I didn’t know what to say. That was kind of a big responsibility. Before he made his ‘I love you’ confession, I hadn’t even known he considered me to be his kin, let alone the most important one. “Oh.”

He smiled weakly. “So, yeah, if you could possibly call my mum? Or if you don’t want to speak to her, then maybe you could call one of my sisters? Just tell them I’m fine, that I don’t need surgery and that I’ll call them later,” he asked.

I nodded in agreement. “Of course, I’ll call her.” I didn’t really want to speak to his mother. We had barely exchanged more than a few polite words in the last few weeks, but I knew I needed to let it go for now. She may not like me, but I had no problem with her really, and she was still his mother, after all. If Sasha had been hurt and I didn’t know how she was, I would be beside myself with worry, so I knew what she’d be going through.

“Thanks.” He kissed the back of my knuckles again, just as the nurses and an orderly unclicked the wheels of his bed and started to push him toward the door. I whimpered, tightening my grip on his hand, not wanting to let go. As I started walking along by the side of his bed, meaning to go with him, he chuckled. “Emma, stop stressing. I’m fine.” He eased his hand from mine and smiled at me reassuringly.

I stopped walking, feeling the lump in my throat swell as he was wheeled out of the room and down the corridor. As soon as he was out of sight, I slumped into the nearest chair and put my head in my hands.

The phone call to Carson’s mother was an emotional one. As I suspected, she was beside herself and could hardly even speak to me on the phone. She was sobbing so hard I couldn’t quite make out her words, but I’d just cooed soothing things down the line, telling her he was fine and he didn’t want her to worry. She’d thanked me profusely for calling her and asked that I call again later to let her know when he was coming home and when she could come and visit. Lastly, she asked how Sasha was and if I needed her to go over and watch her while I was at the hospital. The gesture, although a relatively-small one, actually meant a lot to me. Sasha had certainly worked her magic and woven a spell over Jillian.

After fifteen minutes, Carson was wheeled back into the room and smiled at me. “X-rays are all done, just gotta wait for the results and then they’ll pop my shoulder back in. I think you should probably go get a cup of tea or something while they do it,” he recommended.

“Is it that bad?” I asked, pulling a chair up by the side of his bed.

“It’s not exactly a walk in the park. I may swear a lot and even cry,” he joked. I smiled and behind me, the doctor walked in, x-rays in hand. We both looked up, eagerly awaiting the results.

“Good news: no breaks in the shoulder. I was worried about the top of the humerus, but the x-ray shows no breaks. Also, the chest x-ray came back clear. No rib fractures either. You were extremely lucky.”

Air rushed out of my lungs at the news and a smile crept onto my lips. No broken bones – that was certainly something to be thankful for.

“All we need to do now is get that shoulder back into place. I’ll have a nurse come in and give you a sedative. Once that’s started to work, I’ll be back and we’ll get you back to fighting fit,” the doctor announced.

WATCHING THE DOCTOR ease Carson’s arm back into place was one of the most horrifying things I’d ever seen in my life – probably second only to watching his accident earlier. Seeing him in that much pain while they moved his arm around in circles and massaged his shoulder was actually soul-shattering. I couldn’t watch most of it. I’d squeezed my eyes shut and turned my head away, gritting my teeth while he squeezed the life out of my hand with his good one. It was awful.

After, they’d put his arm into a sling and performed another ultrasound to check again to make sure there was no damage to nerves and tissue. Thankfully, the doctor announced he had the all-clear and would just need to be referred to physiotherapy for aftercare.

Once we were finally alone in the room, I smiled down at him. My heart ached with love for him as our eyes met.

“Thanks for staying,” he said quietly.

I nodded. “Of course. Although, I don’t think I’ll ever get the sound of that out of my head,” I winced and shook my head at the memory of the groans of agony which came from Carson.

“Me either.” He chuckled awkwardly before he winced at the moment and gritted his teeth.

I gulped, knowing I needed to broach the subject of the cause of this accident. I needed to apologise for it. “Carson, what happened? How did you lose control like that?”

He blew out a big breath and shook his head. “I don’t know. I just wasn’t thinking clearly, I guess. I was stupid. I should have known better; it was a rookie mistake.”

Shifting on my feet, I perched on the edge of his bed and pulled his hand into my lap. “It was my fault. You weren’t concentrating properly because we’d just argued. This is all my fault, all this pain you’re in, I caused that.” Tears overflowed in my eyes and trickled down my cheeks.

He smiled weakly. “Emma, this isn’t your fault. It was mine. I was stupid and reckless today.”

“Yeah, all because I didn’t tell you I loved you back before the race,” I countered, bending my head and pressing my face into the side of his neck. Feeling his soft skin against mine and having his breath blow across my damp cheek made my stomach flutter.