After a messy divorce, Joe Jonas finds himself lost within the inability to move on with his life. That is, until he unexpectedly starts to feel a love he never thought he'd experience again, let alone with a stranger.
First Installment of Trilogy
It felt like time went into slow motion in pitch black. The shattering of glass, the continuous spirals of movement, the screeching of tires. It all came to an end with a final smash to the ground.
I opened my eyes, the floor now the ceiling. My world turned upside-down, quite literally and figuratively. I didn't know how many times we had flipped. Looking to my left, I saw Kevin, confused but alert.
"Are you okay?" he asked me.
I wasn't sure if I was. I would either walk away almost unscathed by a miracle or it was just the adrenaline numbing my injuries. Everything was a blur from the whiplash, "I think so. Are you?"
"I think. Nick?" he looked past me, "Nick."
I reached my arm towards him to nudge him, panic setting in seeing his body dangling unconscious, "Nick? Shit. Nick!" Frantically, I fumbled with my seatbelt to unbuckle myself.
"Joe, stop!" Kevin ordered, "Don't move! Help! We need help!"
There was no listening when I was dead set on a mission. Should I have stayed put in case I had severe internal injuries? Most definitely. Did I? Absolutely not.
It was almost nearly impossible to unbuckle and turn my body upright without falling straight on my head, leaving me an even worse concussion.
"Nick!" I repeatedly slapped his cheek gently, yet firmly, hoping it would bring him to consciousness.
"What the fuck," I heard him mumble under his breath, his eyes still closed.
"Are you okay?" I knew he wasn't out of the woods, but at least he was awake, "Are you hurt?"
He went to turn his body to unbuckle himself, clearly not with it and wanting to follow my lead, but stopped mid-way grimacing in pain, "My back—Mm... Fuck!"
"Don't move, Nick," Kevin commanded, "You're not okay."
I crawled to the front where our driver was, him completely unconscious. At least that's what I hoped. I had no idea what his name was. He was just doing his job for the night to transport us from the arena to the hotel. Reaching over him, I kept my hand on the horn as it blared, alerting for help.
"Shit! Guys!" I heard a familiar voice coming from outside. Liv's head popped through the broken window on Kevin's side, "Are you all okay? Is anyone hurt?"
"I don't know," I informed her, "Nick's in pain."
"We already called 9-1-1. They should be here soon," she replied, reaching her hand out to me, "I think you can climb out of this window seeing how you obviously didn't get the memo of rule number one."
"Rule number one?" I asked, putting my hand up to my forehead as tried to gather the situation, a migraine starting to come through.
"Joe," Kevin tried not to freak out, the dad in him knew that would make everything worse, "You're bleeding."
"What? Where?" I touched all around my face trying to feel any cuts to assess the damage.
"Your forehead. Wait," he grabbed my hands, flipping them over palms up. The blood had come from my hands. They must have been cut from when I crawled over the shards of glass.
"Joe," Liv moved some of the glass from the window out of the way with her shoes, "C'mon. You need to sit down somewhere safe, and I don't think getting back into your seat upside-down is an option."
"She's right," Kevin agreed, "We need to make sure you're okay."
I heard Nick bite his lip, attempting to hold back a wince. Putting my hand on his, I replied, "I'm not leaving Nick."
"I'm staying with him," Kevin pulled my arm back towards the window, "You need to get out. Now!"
"No!" I argued, refusing to leave them behind, "There's nothing you can say that'll make me leave!"
"Joe, go," Nick piped up in almost a whisper as sirens were now being heard coming closer to the scene, "It's okay. I'm okay. Get out of the car." Nick knew he had to be the one to say it. Not Kevin.
Liv still had her hand reached out to me, waiting for me to grab it for support and to lead me out safely.
I surrendered, taking Liv's hand and crawled through the window, a hanging shard ripping the sleeve of my shirt.
"C'mon," Liv guided me away from the car to keep me from looking back.
I knew it wasn't pretty, but I couldn't help myself. Curiosity got the best of me. As I walked to the opposite side of the road where the car that Liv was in had parked, I glanced back, having no idea until then at just how lucky we were.
The first impact hit Nick's side, caving it inwards, before the car rolled a few times. No wonder he was the one that was the most injured.
"Jesus, Joe," Liv worryingly said as Mikey ran over to us, both shaken up by what they had witnessed, "No offense, but I don't necessarily want to see you to be the one greeting me at Heaven's gates."
Mikey was trying to ask me something, but I was too distracted by the paramedics rushing to the car to help my brothers and our driver.
"Hey!" Liv snapped her fingers in my face, "They need to check you out. Don't worry. I'll make sure Kev and Nick are okay."
I nodded before following Mikey to one of the ambulances. He stayed by my side as they checked my vitals, any obvious injuries, and a concussion.
"We're going to take you to get a CT scan just to rule out any head trauma," one paramedic stated, filling out paperwork.
"Okay," I numbly replied as I watched them lift Nick onto a stretcher, each movement and bump causing an expression of intense pain. My brotherly instincts kicked in, running to his side as the paramedics and Mikey failed to keep me back, "I'm here, okay? Everything will be okay. I'll be following you in the other ambulance."
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He quickly nodded his head as they whisked him away into the back, already getting an IV ready for him.
"Hey, I found this in the back of the car by one of the windows," Liv rushed to my side, gesturing me back to the ambulance that was waiting for me, "I don't know how useful it might be, but just in case." She handed me my phone, obliterated into a shattered and beaten-up mess. There was no life to it.
"Can you tell Tay for me?" I asked as I sat myself onto the stretcher in the back.
"Already did," she smiled, "You can borrow my phone once we get to the hospital and call her."
"Thank you," I gave her a small smile back, the doors closing in between us.
