Chapter 25

Chapter Twenty-Five

L iam had his jet prepped to leave Singapore the moment Brian called to tell him about Colby’s accident. He’d been beside himself with worry the entire flight.

When he arrived in the wee hours of the morning, Cyrus was still awake and staring out the window with his hands clasped behind his back. He turned when Liam walked through the door.

“Any change?” Liam asked.

Cyrus shook his head. “No. Doctors said all her scans came back normal. She has a mild concussion, dehydrated, but by the grace of God, that’s the worst of it. Nothing is broken, and there isn’t any internal bleeding. A few bumps and bruises, but she should be fine.”

Helplessly, Liam glanced over at her. “Then why hasn’t she woken up?”

Cyrus released a long breath. “My guess? She’s exhausted and needs the rest.”

Liam continued to look at the small slip of a woman lying so still he wasn’t sure she was even breathing. He was astonished at the amount of weight Colby had lost since he’d been gone. He’d noticed a change in her face, a bit slimmer, during their FaceTime calls, but he didn’t really get to see her entire body. “Cyrus...what the hell is going on?”

“She’s trying to carry an impossible load.”

“At the expense of her health?” Frustrated, Liam rubbed his hand against the back of his neck. “Man-to-man, I want Colby to quit this shit. Racing is going to kill her.”

Cyrus understood exactly where Liam was coming from. “As a father who has already lost a child to this sport, I agree. But try convincing her of that?”

Liam felt a pang of guilt telling Cyrus, of all people, his predictions, but it didn’t change his opinion. “You better believe as soon as Colby is out of this hospital, we will have this conversation.”

“Good luck, and I hope you’re successful, but I have a feeling the pushback is going to be ferocious. How do you tell a person who has racing built into her DNA to quit? It’s not just what she does, it’s a big part of who she is.”

“I’m tired of hearing that!” Liam was doing his best to keep his voice down and control his anger, which was mostly his fear of not being able to protect her. “Are you looking at what I’m looking at? Colby is not eating, and she’s not sleeping. We’re watching her waste away right before our eyes! And for what?”

The albatross of guilt hung heavily around Cyrus’s neck. He didn’t know what to do or how to help his baby girl. It was his love of racing that infected his children. He’d already lost Rodney and was terrified of losing Colby too.

Colby groaned, effectively tabling Liam and Cyrus’s conversation. Her moans were the first sounds she’d made since arriving at the hospital.

Quickly, Liam went over to her bedside.

It took a few tries, but Colby’s eyes fluttered open. She had a massive headache, and her throat was on fire.

Liam linked his hands with hers. “Hey, I’m here.”

“Liam?” Surprised, Colby turned toward him. That movement caused a sharp pain in her head. She whispered, “What are you doing here?”

He lifted her hand and kissed the back of it. “My girlfriend is in the hospital. Where else am I supposed to be?”

Colby smiled weakly. “I hate you had to fly all the way home over nothing. Aside from a little headache, I feel fine.” She turned to her dad. “I am fine, right?”

Cyrus was awash with relief as he came and stood on the other side of the bed. “You bumped your head pretty good, and they need to get some fluids in you, but all in all, you’ll be just fine.”

Colby expelled the breath she’d been holding. “So, I’ll be able to race in Atlanta?”

Cyrus glanced up at Liam. “We have to adhere to concussion protocol.”

They could see her calculating the time in her head. She nodded. “It’ll be down to the wire, but I should be able to be evaluated by the physician and released prior to the race.”

Liam spoke through clenched teeth. “I think the most important thing right now is to get you healthy and home.”

Since Colby had settled it in her mind, she agreed. Still, she had questions. “What happened?”

“Not sure. What do you remember?”

Colby closed her eyes and searched her brain, but she couldn’t remember. “I was coming around the third curve, and everything went blank.”

Cyrus nodded. “That tracks. Coming out of the curve, the car seemed to have a mind of its own and went out of control before clipping the barrier tires and then going airborne.”

Colby was surprised. “My car went airborne?”

Cyrus nodded. “Yeah.”

“Oh, my god. Is it totaled?”

Liam’s voice was tight. “Who the hell cares? It’s you we are worried about.”

Colby squeezed Liam’s hands. She did her best to reassure him. “I’m fine, but we don’t have a lot of discretionary cash to spend on fixing a car before my next race.”

Liam wanted to throttle her. “Colby, you’re lying in bed with a concussion and hooked up to multiple IVs, and you’re worried about your car. I need you to make you more of a priority.”

Mild concussion , Colby thought. Just a bump .

Colby turned toward her father. “Dad, can I talk to Liam for a minute?”

Cyrus agreed. He didn’t want to be anywhere near a couple’s spat. “I need to go let everyone in the waiting room know you’re awake anyway.” He leaned over and tenderly placed a kiss on her forehead before leaving the room.

Colby tried to sit up, but Liam wouldn’t allow it. “Don’t.” Instead, he fumbled around the bed looking for the remote until he found it, then adjusted the bed until it was at a level Colby was comfortable. Colby knew Liam well enough to know that he needed to be busy or just moving when worried.

She stilled his hands. “Liam. Stop.”

“Stop what?” He was genuinely confused when he looked into her eyes.

“You know I’m fine, right?”

It was the silence and the way Colby looked at him that forced Liam to take a deep breath. He hadn’t really done that since receiving that dreadful call from Brian. “Nothing about this entire situation is fine.”

“True, but physically, I am fine.”

Are you? is what he wanted to say but somehow managed to refrain. Instead, he took off his shoes. “Are you in pain?”

“I’m a little sore, and I have a headache.”

“Can you scoot over?” Liam needed to feel Colby in his arms.

She smiled and gingerly moved over, giving him the room he needed.

Liam wasn’t a small man. He stood over six feet tall, and he had to maneuver his broad shoulders and powerful frame onto the bed in an impossible position that would make a circus performer proud.

He lay on his side and cradled Colby in the crook of his arm. It wasn’t until they were settled that his racing heart began to calm down.

Liam tucked her head underneath his chin. It was then he became aware that his usual after-five beard had grown a lot over the past twenty-four hours, and he was in desperate need of a shave. He didn’t want his facial hair to make Colby uncomfortable.

Colby didn’t care. His typically impeccably styled hair was a mess, and yet his piercing blue eyes held an intensity unlike any Colby had ever seen.

She reached up to caress Liam’s well-defined jawline, and he smiled, completing his striking features and drawing her in. The man had an alluring magnetism and an effect on her that no other man ever had. While she missed him and had sensual thoughts on her mind, Liam’s own thoughts couldn’t be further away from hers.

This situation was untenable. Somehow, He was going to have to make Colby understand that she needed to get out of the sport of racing because he wasn’t sure how much more he could take.