guy just called me from Kenzie's phone saying he's waiting for an ambulance for her. I spoke to her and she said she's fine. Says she fell and hit her head, but it sounded like more than that. What the fuck do I do? She asked me not to tell her sister, and I don't even know what to tell her. How do I get to Tennessee, Ed?”

  Eddie stared at him for a moment. “It'd take a couple of days to drive it. I don't know which airport is closest, but that'd be your best bet.”

  “I'm going to go see Ben. He'll know the fastest way out of here and he'll have Megan's number. Or maybe Michael's would be better. I'll talk to him.” Chase ran to his truck.

  He found Ben in the bar at the restaurant. Some of the usual gang were sitting with him, but there was no sign of Michael or Megan. Ben grinned when he spotted him.

  “Hey. I believe you played a part in tonight's good news!”

  Chase stared at him. What the hell was he talking about?

  “Michael and Megan got engaged and it sounded like you had a hand in getting them there.” Ben's smile was fading as he spoke. Chase continued staring at him. “What's up, bud?” Ben looked concerned now. “Is something wrong?”

  “Yeah. Something is wrong. Kenzie, Megan's sister, is in an ambulance on her way to the hospital. I want to talk to Michael, but I don't want to worry Megan, and I need to figure out how the hell I can get to Nashville.”

  “What's wrong with her?” asked Laura.

  “I don't know. She said she'd fallen and hit her head. She was trying to say she was fine, but her neighbor was there and he insisted she needed an ambulance and seemed to think it wasn't just a fall. I need to figure out a way to get there, see how she really is and find out what the hell is going on with her.”

  Laura looked at her boyfriend questioningly. He nodded slowly and smiled at her, answering the question she hadn't asked. “We could take off early. I need eight hours from bottle to throttle, but I only had one beer earlier.”

  Chase remembered that the boyfriend, Smoke—was that his name? He was a pilot. Chase looked at him. “You'd be willing to take me?”

  Smoke nodded. “Sure. From what Michael said, Kenzie doesn't have anyone in Nashville. By the sounds of it she's going to need someone around.”

  “And from what Kenzie said, she doesn't really have any reason to stay there,” added Laura. “Megan was hoping to get her to move up here. So maybe we should just bring her back with us and while she gets better we can work on making her stay.” She smiled at Chase.

  He smiled back. It seemed Laura was in his camp and she was making perfect sense to him.

  ~ ~ ~

  Kenzie opened her eyes and looked around the hospital room. This was not good. Not good at all. She couldn't stand to think what this was going to cost. She had some health insurance, but she doubted it would cover a trip in an ambulance and a night in here. She spotted Errol dozing in a chair in the corner and tried to sit up. She went dizzy and lay back down, breathing slowly through the pain.

  Errol sat up. “How you doing, little girl?”

  Her eyes filled with tears. He was such a good man. She might feel like she had no one in the world, but Errol had been there for her. She gave him a weak smile. “I'm okay. Thank you. Thank you so much...” She felt tears rolling down her face, but could do nothing to stop them.

  “What happened to you?”

  Kenzie closed her eyes. She didn't want to think about it let alone talk about it.

  “Come on, tell me what happened. And don't give me that shit about falling and banging your head.” Errol frowned at her.

  She didn't want to lie to him. Lying was a way to keep people out. Errol had been there for her and much as she hated admitting what had happened, she didn't want to push him out. He was a good man. “The guy I was seeing, Hunter.”

  Errol frowned. “The one who paid you a visit the other night?”

  She tried to nod, but it hurt too much. “Yes. He decided I owed him a favor and came to collect.” The tears were falling again, but they were tears of anger and frustration. She should have been able to see him off. He was a big guy. She'd fought hard. He hadn't managed to collect the favor he'd come for—a knee to his balls had made sure of that. She hadn't been able to get him out of the door though. She was pretty sure she'd have a couple of black eyes tomorrow. The bruises on her arms where he'd grabbed her were already turning some interesting colors. In the struggle, he'd shoved her and she'd caught her head on the table as she fell. She'd seen the panic in his eyes through the blood that was pouring down her face. He must have left when she passed out.

  “What's his name?”

  “It doesn't matter.” She knew what Errol was thinking. She didn't want him complicating his own life by going after Hunter and she was hardly going to go to the police.

  He nodded. “So what are we going to do with you?”

  “You need to get yourself home and get some sleep.”

  “No way! After the persuading I had to do to get that nurse to let me stay, no way am I going anywhere.”

  “I'm surprised they did let you stay. Did you have to use your charm on her?”

  Errol gave her a sheepish grin. “I told 'em you're my daughter.”

  She let out a little laugh. “They didn't question it?”

  “M
y adopted daughter. No way would they buy this big Jamaican being daddy to a little blondie like you.”

  “Thank you, but you know you really should go home and get some sleep now.”

  “You're the one who needs to get some sleep and then we need to figure out where you go from here.”

  Kenzie smiled. She was so grateful to him, and right now the pain in her head and the effects of the painkillers were making it too hard to argue. He was right. She did need to sleep. “Thanks, Errol.” She smiled through more tears that were threatening to fall.

  He shook his head at her. “I'm just glad I was around. But things have to change Kenzie. You can't keep living like this.”

  As she drifted away, Kenzie knew he was right. But she had no idea what she could do to change anything. She had no job, which would mean no place to live by the end of the week. No one was likely to hire her looking as battered and bruised as she knew she must. She'd have to figure it out when she woke up, her eyes were closing.

  When she opened them again, it took her a few moments to figure out where she was. Then it all came flooding back. Hunter showing up, the fight that had ensued. Errol calling an ambulance. She looked over to the chair where he'd been dozing. She closed her eyes and opened them again, convinced she must be seeing things. That bang to her head must have been worse than she'd thought because it looked to her as though it was Chase sitting in the chair, not Errol. She closed her eyes again, convinced that this time when she opened them she'd see Errol. She didn't. Instead, Chase was smiling his sexy smile at her. Was she still asleep and dreaming or was she hallucinating?

  “Hey, lover.” He certainly sounded very real.

  She squinted, wondering if he would turn back into Errol if she focused hard enough. He didn't.

  “How are you feeling?” he asked.

  “Confused.” Her head was pounding horribly and she was seeing things. This really was not good.

  Chase came over to stand next to the bed. He touched her cheek and smiled down at her.

  “Errol?”

  “I made him go home and get some rest. He stayed with you all night you know. He's a good guy.”

  Kenzie couldn't process this. So if Errol had gone home, then this really was Chase? She stared up at him. He couldn't be here, he was in California. She'd talked to him yesterday, and last night. “Are you really here or am I just imagining you?”

  His smile was so sweet. “I'm really here.” He took hold of her hand and perched on the edge of the bed. “After Errol called last night I was worried. I had to come.”

  “How?” How could he have gotten here this quickly?

  “Smoke brought me. Laura came too. They've gone to get coffee.”

  Kenzie frowned. Megan's friends had brought him? “I asked you not to...”

  He squeezed her hand. “I didn't tell Megan or Michael. I went down to the Boathouse to see if I could get Michael's number. They weren't there, they got engaged yesterday—apparently we helped them along. I was asking Ben the quickest way to get out of Summer Lake, and Smoke offered to fly me here.”

  Kenzie closed her eyes. She couldn't believe that Chase would come all this way. She hated that he had. She didn't need to tell him what had happened. Her bruises made it pretty obvious. She didn't need him or Megan's friends knowing how horrible her life was, what a screwup she was.

  He stroked her cheek. “The nurses said they'll probably discharge you after rounds. They just wanted to keep you overnight for observation. That looks like quite a knock on your head.”

  Kenzie kept her eyes closed. “See. I told you I was fine. Errol panicked and overreacted, that's all. You shouldn't have come.”

  “Look at me, Kenzie.” His voice was gentle, but firm. She slowly opened her eyes.

  “I get that you don't want to talk about it. But I want you to listen to me and listen good. I can see what happened. I've seen your place. I talked to Errol. I'm asking you to come back to Summer Lake. There's nothing for you here. You'd be crazy to stay.”

  “There's nothing for me there, either.”

  “Yes, there is. Your sister is there. You have friends there.” He held her gaze. “I'm there.”

  She refused to think about what that might mean. “I don't have a job there though. What would I do? What could I do?”

  “You're not going to be able to do your job here for a while either. I'm guessing you don't have the kind of job that they'll hold open while you get better and you're going to need a while to heal. So that argument doesn't hold.”

  Kenzie couldn't meet his concerned gaze any longer. She stared up at the ceiling desperately trying to figure something out. She didn't want to be a failure. She didn't want to admit that she had no job, no money, no place to live after the end of the week, and no friends. It must be the drugs or something, but her eyes were leaking again. For someone who didn't cry, she'd shed a lot of tears in the last few hours.

  Chase seemed to understand. “Sometimes, when things go wrong, we all need some help. It's not weakness, Kenzie. Sometimes it takes more strength to swallow our pride and accept help than it does to keep struggling on alone.”

  “I don't know if I have that kind of strength.” She really didn't. It seemed easier to her to face having no job and no place to live than to face her sister and friends, most of all Chase. She'd rather be homeless and hungry than admit to them, to him, that she was a failure who couldn't make it on her own.

  “You do. You are all kinds of strong.” He was looking down into her eyes. She leaned against him and he wrapped his arms around her, making her feel safe, cared for. “Come back with us, Kenzie? If you can't do it for you, do it for Megan...and for me.”

  “Huh?” She was beyond asking coherent questions. She could only focus on feelings, not words. Her head hurt too much and his arms felt so good around her.

  He held her closer. “You think no one in the world cares about you, but that's not true. Megan and I will both worry about you if you stay here, and we both want you there, with us.”

  “Chase, you don't even know me.”

  “But I already told you I want to. So say you'll come.”

  She slid her own arms around his middle. “Okay.”

  Chapter Eight

  Chase stroked Kenzie's hair away from her face. She looked pale. At least the parts of her not covered in bruises looked pale. He bit back the rush of anger. He wanted to get his hands on the guy who'd done this to her. But that couldn't be his priority right now. Right now, she was stretched out on the long seat in the back of the plane. She had her head on his lap and they were heading back to Summer Lake. She'd been more willing to come back with them than he’d expected. But then he hadn't expected her life here in Nashville to be what it was either. He'd been shocked when he'd gone back with Errol to her place this morning. He and Smoke had left Laura sitting with her and driven the guy back there. He hadn't expected a luxury condo or anything, but she was living in a cheap motel in what seemed like a really rough area. Even when they were living on the road, he and the guys would never have stayed in a place like that—it seemed too dangerous. Once she'd been discharged from the hospital, they'd gone back there to collect her things—what little she had. She'd been quiet and resigned, defeated was the word that had come to mind, as he and Laura had helped her get her things together. He'd been so grateful to Errol, the trucker, for calling him. He hated to think what she would have done otherwise.

  He smiled down at her. “How you feeling?”

  She looked up at him with big sad eyes. “Like a complete and total failure.”

  “No. Things didn't work out for you here. That's all. You're just being realistic about how you move on. I told you, you're strong enough to accept help.”

  She nodded. “I hate doing this to Megan though.”

  They'd called Megan a little while ago. Kenzie had told her that she'd had an accident, that Chase and Laura and Smoke were bringing her back.

&nbs
p; “She'll just be glad to help you out. She loves you.”

  “But I'm the one who is supposed to take care of her. The big sister, you know? Not land her with someone to take care of when she just got engaged and moved in with her man and his kid.”

  “From what you told me, you've done so much to take care of her the last few years. You know she'll be glad to be able to do the same for you.”

  Kenzie nodded but said nothing.

  Chase stared out the window as the plane took off and climbed high above the city banking around to head west, to take them home. This was the first time he'd stopped to think, to wonder what the hell he was doing. Since he'd heard Errol's voice last night all he'd been concerned about was getting to her, hoping that she'd be okay—and that she'd come back to Summer Lake so he could make sure she was. Now he was starting to wonder what that would actually mean. Much as he'd thought about her since she'd left, she was right, he didn't really know her. They'd spent one great night together, but she'd made it pretty clear that she wasn't interested in anything more than that. He'd stepped in where he had no right, enlisted friends to help out and was bringing her back to her sister—back into his life. What the hell had he started? Probably nothing. He'd have done the same for anyone—wouldn't he?

  He looked back down at her. She met his gaze. “What am I going to do, Chase?”

  “First you're going to recover from your injuries. Then you're going to figure out how to set yourself up with a new life. Get a job, find a place to live. At least in Summer Lake you'll have friends and family around.”

  “I can't stay there.”

  “Why not? Megan's there. You made friends this weekend. It's a good place to live.” He smiled. “There's a really good band there and I hear the singer is pretty hot.”

  That drew a small smile. “He is. Scorching. But I already screwed him.”

  “So? You're saying you didn't like it?”

  “No. He was great. But what's left after that?”

  It seemed like she meant it. She didn't know what she could do with a guy after she'd slept with him? “How about you get to know him? Hang out with him some.”