Oh, God.
She looked at Ian, his mouth set in a grim line. He was talking on his headset, and when he pulled it off and scrambled out the pit box, she knew something had gone terribly, terribly wrong.
She climbed down in a hurry, anxious to get information from someone, but all she heard were mumblings about an ambulance and air flight and that the hospital had been alerted.
She finally grabbed one of the crew members by the arm.
“Is Gray hurt?”
He gave her a short nod.
Her stomach dropped. “How badly?”
“Nobody knows yet. They have to cut him out of the car first, then they’ll helicopter him to the local hospital.”
She reached for the nearby equipment, dizziness overtaking her.
Cut him out of the car? Oh, dear God. She grabbed her phone out of her pocket to call Gray’s parents.
*
EVELYN HAD WAITED WHILE GRAY HAD BEEN THROUGH X-ray and CT scans and then his parents had spoken with the doctors. Donny and Stacie were there with her along with Ian, so she was glad not to be alone.
They kept the cameras out. The racing organization was great about taking care of feeding the media information.
All Evelyn could do was sit and wait and pray that he was going to be all right. She couldn’t handle looking at the television, which was set to the sports station that had been replaying the crash nonstop.
She’d looked once, seeing Gray hit from behind and sliding down the track. He’d been broadsided and had gone airborne before slamming into the wall. There’d been a chain reaction and he’d been hit again. Then again.
It had been a brutal, horrendous crash. He was lucky to be alive and she thanked God for the organization’s safety requirements and the vehicle safety standards that the drivers always complained about but were the main reason he was alive right now.
When the senator came downstairs, she stood, her legs shaking.
He came over to her and took her hands.
“He has a concussion and a broken leg and probably a couple broken ribs. He’s going to be fine, though.”
Tears filled her eyes and she hugged the senator. “Thank you for telling us. How’s Loretta?”
“Tougher than I thought she’d be. Carolina was packing to head this way. Loretta called her.”
“Good.” She sniffled and smiled. “Is it all right if I see him?”
“I’ll take you up.”
She introduced him to Ian. The senator took a few minutes to speak with Ian, then he took her up via the elevator to the ICU.
“He’s going to be fine, Evelyn.”
“Yes, sir.”
“You love him.”
She didn’t even hesitate. “Yes, sir.”
“He loves you too, you know.”
She let the tears fall. “I was afraid he was going to die. I don’t know what I’d do without him.”
He squeezed her hand. “You’re not going to be without him. But he’s going to be pissed off about this crash.”
She laughed through the tears. “I’m sure he will be.”
When they got to the entrance of the ICU, she went and hugged Loretta.
“God smiles on the idiots,” Loretta said. “Such a dangerous sport.”
“But he’s so good at what he does, Loretta. You know as soon as he’s able, he’ll be right back out there.”
She sighed and squeezed Evelyn’s hands. “I know.”
“He’s pretty out of it right now, heavily medicated,” Mitchell said. “He might not be awake.”
“I won’t be long. Thank you for letting me see him.”
She was buzzed in and went to his room, pausing at the doorway to take a deep breath.
Gray, her strong, indestructible hero, was hooked up to tubes and IVs, and was bruised, bandaged, and looked utterly broken. Pushing back the tears, she walked in.
He was asleep. She sat in the chair next to him and slid her hand under his.
“You have to heal, Gray. And take your time doing it, which I know you’re going to hate.”
He didn’t move, and all she heard was the soft whirr of the machines.
“And maybe think about slowing down for a few minutes?” She smoothed her other hand over the top of his.
“I will if you will.”
Her gaze shot to his. His eyes were half open.
“You’re awake.”
“I have the worst f**king headache.”
Relief flooded her. “I’ll bet you do. That was some show you put on at the race today.”
“Yeah. And a DNF. I hate not finishing a race. That’s going to f**k me up in the standings.”
It figured he’d think about his position. “That’s probably the least of your worries right now.”
“I’m screwed for this season, babe. That’s not good.”
She caressed his hand. “I’m sorry, Gray. I know how close you were, how much this meant to you. But right now you have to focus on recovering. That has to be your priority.”
He swallowed, licked his lips. “I’ll be back in a car in no time.”
“Yes, you will.” Though the thought of him racing again terrified her. But it was who he was and what he did. What he loved. And she loved him. Which she was going to tell him. But now wasn’t the time.
His eyes drifted closed. “You need to go help my dad become the vice president, you know. No more races to watch now.”
His last words were slurred.
“I’ll be back to check on you.”
“Nah. I’ll be fine here. Go do your job, Evelyn. Go become president. I won’t stand in your way.”
Now he wasn’t making sense at all. She got up and pressed a kiss to his forehead and left the room, because she knew his mom would want to come back in.
“He woke up for a few minutes and talked to me. Now he’s sleeping,” she told his parents when she met them outside the door.
“I’ll just head back in then,” Loretta told them.
“I’ll meet you in there in a minute,” Mitchell said. He turned to her. “He really is going to be fine.”
“I know that. I’ll head over to the convention hotel and handle things on that end so you can stay here tonight.”
“Thanks.” He took a deep breath. “It wasn’t so long ago I would have let Loretta handle this. Politics would have been more important. Not that this isn’t an important time for me.”