date, or in Sacha’s case, sometimes dates.”
“I was thinking, maybe tomorrow we could—”
Screeching tires had Jack slamming his foot against the accelerator just before pain engulfed him, his body jerking violently, the seatbelt digging into his skin. He threw his arm out toward Fitz on instinct, the other covering his head, something exploding in front of him. The whole left side of his body screamed in agony as something burst at his side. Airbags. The world plunged into silence and stilled as he struggled to focus, a horn blaring nonstop somewhere to his left. Moving his head made him hiss at the sharp jolt.
“Fitz?” Jack murmured, carefully turning his head, his stomach threatening to empty at the sight of Fitz, head lolled against the headrest, unconscious. “Fitz.” The passenger window was gone, the door crushed in, a car on the other side. Jack turned his head to his own crushed window and the other mangled car. They’d been hit on both sides. The light had been green for them; he’d stake his life on it.
“Don’t worry, the ambulance is on its way,” someone said from beside Jack’s window. “Try not to move.”
“Fitz,” Jack mumbled, feeling his body growing heavy. Darkness encroached on his vision, and he turned his head, reaching out to take Fitz’s hand before everything went black.
Eight
“I’m fine,” Jack growled, smacking Sacha’s hand away.
“Yeah, because everyone’s fine after getting T-boned by two cars. You’re lucky you accelerated before they hit. Stop moving, you fucking asshole.”
Jack’s head pounded, and his entire body screamed in pain, like he’d gone several rounds on the mats and lost. He still wanted out of this damned hospital bed.
“Constantino.”
The low, calm warning stilled Jack, and he sighed. “I’m fine, King.”
King sat in the chair by the window of the small room, arms folded over his chest and a deep frown on his face. “When were you going to tell me?”
Jack’s thoughts were fuzzy. “Tell you what? About Fitz?”
“No. That was a foregone conclusion.”
Was it? That was news to him.
“Everyone knew you two would eventually gravitate toward each other. That’s not what I’m talking about. I’m referring to your stalker.”
“I don’t have a stalker.” Jack turned his narrowed gaze to Sacha. “Did you tell him?”
Joker paced at the foot of the bed, his entire body visibly thrumming, like a firecracker ready to go off. “Yes, I fucking told him that, because that’s what this is, Jack. Photos is one thing, murder is another.”
“Murder?” Jack tried to scramble out of the bed, but King loomed over him, his blue eyes clouded over and a hand to Jack’s chest. “Lie your ass back down.”
“Fitz. I have to—”
“Like I said when you first woke up and asked about him—Fitz is going to be okay. Red and Laz are with him in his room a few doors down. He’s bruised and on pain meds, but he’s going to be okay. You two were damned lucky the cars that hit you had just made turns and were going under the speed limit. What happened?”
Jack reluctantly settled back and closed his eyes to stop the room from spinning. “I was driving Fitz home. We were talking; the light was green.”
“Are you sure?” King asked gently.
“Yes, I’m positive. He was saying something, and I heard screeching tires. I should have caught it sooner, but… I don’t know why; I just didn’t realize until it was too late. Anyway, I hit the gas on instinct to get us away from whatever was coming toward us, but a second later everything went to hell. I knew we’d been hit but passed out before I could make sense of anything.”
“The police are going to want to take your statement as soon as you’re ready,” King said. “Ace and Lucky are with Mason, who’s talking to the officers who arrived on the scene. The drivers of the other two vehicles were thankfully wearing their seatbelts. They’ll be making full recoveries as well.”
“Could we have a minute?” Joker asked, turning to King.
“Sure. I’ll be outside.”
Joker waited until King left and closed the door behind him, then whirled on Jack. “You’re an asshole.”
“I know.”
“Don’t you ever fucking scare me like that again. Do you hear me?”
“I do,” Jack said softly as Sacha paced again, his eyes glassy.
“When they called me and said you were in the hospital after being in a car accident, I—” Sacha closed his eyes, his hands balled into fists at his sides, his chin lifted toward the ceiling as he tried to get ahold