Wrapped Up: A Triple Threat Sports Romance (16 page)

Chapter Twenty-Four

Jake

I woke up in the hospital. I groaned and tried to get up from the bed, but it felt like I was tied down. A quick glance over my arms and down my chest showed me I was in a hospital gown with tubes running in my arm and something draped around my face and neck. I was hooked up to oxygen with at least one IV drip running to keep me hydrated and possibly medicated.

Something buzzed, letting the nurse know I was awake. She came into the room and smiled warmly.

“Welcome back,” she said.

“Back?” I closed my eyes and groaned again. I tried to shift my uncomfortable body in the bed. “Did I go somewhere?” I asked.

“You tried to,” she said, coming over to help with my pillows and adjust the blanket over me.

“What happened?” I asked her. My whole body was sore. My first thought was I must have gotten into a fight at the bar, but I didn’t remember a fight.

“There was an accident,” she said with a kind of finality in her voice, that same kind of stop at the end that always followed telling someone there had been an accident.

“What did I do?” I asked, half amused and half horrified.

“I’ll get your doctor and let him tell you,” she said, and she turned to walk away.

I watched her leave the room, her curvy body letting itself be known through her mostly formless scrubs. Her chestnut brown hair was pulled up in a bun, revealing the fair skin of her neck. I watched through the window in the wall as she walked up to the doctor. Her full breasts bounced just slightly as she walked, just enough to emphasize their buoyancy. If I had been in better shape, I would have put on the charm and tried to get her to help me forget about Brooke.

There had been an accident, and as I waited for the doctor to come in with the beautiful, brown-eyed nurse, I tried to put it all back together in my head. I remembered being at the bar with Harley and Lucky. I remembered how I felt and how much I had been drinking. I wanted to laugh, but my chest hurt and I couldn’t breathe well, but it was amusing nonetheless to think about how shitfaced I had gotten that night.

I must have tried to drive home and wrecked my car. That would have explained why I felt like someone had beaten my ass. Either that, or both happened, and that was why I had left in my car instead of calling a cab or getting one of the guys to drive me home. I felt like there were large chunks of the night missing from my memory, and with as much as I could remember drinking, that was probably the case.

“Mr. Hall,” the doctor said as he walked into the room, dragging my name out a little.

“That’s still me, I think,” I said, trying to manage a smile.

“It would seem so. You are a lucky man, Jake. You totaled your Ferrari. It was destroyed in the accident. And we didn’t think you were going to make it. Your blood-alcohol level when you came in was over double the legal limit. Without proper attention, that alone would have been enough to make the next day or two rough. So, tell me, Mr. Hall, were you
trying
to kill yourself?” I was both shocked and impressed by his blunt manner.

“I don’t remember,” I answered him. “I wasn’t planning on it when I went out.”

“Yeah, it seems we rarely are planning on destroying something that valuable and endangering our lives. You still may have thrown your life away, Jake. That’s the bad news.”

While he talked, my brown-eyed nurse took my vitals and gave me a good once-over to make sure I was doing alright. Her touch was gentle but very commanding. I liked her a lot more than I liked the doctor.

“Doc, spare me the lecture, okay? I’ve been through enough, I think.”

“I’m sure it feels that way, but what if you had hit a family, Jake? What were you doing on the interstate anyway?” he asked.

“On the interstate?” I asked, surprised. It seemed I had blacked out. I couldn’t remember any of that. I didn’t even remember leaving the bar. I certainly couldn’t remember taking the interstate.

“Yeah, you ran your car into the concrete barrier on the median. It looks like it might have rolled a couple of times as well. And you don’t remember
any
of it?”

“No.” I tried to shake my head, but my neck was too stiff to move, and I was held down by all the tubes around my face.

“That’s probably for the best,” he said in a grim tone that sent chills through my body.

“Doc, was I alone in the car?” I asked. I dreaded the answer, but I couldn’t even remember leaving the bar, so I had no idea if anyone had been with me or not.

“You were. They didn’t find anyone else in the car with you,” he confirmed for me.

“Thank God.” I sighed. My body finally started to relax. “How long have I been in here?” I asked.

“Just over a full day. You slept all day yesterday after coming in early in the morning,” he said.

“Has anyone been in to check on me?” I asked, wondering if Brooke or any of my teammates had been in to visit me.

“I don’t think so. Nurse?” He turned from me to the nurse who was taking care of me.

“No one has been in, but you did have a few missed calls and texts from someone named Brooke when you came in,” she said, and the doctor immediately cocked an eyebrow.

“You looked through my phone?” I croaked.

“I only noticed because you mentioned her name a couple of times when you first got here,” she said, defending herself.

“No, that’s good,” I assured her. “Thank you for telling me.” I watched her cheeks flush, and she turned her face away so I wouldn’t see it.

“I’m going to let you get some rest now that you’re awake, Mr. Hall. One of us will be back in to check on you in a little while. Let us know if you need anything,” the doctor said, ushering the hot, bashful nurse out of the room.

Once they were gone, I wondered if I could get my phone to make a few calls. I needed to let Coach and the guys know where I was. I needed to let Brooke know what was going on. If it really was my second full day in the hospital after the accident, that meant she’d been at the house without me for two nights.

At least no one else had been up to see me. That meant the tabloids hadn’t caught wind of my accident yet, which meant that Mr. Clark and Coach Hawkins didn’t know either. I took that as very good news indeed.

Still, I needed to let someone know where I was. I didn’t know who to tell first. Did I call Coach first and risk our new owner coming down on me for being part of yet another scandal? Did I call Brooke and try to get her on damage control? Did I even need to bother her? The last time I had talked to her, things hadn’t gone so well.

The beeping on my heart monitor told me my heartrate was increasing. I needed to relax. Stressing out was what had landed me there in the first place. I tried to accept the fact that it didn’t seem likely I was going anywhere anytime soon. I tried to close my eyes and relax, but my heart and mind were racing a million miles an hour.

I hit the call button for the nurse.

“Is everything okay?” She hurried into the room, holding a stethoscope around her neck in a way that also forced her breasts not to bounce as she walked.

“I don’t know. I need to ask the doctor some questions about my injuries,” I told her.

“Sure, I’ll get him for you,” she said, turning to walk away.

“Hey, wait. One of these things in my arm is for pain, right?” I asked.

“Sure is,” she said.

“Okay, cool. Just wanted to make sure because I’m only mildly uncomfortable compared to how much I should probably be hurting.”

She smiled. “Good. That means it’s working.”

I tried to laugh. I wanted to chuckle at her comment, but I couldn’t. It probably would have hurt like hell if I had, so I just returned her friendly smile. She was out of the room for a moment before bringing the doctor back in with her.

“Doc, hey, you probably already realized who I am,” I started.

“Yes, Mr. Hall. I’m very familiar with you and your career.” He didn’t sound like a fan, more like someone who just kept up with current events, even in sports.

“Then you probably already know what I want to ask you,” I said.

“Nurse, would you mind giving us a moment,” he said, and my heart sank.

She closed the door as she left the room and he pulled up a chair. My heart continued to sink.

“Jake, it looks like you might have already been dealing with a possible career-ending injury before the accident,” he started explaining.

“You can tell that?” I asked.

“To some degree we can assess the age of certain injuries, yes. With the extensive injuries you received in the accident, it was hard to tell. I’m assuming that was correct, though?” he asked.

“Yeah, I got injured in the first game this season, and I’ve missed a few games and a lot of practice because of it.”

“Well, Mr. Hall, it looks like you’re going to be missing a lot more. I’m sure your team will want one of their physicians to take a look at you as well, but it doesn’t look like you’re going to be going back on the field anytime soon,” he said.

“Now, is that
anytime soon
as in I’ll be back on the field once I recover?” I asked.

He shook his head. “I’m sorry, Jake. If I had to call it, I’d say your injuries from the accident are enough to keep you from going back on the field, and it’s pretty much a guarantee that your past injuries were aggravated by your accident to the point that you’ll never recover to game health.”

“No way. I want my team physician to take a look at me,” I told him.

“I understand,” he said. “Like I said, I’m not the one making the call. This is just my best educated guess. I’ll call the facility and have them send someone over to examine you as soon as possible.” He got up and pushed the chair back towards the wall, maintaining a solemn tone even in his movements.

“Thanks, Doc,” I sighed heavily. It was better, I thought, for them to find out from the doctor than from me. At least he probably knew better, politer ways to say what had happened to me.

I had really fucked up this time. After he left the room, it really started to sink in. I was going to lose everything. I wasn’t going to need Brooke anymore, and as long as her marriage was supposed to be staged, she wouldn’t have any use for a used up athlete who would certainly be painted as an alcoholic by the media.

Of course, once the call was made to the team facility, it would only be a matter of time before members of the press assembled themselves outside the entrance of the hospital to try to get a look at me, or at the people visiting me during my stay.

I was done. My career was over, and my career had been my life. I closed my eyes, and since sleep escaped me, I just lay there, awake but resting. I wondered how long it would be before Coach, the doctors, or Mr. Clark showed up.

I wondered how far behind them Brooke would be, and I really wanted to hear the story that was going to make its way into the news. I had never imagined one of the nights out with the guys would end in this kind of disaster. It was just supposed to be a few drinks and maybe a piece of ass, not a few drinks and a wreck, a few days in the hospital, and a possibly ruined career.

“What have I done?” I croaked into the empty room.

Chapter Twenty-Five

Brooke

“What is it this time?” one of the board members asked me as they were all seated in the boardroom yet again.

“Yes, you’d better have something good,” another member chimed in.

“Like a resignation letter,” a third one said.

“Gentlemen, I have a plan that will benefit everyone in this room,” I said, taking a moment to laugh at their suggestions.

“We’re listening,” one of them said.

“This plan doesn’t require ousting my father from his current honorary position on the board,” I continued.

“Then why isn’t he here? Dear, you keep calling meetings like this without him, and eventually we will grow tired of your little stunts.”

“I know. I know, and I understand. I assure you, I do.”

“Then, by all means, please stop wasting our time and just tell us what it is you want.”

I took a deep breath and sat down in my father’s chair. “I want to be the majority shareholder. I want to take my father’s place. I want the company in my name. That is all I want. He can maintain his honorary position at this table, but since I have been running this company without him for the last five years to the satisfaction of the board, I don’t think it’s too much to ask that my father be allowed to retire fully, and that I be moved into his position.”

“It doesn’t work the way you think it does,” one of the men said. “We can’t just transfer shares over to you. Your father will have to sign off on any such transfer.”

“Not with a majority vote from the board,” I told him, tossing a copy of the by-laws onto the table in front of me.

Contemplative looks were shared among the board members as they realized I had caught them in a lie. The by-laws gave them more power than they wanted to admit they had. With the right motions and votes, my father could have been removed from the company right then and there. They started murmuring to each other, discussing the option I had put before them.

“She’s right.”

“Do we vote?”

“Is this going to keep happening?”

“She
has
been running the company.”

“Maybe it’s time to let Mr. Scott retire.”

I watched them deliberate at the table. Most of what they were saying sounded beneficial to me. The longer they talked, the more it sounded like they were getting tired of my father’s attempts to run the company from the sidelines. I was thankful to hear what they were saying to each other, but I knew that it didn’t mean much for them to say the things they were saying if they weren’t willing to back it up with actions.

I also knew that if they decided to have a vote in front of me, I would know who the holdouts were.

“Alright, all in favor of Brooke’s proposal?” one of them asked.

“What exactly is the proposal? What are we voting on?” another asked before a count could be taken, and once again all eyes were on me.

“Transferring enough shares to me to make me the majority shareholder and putting me in my father’s position officially,” I reiterated.

“Okay, show of hands. Who is in favor? Brooke does not get a vote at this time.”

I watched as all but two hands went up, creating a majority vote in my favor and putting targets on two members’ heads. I made a mental note to replace them with supportive board members once everything was finished.

“That settles it,” the older member said. “Brooke Scott is now the majority owner of Scott Enterprises. The documentation will be drawn up, and we will schedule the official transfer of the company and shares to your name once the paperwork is finished.”

I could barely contain myself. I wanted to jump up and down and clap my hands, but I kept my cool. There would be plenty of time later to celebrate, I told myself.

“Thank you all so, so much,” I said gratefully.

The two dissenting voices stood and left the room, presumably to call my father. Anxiety began mounting, as I knew I would probably be hearing from him soon. I decided I couldn’t worry about that at the moment. I needed to enjoy my victory, and I needed to reach out to Jake. We didn’t have to get married anymore. I could pose as his girlfriend if he wanted.

Maybe I could even stop posing and actually consider letting our relationship grow beyond our little arrangement. I wasn’t sure about that either, especially since I didn’t know where I stood with him.

“Don’t worry about them, Brooke. The rest of us will work for you to bring them around. Give us a few days to work everything out, and you will officially skirt your father’s conditions for getting the company in your name.”

“Thank you so much, gentlemen. Thank you for having faith in me to continue running Scott Enterprises as I have been for the last five years,” I gushed, showing my gratitude to the remaining board members as they stood up to leave.

“You were supposed to get the company anyway,” the same one said. “It’s not a big deal how we did it as long as we did it.”

“Thanks again,” I said as they left the room. As the door closed behind the last board member, I pulled out my phone and called Hollie. I had to share the good news.

“Hey, Brooke,” she answered.

“Hey, I’ve got good news,” I told her.

“Good news? Go ahead.” She sounded unsure.

“Yeah, they agreed to turn the company over to me,” I said, uncertainty creeping in after hearing her tone.

“That’s great, Brooke. So I guess you haven’t heard the news,” she said.

“The news?” What kind of news could have put a damper on my victory over the board? There were only two things I could have imagined. It involved either my father or Jake. One of them was hurt, or worse. Was she about to tell me why I hadn’t heard from Jake?

“There was an accident,” she said.

I was immediately seized by a sense of dread. I sat down in my father’s seat at the table. The lingering smell of men’s cologne and tobacco made me think of my father. It reminded me of the way his office smelled in his house.

“Jake is in the hospital. Oh God, Brooke, the pictures they showed of the car on the news made it look horrible,” she said.

I didn’t say anything. I wanted to leave right then. I wanted to turn on the news. I wanted to run away from all of it and forget things had even happened between us.

“Have they said anything about his condition?” I asked, my mind switching to autopilot.

“They said he’s in stable condition, whatever that really means,” Hollie said.

“I should go see him,” I told her.

“They also said he’s not accepting visitors,” she cautioned me.

“I’m also still his fiancée. He’ll see me,” I told her, confident that I wouldn’t have any trouble getting in to see Jake if I went down to the hospital.

“Are you okay?” she asked.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” I lied. Even I could hear the flat tone in my voice.

“If you decide to go down there to see him, good luck getting in, and don’t freak out when you see him,” Hollie added.

“I’ll be okay,” I assured her.

“Okay, but call me if you need anything.”

“Will do. Wait, where is he?”

“ICU, from what they said on the news. Are you sure you don’t want me to at least drive you over there?” she asked.

I thought about her offer for a moment before politely declining yet again. I felt like Jake’s accident was one of those things I just wanted to take time to process alone instead of having someone there with me.

“Okay, just keep in touch,” she said before disconnecting the call.

I hurried back to my office, where I had a small flat-screen TV in the wall. I turned it on to see what was on the news about him. Sure enough, like she said, there was a horrifying picture of a Ferrari completely destroyed by whatever had happened to it. They were saying he rolled the car on the interstate after having too much to drink the other night and that he’d been in hospital since the day before.

That explained why he hadn’t been back home in two nights. I had been sleeping in his bed, hoping that he would come home and find me there. I had been afraid he had just left me. I had actually started to wonder if his house staff had been tipping him off to my presence so that he didn’t come home to find me there.

I felt horrible for assuming he had just been avoiding me. That hadn’t been it at all. He’d been in the hospital, and I hadn’t even known. We were supposed to be letting each other know where we were, and the one time he ran off without letting me know, he wound up in trouble. Watching the images of the car on the news, I felt so helpless. I felt like there wasn’t anything I could do for him.

“Well, you’re not going to do anything standing in here,” I told myself. I turned off the TV and hurried down to the parking deck. I rushed over to the hospital. I wasn’t sure where to enter, so I took the closest door to the parking garage there.

“Can I help you?” the nurse behind the counter asked as I walked in.

Inside, the hospital was immaculate. It always surprised me how clean they kept the hospital. The floors always looked like they’d just been freshly waxed. The air even felt clean, but it was that creepy, recently-cleaned restroom kind of freshness. It seemed like there was something just underneath the clean smell, like the smell of babies. Everyone knew that the baby smell was just barely covering up spit-up and dirty diapers. The hospital was the same way. The spotless cleanliness of the hospital felt the exact same way.

“Can I help you?” the nurse repeated, bringing me back out of my head.

“I’m here to see Jake Hall. He’s in ICU. I’m his fiancée, Brooke Scott,” I told her, dumping everything I thought she needed in order to let me in.

She looked down at a computer screen behind the counter and tapped on a couple of keys on the keyboard. “Okay, if you will, have a seat please. The doctor will be out to see you momentarily.”

She walked away from the counter, leaving me to find a seat in the waiting room. Everyone in hospital waiting rooms always looked so sad to me. They were either sick or injured themselves, or waiting for news of a loved one who was sick or injured in the back. I took a seat to wait for the doctor to call me back to see Jake.

I didn’t have to wait long. A wide, wooden door opened a few minutes later, and a doctor appeared through it in blue scrubs.

“Ms. Scott,” he called, looking around the room, unsure of which person I was.

I stood up and walked towards him.

“Right this way, please,” he said, leading me through the door and into a small consultation room aside from the waiting room.

“What’s going on?” I asked as he closed the door behind us.

“Mr. Hall isn’t receiving visitors right now. That’s his request, but he did tell me to update you on his condition,” the doctor said in his reassuring tone

“No, that’s not going to do. I demand to see him. It’s imperative that I see him,” I said, raising my voice.

“I can talk to him for you, Ms. Scott, but there’s not much I can do to make him want to see you right now. If he requests no visitors, I’m going to honor that request, since visitation is a courtesy anyway. Only immediate family would be able to exercise any rights over that, and you two are not married currently, correct?” I could see the pleasure in his eyes that he took from putting me in my place.