Forgotten (Shattered Sisters Book 2) (12 page)

"We'll see who's wiped out."

"Watch out for that cat!"

He skidded to a halt, frowning at the sidewalk just ahead. "What cat?" No sooner had he spoken, however, than a calico cat scrambled across the sidewalk just ahead of him. He looked down at Joey and shook his head. "How the hell do you
do
that?"

"Don't be silly. I saw it coming."

"Then you must have eyes in the back of your head."

She waggled her brows up and down. "Well hidden by my hair, aren't they?"

His gaze changed just a little. He looked down into her face, into her eyes, and something stirred in his. Her arms around his neck held on tighter as he lowered his head. His lips found hers, nuzzled, then parted and possessed. She let her head fall backward and clung to him for dear life as her pulse rate skyrocketed.

This wasn't fair. She wasn't supposed to feel this way toward him. It was an act...an act that was necessary to save his life, and Caroline's. And yet she had no defenses. As his wife, how could she refuse even to kiss him? She was lucky he hadn't charmed her into a lot more. She didn't need ESP to know he wanted her. And if she kept refusing, he was going to guess the truth, or at least wonder about it. Kissing him was another part of her cover.

Right. Get honest, she told herself. She was kissing him because she
wanted
to kiss him. The feel of his mouth covering hers, the warm dampness at the back of his neck where she clung, the taste of him, all combined in an ardent assault on her senses. He was storming the gates she'd erected, and she had the insane urge to help him tear them down. Deep down inside, she knew she wanted more than his kiss. Much, much more.

They stopped at a convenience store for deli meat and sub rolls on the way back. When they arrived at Joey's place, clothes still damp and hair in tangles, Caroline's car was in the driveway. Ash was craving a shower, and he figured he'd probably get first crack at one. Joey would want to speak in private with her sister.

He sent her a reassuring glance as she shut off the motor and then they both got out and walked around the house. Brittany and Bethany were chasing each other around the back lawn, near the house. It looked like a spirited game of tag. Caroline sat in a lawn chair, watching them. Her hair, as always, was up in a ponytail. She wore sweats again. Ash took a moment to note how alike the two women were. If Caro would get some spunk and hold her head up a little higher, she'd be a knockout. He didn’t think he’d realized until that very moment what a difference confidence made in a woman’s appeal, at least to him.

What was that? Was he just thinking Caroline ought to be a little more like Joey? That the dedicated soccer mom should be more like her hellion sister?

Then he recalled the way Joey had let him kiss her on the sidewalk, the way she'd kissed him back, and he knew he hadn't yet succeeded in convincing himself she was all wrong for him. His mind knew it. But, God, he was having trouble proving that to the rest of him.

Caroline rose and met Joey halfway. Her eyes were red and her cheeks showed tear tracks. She hugged her sister and a sob ripped through her. I’m...l-leaving him."

Joey met Ash's eyes over Caroline's shaking shoulders. "It's all right. It's going to be all right, I promise. You're tough. You can get through this." She sent him an apologetic glance. "You and the girls can stay right here with Ash and me."

He made a grimace, then remembered that they were planning to spend some time at his apartment anyway to help restore his memory. For someone who would be found out as a result, Joey certainly seemed eager for him to get his memory back.

Joey released her sister and turned to unlock the back door as Bethany and Brittany came running toward her. Caroline averted her tearstained face while her daughters crowded inside.

"You should have gone on in, Caro. You didn't need to wait for me."

"I didn't want to intrude."

"If I minded, I wouldn't have given you a key, silly."

Ash stopped in the doorway, sensing the turmoil in Caroline and the pain it caused Joey. "I'll get the groceries," he said. "Leave you two alone."

"No need." Caroline sniffed and seemed to stiffen her spine. "You're family now, Ash. And please don't worry that we're going to move in on you. I'm taking the girls to Miami to visit Dad and Rhonda for a couple of weeks."

Joey frowned as she and her sister stepped back outside. "I'd rather have you here."

"You're newlyweds—"

"So are they." Joey's voice was tinged with bitterness. She shook herself, though, and put an arm around her sister as they followed Ash along the path around the house. "We'll talk. Look, at least stay for lunch. Ash is making subs."

"I don't want to impose..."

Ash turned, letting them catch up. "Hey, you haven't lived until you've had an Ash Coye special. Make you into a new woman." He sent Caroline a smile and felt Joey's gratitude bathing him as he walked with them around the house to get the groceries from the car.

Ash clicked the key bob to open the trunk, then reached in for a bag, vaguely aware of the slamming of the screen door coming from the out back. Joey bent to grab the second bag, her worried eyes scanning her sister's face. Caroline bit her lip as tears filled her eyes once more.

"I don't think I can stand this. God, Joey, what am I going to do?"

Joey shifted the bag she held to her hip, freeing one arm. Her big green eyes moistened as she reached for her sister and hugged her for a long moment. And then all of the sudden, Joey went rigid, jerking away from Caroline. Her eyes rounded and her face went white. "Brittany," she choked. The grocery bag slid from her grasp, spilling its contents onto the blacktop. "Brittany!" It was a scream the second time, delivered as Joey took off running full tilt around the house.

Ash didn't take time to wonder what the hell her problem was. He followed her, dropping his bag back into the trunk. Caroline ran alongside, keeping pace with him when she should not have been physically able to.

Joey flew over the back lawn, heading for the river. Ash's stomach knotted when he caught sight of one little girl, only one, standing dangerously close to the riverbank. Bethany. She was near the red wooden dock, her small body convulsing with sobs. Ash ran faster. His feet hit the dock just as Joey sprang into the air over the side, knifing into the murky, fast-running water.

In the space of a heartbeat, he was following Joey's path into the cold, muddy water. If she thought Brittany was in the river, then he wouldn't waste time questioning it.

He submerged, but was unable to see in the greenish water. When he broke the surface again, he caught sight of Joey. She was out farther, in the force of the current, moving away from him rapidly. As he watched, she dived under. He stroked toward her, his heart hammering forcefully enough to break his ribs, his eyes straining, his arms putting forth superhuman effort.

He almost jumped when Joey broke surface a few feet ahead of him. Her face was pale, haggard, her eyes a dull green, a color that seemed to scream with pain. Something was wrong with her!

Then she tugged Brittany’s limp body from beneath the water, and struggled to hold the child's face above the waves as he stroked toward her.

"Ash..."

Then he had her. But there was no way in hell he could fight the current and hold onto both of them.

She pushed Brittany into his arms. Joey looked horrible, and he had a sickening feeling there was a lot more wrong with her than the cold, dirty water or exhaustion. He held the little girl firmly with one arm as she began to whine and struggle and choke. He reached for Joey with the other.

"You'll sink,” she said. “I'm okay, just get Brit out of the water."

He shook his head. "You're hurt Joey, what is it?"

"She needs to get out of the water. Go now. I'll be right behind you."

Her pupils told another story. Ash pulled her arms around the child, speaking softly to calm Brittany as he did. Then he hooked his own arms around them both. "Hold her tight, Joey. Don't let her go." He sidestroked toward shore. They would end up yards from the dock, since the current was pulling them downstream. His head was under more than it was above, but he managed to keep both Brittany's and Joey's faces out of the water.

Then he was in the shallows and Caroline was wading in up to her waist, reaching for her daughter, sobbing hysterically. Bethany came running along the shore, eyes wide.

As soon as Caroline had Brittany in her arms and was carrying her onto the bank, Ash wrapped his arms around Joey and picked her up. Her head fell backward. Her eyes were glazed. He swore and trudged onto the shore.

A jagged tear through Joey’s black spandex shorts as well as her tanned thigh gushed blood at a rate that made him dizzy. He lowered her to the grassy ground, tugged the baggy tank top over her head and wrapped it around the wound, tying a knot and tugging it fiercely tight. Her eyes fell closed.

"Joey?" He caught her face in his hands.

"Dizzy," she whispered. "Brit?"

He looked up to see Brittany sobbing and choking, white-faced, in her mother's arms. "Caroline, you have to call an ambulance."

"I did." Bethany’s trembling voice came from beside her sister, and it shook with fear. "I r-ran to the house and called 911. The lady said they would be here soon." Her lower lip trembled. "Is my sister gonna die?"

Caroline opened her arm to encircle Bethany's shoulders. "No, honey. She'll be fine." Caroline looked toward Ash for the first time. "Joey... Oh, God, Joey..."

"It’s okay, Caroline. She cut her leg on something, lost some blood, I think, but the bleeding's stopped now. She'll be okay." Ash's hold on Joey tightened and he searched her pale face. "You'll be okay." It was almost a prayer. Something inside him moved, twisted, ached. How had she come to matter so much to him in such a short time? What the hell would he do if she
wasn't
okay?

"Mommy, I'm scared!"

Joey tried to whisper reassurances as Brittany was settled onto the stretcher next to hers, which sat beside the river on the green mat of lawn. Her mom would’ve had a fit about them driving over her grass. The thought flitted in and out of Joey's mind like an errant breeze.

She was dizzy and having trouble keeping her eyes open. Her voice, when she spoke, was slurred and the words came slowly. She felt drunk and weak and very, very cold. All she could smell was river water. She was soaked with it.

Caroline looked helplessly from frightened, still-pale Brittany to sobbing, terrified Bethany, clinging to her waist. "I thought they were inside. I should have been watching." She'd whispered the same two phrases over and over until Joey worried she was more shaken than Brittany was.

"I don't want to go in the amb'lance," Brit whined. I’m
scared."

"How about if I ride with you?" The deep voice was Ash's. He was right there, beside her, close to Brittany, one hand smoothing Bethany's hair. He was calm and strong and solid, and Joey couldn't imagine anyone she'd rather have by her side right then. "Your mom and Bethany can follow right behind us in the car. If you want, I'll hold you up so you can see them out the window."

"Mister, there isn't going to be much room,” said the prematurely balding EMT. “You'd be better off changing into dry clothes and following us yourself."

Joey focused on Ash, saw the stern look he sent in the paramedic's direction. "I'm riding in the ambulance."

"I want Uncle Ash," Brittany said softly. Her voice trembled as she was installed in the ambulance. Then Joey's gurney was lifted and snapped into place. Ash climbed in, settling himself between the two, and Joey was ridiculously glad he was here.

Caroline stuck her head in the back. "I'll grab you some dry clothes from the house and be right behind you." She leaned in farther, snagged Ash by the neck and hugged him hard. "Thank you," she said on a broken sob.

A moment later they were bounding over the lawn and then the driveway. Brittany twisted until her head was off the litter, resting it on Ash's knee. Joey saw his crooked half smile. She watched his big hand stroking Brittany's wet hair away from her face, Then he stopped long enough to tug a blanket over her shoulders.

When the driver gave a siren blast to clear traffic, Brittany jerked and began to cry.

“C’mon now, kid, you're not afraid of a little noise, are you?” Ash asked.

She nodded, choking on a sob.

"Would a story help?"

A short sniffle, wide blue eyes gazing upward, another nod.

Joey felt his warm gaze on her and she forced a weak smile for him. "Do you have a favorite, Brittany?"

"Red Riding Hood."

“Its been a while. But maybe I can remember it.” He pretended great concentration, a furrow forming between his brows. "Okay. There was this little girl, and they called her Red Riding Hood because..." He looked at Brittany with mock seriousness. "Because she was a redhead and she liked to go riding dressed up like a hood."

Brittany released a peal of laughter. "Noo, Uncle Ash."