Race for Your Heart

Chapter 9(Hostpital)

Slade POV

      Reece and I were sitting in the garage waiting for A.J. to show up. She stayed with her friend Mallory last night. A.J. said that Mallory had a crush on Reece, but Reece doesn't know. A.J. and I have gotten close the past two weeks. I have developed a small crush on her. I'm pretty sure Reece has noticed this, but hasn't said anything.
       A.J.'s dad ,Dan, comes running in with tears in his eyes. Reece saw this and instantly stood up. "What's wrong?" Reece asked still standing beside me.
       "A-A.J. s-she wrecked. They're on their way to the hospital with her." Dan says still crying. I freeze up and don't know what to do. It's like my world just fell apart. I slowly turn my head and look at Reece. He's like a statue. He quickly runs to his car, which makes me snap out of my trance and run to mine. Dan runs to Reece's car and gets in the passenger side. I slam my door shut and quickly turn on the car. I back out and speed out of the garage with Reece right behind me. I'm probably going way over the speed limit, but I don't care. Reece is right behind me on my bumper. A.J. is like a little sister to him. He loves her. The entire time to the hospital the one thing that keeps going through my mind is: how? How did she wreck? She's always so careful when she's driving. I'm also freaking out so I try to calm down and keep telling myself that she's ok. She's, A.J.,  she's a fighter. She's okay.
      We make it to the hospital and park our cars. I hop out the same time as Reece. We both take off running and don't stop until we're at the front desk in the emergency room. Dan runs up behind us. I guess we forgot about him.
     "We're here for someone who was brought in. Car accident." Dan says to the nurse behind the desk.
     "Name?" She asks.
     "Avery Jensen." Reece answers.
      She types on her computer and then turns back to us. "She was brought in about ten minutes ago. The doctor is with her now. If you'll take a seat he'll be right with you." We all go and sit in the waiting room. Dan sits and puts his head in his hands. I sit down and Reece sits beside me. He has tears running down his face. I put my hand on his back.
      "She'll be fine. She's a fighter." I tell him and he gives me a half smile.
      "I know. You know, one time, when we were little I stole her candy bar and she switched the sugar and salt so when I went to eat cereal the next day I put salt in it. Man, that stuff was disgusting." He said with a small chuckle.
      I laughed, "That sounds like her."
      "She's special."
      "You got that right."
      "You better take care of her."
      "What do you mean?" I asked looking at him.
      "Oh please. I know you like her, " I go to tell him I don't but he stops me, "and don't go telling me you don't. It's obvious, the way you drove as fast as you could here. You got out of the garage parking lot faster than we did. Just take care of her."
      I smile at him, "I will." He smiles. "There's just one problem." He looks at me confused. "She don't like me."
      He laughs, "Yeah sure."
      Before, I could say anything a doctor walks up. "Family of Avery Jensen?" He asks. Reece, Dan and I all stand at the same time.
      Dan steps forward, "Is she ok?  Is my daughter ok?"
      The doctor looks at his clipboard, "Well, when she wrecked she landed on her right side. The impact caused her to dislocate her shoulder and crack two ribs. She also has some cuts from the glass but they all should be fine. One cut on the side of her face, that was caused by her helmet, needed 36 stitches. It will leave a scar. She was very lucky." We all sigh in relief at the news that she'll be ok.
       "Can we see her?" Reece asks stepping forward.
       "She's asleep, but she should wake up in an hour. She's in room 402." He says turning around. He motions for us to follow. We make it to the room and he says that if we need anything to tell the nurse. Dan opens the room door and walks in. Followed by Reece and then me. I look in the middle of the room and see A.J. laying in the hospital bed. She's covered in bruises and cuts. She has a sling on her right arm and a cut running down from her left eyebrow to just before her mouth. Dan walked over and sat in the chair beside her bed and held her hand. Reece sat at the end of the bed and put his hand on her leg. I sat in the recliner on the other side of her bed. We sat there just watching her for a could 10-20 minutes. Not in the creepy stalker way, but the caring way.
       Reece stood up, "Alright Dan, I don't know about you but I'm sure when she wakes up, she will want something to eat. And we all know she won't eat the hospital food." This made all of us laugh.
     "Yeah, she's too suborn for her own good." Dan stands up and kisses her on the forehead. He walks over to Reece and pats him on the back. "We better go get her something." Reece nods and walks to the door.
     Dan walks over to me and puts a hand on my shoulder. Over the past two weeks and me staying at his garage with Reece and A.J., him and I have grown close. He's like the father I never had. "You watch her."
     I nod, "I will." He smiles and then turns to leave with Reece. They walk out and shut the door behind them. I let out a sigh and lay my head back. I let a tear fall that I've been holding in since we found out about the wreck. I look at A.J. and laugh. I grab her good hand and hold it in mine. "If you could see me right now, you'd probably tell me to suck it up and stop acting like a baby." I said. The doctor said that if we talked to her she could hear us. "I was so worried when your dad told us about the accident. I didn't know what to do. I got here as fast as I could, I beat Reece here." I laugh and start rubbing circles on the back of her hand, "My heart broke not knowing that you were ok."
      "She's lucky to have a boyfriend like you. I wish my husband was like that." A voice from behind me says. I jump a little and then I see that it's a nurse.
      "No, I'm not her boyfriend. I'm just a friend." I said shaking my head.
       She smirks as she starts messing with A.J.'s IV. "From what I just heard it's sounds like there's more going on here."
     "She doesn't like me like that."
     "You know, when they brought her in and we were putting her to sleep she asked us something before she went out of it." I look at her and raise an eyebrow. "She asked 'Where's Slade?' I don't know if that's you or not, but I have a feeling it is, right?"
     I look at her and then A.J. I slowly nod my head, still looking at A.J.
     "Well, when she wakes up tell her. Something good should come out of this, right?" She said walking out if the room. I sat there confused. A.J. asked for me?  Me? But why? Could she like me? I hear Dan and Reece walk back into the room. They walk over and Reece sits a bag of Chinese food on the table. They see our hands and smirk. Dan sits across from me on the other side of the bed and winks at me. I let go of her hand and look at Reece. He's got a sh*t eating grin on his face. I motion to the door and he nods understanding. I walk out of the room with him following me. We walk to one of the private family waiting rooms and I turn to him.
    "Wassup man?" He asks putting his hands in his jacket pockets.
     "While you guys we're gone, a nurse came in and called me A.J.'s boyfriend. I told her I wasn't and she told me that A.J. asked for me before they put her to sleep."
       "Wait, what did the nurse say she said exactly?"
       "She said 'Where's Slade?'" He starts smiling like crazy.
       "I knew it, I knew she liked ya."
       "It could mean nothing." I said starting to walk back to the room.
       "You're in denial." He said as we made it back to her room. We walk in and see two police officers and a p*ssed off Dan.
       "What's going on?" I asked looking over at A.J. who is still asleep.
      One of the officers steps forward, "Do you know anyone who would want to hurt Avery?"
     "No, why? What's goin on here?" Reece asks.
     "The wreck wasn't an accident. It was a hit and run." I look over at Reece and see him tense up. He looks over at me and I can see that he's as p*ssed as I am. That a**hole better hope the police find him before I do.

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A/n:  Hey y'all. What did ya think? Slade finally realized he likes A.J. What do ya think will happen next? Comment what ya think and vote-<3