Don't Wanna Lose Your Love

Chapter 1-1

Chapter 1

The e-mail came in the middle of the night.

It was purely by chance that I was even awake to hear the chime. I’d been out the evening before, celebrating. Clarissa Deveraux had joined the ranks at Marley, Leonard, and Smith, the law firm where I was a junior partner. The senior partners had hosted a welcome dinner at an upscale restaurant, there was an open bar, and several glasses of good wine had a full bladder interrupting my sleep. I was just crawling back into bed, bleary-eyed and half asleep, when my cell gave a ding from where it was charging on the bedside table. I almost ignored it, but curiosity got the better of me, and even though I expected it to be spam, I decided to check.

I smiled when I saw it was from Josie. That woman amused the hell out of me, when she wasn’t trying my patience, and I always loved seeing an e-mail from her in my inbox. I’d never met her in person and most likely never would. The internet brought us together. We followed some of the same blogs, and a chance e-mail two years ago had started a friendship I valued greatly. Not a day went by that I didn’t hear from her. In fact, we usually e-mailed multiple times. We’d found we had a whole hell of a lot in common. There was only a six-year age difference, and our interests, feelings, and desires matched up nearly perfectly. Josie was a bright spot in my day.

My sleepy brain finally caught up with the program and did the mental math between time zones. It was only six o’clock in the morning there, which was early for her to start the e-mails. Something must be going on. When I thumbed open the e-mail, I saw the subject line and worry shot through my veins. Not only was there actual words there—we both had a bad habit of leaving it blank—but it simply said Bad News.

I sat up and snapped on the bedside light. Though it was from Josie’s e-mail account, the message itself was written by her brother. With each word, dread filled my stomach and made bile rise in my throat. I had to close my eyes and breathe carefully to get myself back under control. My heart was pounding so hard I thought it might burst.

Ben,

Josie made me promise to let you know if anything happened to her. Last night, she fell down the stairs and is pretty seriously injured. There’s some swelling in her brain, and she hasn’t woken up yet. The doctor is doing what he can. Her vitals are good. I’ll keep you updated.

Zack

There was a postscript with his phone number and a message to call if I wanted. I very nearly dialed it right that second. But it was so early, and he probably had enough to deal with at the moment. I should give him some time before I called and found out what the f**k was going on.

I was worried. It couldn’t be good that Josie was still unconscious. With the burst of adrenaline keeping me wide awake, I left the bedroom and headed into my office. A few clicks and my laptop was booted up, and I was searching for information on head injuries. What I found was disconcerting to say the least. I took comfort in the fact that Josie lived near, and was a nurse at, a renowned hospital. I had to believe she was getting the best possible care.

I let an hour pass before the worry got the better of me and I called the number Josie’s brother had left. As the phone continued to ring, I thought I’d have to leave a message. But just before it went to voicemail, the ringing stopped.

“‘lo?” a raspy voice answered.

Christ, he sounded wrecked. “This is Ben Winters. Is this Zack?”

“Yeah. Hi. Sorry.” Zack cleared his throat. I didn’t know what he was apologizing for, but he certainly didn’t need to.

“How is she?”

There was a pause. “Same. Still unconscious. I don’t… She’s hurt.”

If I didn’t know Zack was only ten years younger than Josie, I would have guessed much younger. He sounded so lost. I really just wanted to hug him. I could do with a hug myself, for that matter. I took a deep breath.

“Can I ask what happened?” I queried carefully.

“She was taking out the trash. I don’t exactly know what—” He cut himself off with a broken sound that tugged at my heart. “I got home at about seven last night and found her on the steps outside, unconscious and bleeding. The steps are concrete and her forehead…”

I knew that they lived in adjoining duplexes, and that their parents had passed several years ago. Josie often spoke of how close she was with Zack. He was the only blood family she had left. Fortunately for them, they got along really well. It had to be hard for him to be dealing with this.

When it appeared he wasn’t going to continue, I asked, “Is there anything I can do?”

“She said you were a sweetheart,” Zack murmured, almost to himself. “She talks about you a lot. You’re a really good friend. I was worried at first, you know. Because the internet can be a scary place. But you two, you were just meant to be friends.”

He was babbling, and I heard the tension and stress in his tone. This was not the confident and self-assured man I had heard so much about and whom I had “met” once and talked to while I was Skyping with Josie. He was a mess of fear and worry. And there was a yearning in me to fix that if I could. I said his name as gently as possible, and when he made an affirmative noise, I asked carefully, “Do you want me to come there? I can be on a plane in a few hours.”

The words were out of my mouth before I gave them much thought, and it was only after I said them that I realized how much I felt the need to be there. Being there would be so much better than waiting for news on the other side of the country. My browser was still open, and with a few clicks and some info, I saw the best I could do was a fight at nine fifteen that morning, with a layover at O’Hare. There were no direct flights from LAX to Greater Rochester International Airport.

Zack remained quiet while I searched. I didn’t push. It was an admittedly weird request, and I gave him the time to think it over. Even though I very much wanted to be at Josie’s side, and to provide support for Zack, if he told me not to come, I would respect that. I’d hate it, but I wouldn’t push the issue.

Finally I heard his breath whoosh out. “Josie would like that.”

Relief flooded in. Thank God. “Thank you,” I said softly. “I’ll be there sometime this evening.”

“Okay, Ben.” Zack’s voice sounded hollow. “You’re really important to her.”

“She’s important to me, too,” I responded honestly.

“I know.”