Just Stay With Me Read online

  Just Stay With Me

  Saving Sandy series book 1

  Valentina Turner

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Saving Sandy series book 3

  About the Author

  Copyright © 2020 [Valentina Turner] – All rights Reserved

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the copyright owner. The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of various products referenced status and trademark owners of various products referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication / use of the trademarks is not authorized, associated with or sponsored by the trademark owners.

  Chapter 1

  Pregnant?

  Sandy didn’t think she had heard right. She turned her stunned gaze to Seth. Even though his face had lost all its color, she could see the shock in the blue depths of his eyes.

  Sandy forced her gaze from him to stare at the woman who was smiling smugly.

  “Take it, Seth.” She waved the paper in the air. “See the result of how much we love each other. If you had picked up my calls, I wouldn’t be here doing this.”

  The air became so stifling all of a sudden, Sandy thought she was going to faint. Her breath came in short gasps at the understanding of what was going on.

  This woman was carrying Seth’s baby. How long had he been with the woman before she met him? All the while he was chasing her, was he also with this woman? Where did that leave her?

  And from the way Seth was behaving, didn’t it spell guilt? Her eyes moved to him and she saw that blazing anger had replaced shock.

  There were so many questions she wanted to ask, but she didn’t think she would like the answers.

  “Haley, I broke up with you months ago. Do you honestly want me to believe that you’re carrying my child, if in fact you’re pregnant at all?”

  The woman’s jaw dropped. Her eyes blazed with anger in turn. “Are you accusing me of lying? I am pregnant!” She stamped her foot on the ground. “And you’re responsible for it. Do you know why I’m so sure it’s your baby?” She flipped back her hair. “It’s because I haven’t been with any man since we broke up. I have been torn, shattered that you are no longer in my life. You can ask all our friends. I haven’t been myself.” Tears glazed the woman’s eyes. “I miss you.”

  “Please don’t start, Haley,” Seth remarked in a voice as cold as ice. A shiver went through Sandy.

  Tears spilled down Haley’s beautiful face. “I love you, Seth. You know that. I was shocked when you called things off simply because of a little argument.”

  Seth slashed an angry hand in the air. “You know why I broke up with you. Don’t you dare pretend that you’re innocent.”

  More tears poured down Haley’s face. “I’m sorry, Seth. I’ve been apologizing for the past three months and trying to get you to see that I still love you. Do not throw away all the years we’ve been together because of a simple mistake I made.”

  When the woman drew forward and curved her hands around Seth’s face and he did nothing, Sandy knew that she had lost him.

  What were the chances that Seth would leave a woman—who wasn’t only carrying his baby, but he had been with for years—for her? After all, they had only known each other for over a month. She didn’t think what they had shared—what she thought they had together—was enough for him to want to be with her.

  Sandy couldn’t believe that she had been so foolish to give her heart to a man. For years, she guarded her heart jealousy. But with the way Seth had doggedly pursued her, she had thought he was the one for her.

  How foolish of her to not only have given him her heart but her body as well. Now, she knew that he was on the rebound. She could have been any other woman who caught his fancy in his bid to forget about his ex-girlfriend. There was no chance of him forgetting her now, not when she was carrying his baby.

  How could I have been so foolish?

  Escape was the only thing on her mind at that moment. If she ran inside her apartment, Seth would definitely follow her and she might not be fast enough to shut the door on his lying face.

  With a sob, she ran away from the couple. She would take a cab and go to the diner. Then she would cry on her aunt’s shoulder.

  “Sandy!”

  The sound of her name flustered her for a moment as she hadn’t expected it. And in that moment, she froze, forgetting that she was heading for the road.

  “Sandy, please wait!”

  She didn’t want to wait to listen to his lies. So she dashed into the road, not caring whether there was a car coming or not. Unfortunately, there was, and before she could make the decision to either run back or quickly cross over, the car hit her.

  ***

  “No! Sandy!”

  Seth’s blood ran cold when he saw Sandy flung against the hood of the car and thrown on the road. For a moment, he stood there in shock. Trepidation held him immobile.

  “Don’t just stand there, Seth. Go and help her,” Haley shouted behind him.

  The sound of his ex-girlfriend’s voice propelled him forward and he rushed to where Sandy lay, unmoving. His heart beat a rapid thud against his chest. Gently, he placed his head on her chest, afraid that he wouldn’t hear anything.

  Relief washed through him when he heard the steady beat of her heart. He hadn’t thought to just watch her chest to see if it would rise and fall or feel for her pulse.

  He felt her body for injuries or broken bones. There were bruises on the backs of her arms caused from when she fell on the tarred surface. He felt her head for any swelling and sighed with relief when he didn’t feel any.

  The driver came out of the car after sitting immobile for some minutes.

  “I didn’t see her, I swear. She just came out in the road, and before I could hit my brakes, I hit her. I’m so sorry. we need to get her to the hospital ASAP.”

  Seth lifted his head to glare at the elderly man whose face was as white as snow. He noted that tremors ran through the man’s body. Although he felt like throwing punches at the man for hitting Sandy, he quickly admitted that it wasn’t the man’s fault.

  Sandy had run into the road. If anyone was to be blamed here, it was him. He should have asked Sandy to go inside while he dealt with Haley.

  Fear that he was going to lose Sandy if indeed Haley was pregnant and he was responsible, had rendered him motionless for some seconds while he tried to find a way out of it.

  Everything in him told him that his ex-girlfriend wasn’t pregnant, and even if she was, he wasn’t responsible. But that didn’t mean the problem didn’t exist. And now, Sandy was the one paying for his stupidity.

  Gently, he carried her limp form from the ground, gutted at how pale she looked.

  “Here,” the slightly humped man called, pointing at his car. “I can take her to the hospital.”

  Seth shook his head. “Don’t bother. Just help me get my truck door.”

  The man hurried after him to throw open the door of the truck while Haley looked as if she was about to throw up.

  “Is she all right?” Haley asked when he carefully placed Sandy on the back seat of the vehicle.

  “Answer me, Seth. Will she be all right?” Haley persisted, coming closer to look at the unconscious woman.

  “Wh
at do you care?” he sharply asked before shutting the door.

  Haley paled at his harsh tone. Ignoring her, Seth quickly opened the driver’side door and climbed in. The man who had hit Sandy hovered, his mouth quivering.

  “Can I come with you?” he queried with urgency. “I need to know that she’ll make it.”

  Irritated at all the distractions when all he wanted was to speedily take his beloved to the hospital, he grimaced and firmly said, “She will make it! You don’t have to come with me. Please back away. I need to get her to the hospital.”

  “I’ll come with you,” Haley said with urgency, but before she could come around to the passenger side, Seth started the truck and backed out of the driveway.

  Was she serious? There was no way he was going to let her get anywhere near Sandy.

  “Seth!” Haley called with frustration.

  Seth ignored her and the small crowd that had gathered due to the accident and drove with speed into the streets. His eyes fell on Sandy through the rearview mirror.

  He hit the steering wheel hard at the sight of her injured form. Dammit! If he had known that the reason Haley had been calling him nonstop was to tell them she was carrying his child, he would have answered her calls.

  He had thought she was calling as usual to tell him how perfectly they fit and to ask that they become a couple again. He had told her repeatedly that they couldn’t be together again, but she refused to take no for an answer.

  Enraged, he wondered how she’d figured out where he was. When he left New York, he had made sure no one knew where he was going. She must have guessed that he would come to Malcolm even though he told her he had never visited the ranch and never thought he would. How she was able to find him at Sandy’s place remained a mystery because he knew Malcolm wouldn’t have told her.

  “Dammit! I made a mess of things.” He raked his fingers through his hair. He prayed that Sandy would be okay so that he could tell her how sorry he was for everything.

  It didn’t matter if Haley carried his child. Tons of men had babies with women they didn’t love or weren’t their partners.

  It had come as a shock to him and he had responded badly. And now, Sandy was lying on the back seat of his brother’s truck, injured. And he didn’t even know the extent of her injuries or if she would be okay.

  With that thought, he increased his speed, running a red light to get to the hospital in a hurry. Not that he knew his way around the town, but he had seen a hospital on his way to the diner a number of times.

  He screeched the vehicle to a halt in the hospital’s parking lot and jumped out of it. He hurried to the back seat and carefully carried Sandy out.

  “Help me, please,” he shouted immediately as he got to the hospital’s reception. “She was hit by a car.”

  Instantly, nurses rushed to him and led him down the hallway. He ignored the stretcher that was brought and quickly followed the nurses down the hallway into a room they led him to.

  He carefully positioned her on the bed. A doctor came in and he was ushered away. Seth stood by the door, watching as the doctor and nurses attended to the woman he loved.

  Swallowing tightly, he moved away from the door and began pacing the hallway. He ran his fingers through his hair repeatedly, hoping that she would be all right.

  He didn’t know what he would do if anything happened to her. Several thoughts ran through his mind. Even though he wished that Sandy would give him an ear when he woke up, all he wanted was for her to be okay.

  Seth strode to the door to the room where Sandy was being tended to. He wished that he would be allowed in, but he knew that the minute he threw open the door, someone would walk him out.

  Why doctors and nurses didn’t understand that the patients needed their loved ones in the room to help the healing process was beyond him.

  Seth shook his head and laughed bitterly at the negative thought he just had about doctors. Moreover, he didn’t think that he would classify as a loved one where Sandy was at the moment, but maybe if he talked to her and reminded her of their good times, she would be able to pull through.

  He could only hope.

  Chapter 2

  “I’m so sorry, Sandy. If you can hear me, please forgive me. I didn’t mean to hurt you. Haley means nothing to me anymore. I don’t care if she’s pregnant with my baby. I’ll take care of my child but that’s it. I won’t accept her back. You’re my world now, my life. I love you,” Seth said with desperation lacing his voice.

  His hand tightened around Sandy’s numb and cold one. He felt if he infused enough warmth into her hand, perhaps she would wake up.

  Seth had almost wept with relief when the doctor came out and told him that Sandy would be fine. He had asked for her diagnosis and the man had told him she had no major issues.

  Sandy had hit her head on the ground which had caused a bump, but that was it thus far. There weren’t any broken bones shown in the x-rays taken. She was bruised, though. They had to wait for her to wake up for them to know the extent of her injuries. But for now, she was stable and sleeping.

  “Is she in a coma?” he had asked with fear.

  The doctor shook his head. “She’s under a lot of sedatives, but she will wake up in a few hours. Then, we’ll be able to ascertain the degree of her injuries.”

  Seth hoped that the bruises on her body would be the only thing they would find that was wrong with her. Though being flung against a car and thrown to the ground could cause a lot of damage to her body, he fervently hoped that wouldn’t be the case for Sandy.

  Thank goodness she hadn’t broken any bones. That would be terrible. However, an injury to her head worried him. She would have to go into surgery if there was any swelling. Although the doctor had told him there was nothing wrong with her head from the x-ray result except a bump, he couldn’t help being anxious.

  A head injury could result in a lot of things. He didn’t want such complications for Sandy. He wanted her to wake up hale and hearty.

  The thought of her going through surgery tightened his hand around hers. He wished that she would wince so that he would know if her senses were in order.

  He increased the pressure of his hand on hers, staring keenly at her face for a reaction. Even a frown, no matter how slight, would be highly welcome.

  When he tried this for a while and Sandy didn’t even stir, he released his tight grip and frowned himself. The doctor said she wasn’t in a coma; he hoped that she wouldn’t slip into one.

  He was just about to rise to check her vitals when the door swung open and a teary woman rushed into the room. Seth swiftly rose from his chair and she hurried into his arms, crying.

  “How is she?” Aunt Karen asked when she finally pulled away from him, struggling to contain her tears.

  “The doctor said she would be all right,” Seth told her as she dabbed at her eyes with her handkerchief.

  Nodding, she walked toward the bed as if she was afraid of what she would see.

  “Oh, Sandy!” A sob caught in her throat.

  A lump formed in Seth’s throat. He knew what the sobbing woman was seeing. Sandy lay on the bed as still as a statue. Against the whiteness of the sheets, her face was very pale. She had bruises on her body and a discoloration on her forehead.

  “It’s not so bad, Aunt Karen. She’ll be fine,” Seth comforted the woman who was weeping as if Sandy would never rise from the bed ever again.

  Aunt Karen sniffed. “Do you think so? She’s so pale, I’m so scared.”

  She searched Seth’s face. He registered that she was trying to see if he was lying to her about Sandy’s state. He surmised that she was trying to guess if he was misleading her to spare her feelings.

  “Please tell me the truth. What did the doctor say?” she insisted with a sniff.

  “He said she would be all right, but he can’t say anything for sure until she wakes up. Then we… he’d be able to know if there were more injuries,” he explained carefully.

  “More?�
�� she questioned with her eyes widening.

  He rapidly shook his head. “I don’t think there would be more. If there was an underlying issue, the x-ray would have picked up on it.”

  Still looking doubtful, she shifted her gaze to her niece and gripped her hand tightly.

  “Sandy, you have to get out of this. Please. You’re the only family I have. You can’t leave me, please.”

  Seeing how distressed Sandy’s aunt was cut Seth to shreds. He was aware that he was the cause of her being so distraught. It was too much for him to bear, so he quietly stepped out of the room after excusing himself.

  He continued walking until he was out in the parking lot, staring as cars drove by. He wished he could turn back the hands of time. Definitely, he would have done things differently.

  If only there was something he could do to make reparations. He felt so helpless and hopeless; despair crept into his soul. Revealing who he was wasn’t one of the things he wanted to do yet, given the current circumstances. But if it would save her life, then he had no choice.

  Seth remained slumped against the wall for a long time, fighting to gain control of his emotions. Aunt Karen couldn’t see him like this. He had to be strong for her. Besides, if he was jittery, she was bound to suspect that something wasn’t right with him.

  He wanted to sort things out with Sandy first before anything. If Aunt Karen knew that he had caused her niece’s accident, she wouldn’t allow him to come within a mile of her.

  Sighing heavily, he walked back inside the hospital, calmer than when he’d left about thirty minutes earlier. He took in a deep breath and let it out slowly when he got to Sandy’s hospital room.

  Quietly, he opened the door and walked into the room. Aunt Karen was seated beside Sandy, holding her hand. He had half hoped that Sandy would be awake. Even if she told him to get out of her life for good, he would be devastated, but at least she would be awake.

  Aunt Karen turned as he entered. Tears were still in her eyes, but he could see that she was no longer sobbing hysterically.

  “Where have you been?” she asked in a concerned tone.