“Lana!” Drake was running and I looked up just as he and Nik stopped in the doorway of the guesthouse.

“Fuck!” Nik exclaimed. “Oh, shit!” He crouched down beside of Lana. “Dude, what happened?”

I was already tired of telling the story. I gave them a quick recap, and then just laid there with my eyes closed, using what energy I had left to play with Layla’s hair. As long as I was touching her, I was okay. The pain was manageable.

“Help me get him to the Escalade.” Layla urged the guys. She moved away from me to let Nik and Drake on either side of me, and I protested. “Hush. I’m right here.”

Between the two of them, they got me to the Escalade and I stretched out in the back seat. Was it bad that I felt like puking? Because I suddenly felt the need to do just that. Drake jumped into the driver’s seat, and Layla got in the back with me. I had to hold my head up long enough to let her sit down, but then I felt utter relief as I put my head in her lap.

Trembling fingers skimmed over my swollen face. My eye was tender, and I figured it was a rainbow of colors by now. My lips hurt and my jaw ached, but none of that pain could compete with the pain coming from my left side. “I’m sorry, Jesse,” Layla whispered, touching the blood on my chin.

“I’m the one that’s sorry, baby.” I caught her fingers and kissed each one. “I went a little crazy tonight. My only excuse is that I was jealous, and that’s a new emotion for me. I’ve never experienced anything like what I have with you. It’s terrifying at times.”

Her smile was all quivery, and I wanted to erase this night from both our minds. “It scares me too. The way I love you is more intense than anything I’ve ever felt before.”

“Can you forgive me for thinking the worst?” If she didn’t forgive me I didn’t know what I was going to do. Without her, my future was a big, blank void.

“I forgave you as soon as I realized you were hurt.” She sighed. “I won’t lie. It hurt that you thought I would have been with Tommy, but I understand your jealousy. If our places were reversed I would have gone over the top too. I’m crazy obsessed with you.”

I grinned. “Me too, babe.”

Her fingers stroked over my head. If I hadn’t been in so much pain I was sure it would have made me hard, just as it always did when she touched me like this, but for now I was dead in that department. Still, it made my heart race, and I tugged on her hair until she lowered her head and skimmed her lips over mine. “I love you, Layla.”

“I love you, too.”

Chapter 18

Layla

We were at the hospital all night. Doctors came and went, only to have more doctors come and go. After X-rays, CT scans, blood work, and a urine sample were collected, it was determined that Jesse had a severely bruised left kidney and would have to spend the night for observations. Thankfully, he didn’t have blood in his urine and it was only after the urologist on call had come in to explain the severity of what that possibility could mean did I understand that Jesse had been very lucky.

Drake left at dawn, but I stayed. I couldn’t leave him. I watched over him while he slept, thanks to the painkillers that they fed into his IV. He looked peaceful even with his face all swollen and varying shades of blue, purple, and black.

I had been scared last night before he had come home. Scared that he wasn’t going to want me anymore. Scared that Tommy was going to fill his head with all kinds of sick things that would make him hate me. That fear had only made the hurt worse last night. But when I had opened that door and seen my battered love standing on the other side everything else didn’t matter anymore.

I just wanted to kiss it all better and have him hold onto me forever…

Around nine, the doctor came in and told Jesse he could go home. He was ordered to rest. I was told to make sure Jesse was going to the bathroom regularly and what to watch for in case he needed to come back. I paid extra attention, afraid I would miss something important.

Shane showed up to take us home. When we returned to the beach house Emmie met us at the door. She was pale and an emotional wreck. Nik hadn’t told her anything until Shane had left to pick us up. I tried to soothe her, but she was off the walls today. She went from crying, to sobbing, to pissed off in the blink of an eye and you never knew which was coming next.

Right now, she was pacing in the living room, shooting Jesse glares from time to time as she muttered under her breath. I sat there, watching her while I stroked my fingers over the stubble on Jesse’s head as he laid there trying to relax. He was pale under the rainbow of bruises on his face. The pain killers they had prescribed for him were making him loopy but they were also making him nauseous too.

“I can’t believe you didn’t know that Tommy Kirkman was her father!”

My head snapped up at Emmie’s sudden outburst. She was pacing still—well waddling. Her feet were swollen and the baby was so low now that Emmie walked bowlegged most of the time. She was so cute to look at, but right now I was so stunned by my friend’s tirade that I didn’t see the cuteness.

Jesse frowned up at her. “You mean you did?”

“Of course I knew.” She stopped to glare down at him. “I’ve known since the first week she started working here.” Her eyes went to me, and I saw an apology in their green depths. “I had to do a background check on you, Layla. I know I should have told you, but I needed to know if there was anything that might hurt Jesse. Even then, I knew that he was crazy about you…”

I gave her a small smile. “It’s okay. I understand.” I would have done the same in her position. Jesse and the guys were her family, and she wanted to protect them just as much as I wanted to protect Lana and Lucy.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Jesse demanded, setting up.

“Because I didn’t think it mattered. So she’s Tommy’s daughter? Who the fuck cares? That doesn’t change who she is.” Emmie brushed the hair out of her eyes. “And I figured that if she wasn’t going to tell us then there was a good reason.”

“But…”

Emmie climbed onto his lap and wrapped her arms around his neck. “I love you. You know that you and Drake and Shane mean the world to me. But Layla has grabbed onto my heart too. The minute you said you loved her, she became partial owner of my heart too.”

I bit my lip as tears burned the backs of my eyes.

“So when I got the report back on her, my loyalties were split. I wasn’t going to betray her by telling you all her secrets. That was between you and her. If she told you, then fine. If she didn’t, that was fine too. But I couldn’t be the one to tell you. Still I’m surprised that you couldn’t see that she was Tommy’s daughter. Fuck, Jesse. She looks so much like him.”