by Dark, Ava
“Maggie Saint Claire.”
“Do you know where you are?”
“No.”
“Do you remember what happened?”
“No. I—” But then I do. “Yeah. I fell.” Crap. I direct my mind’s attention to my body. I wiggle my chest around.
“Are you uncomfortable? I can loosen the straps if they’re too tight.”
“No. Well, yes. I’m not uncomfortable. Please loosen the straps.”
Fuck. I’m still topless. I have terrible luck. At least I have a sheet over me.
“Is that normal?”
Cade. Cade’s voice. He’s here. The voice spikes my heart rate. This I know by the beeping monitor to my left. Or is that my right?
No, my left.
I wiggle the fingers on my left hand to make sure.
Yep, I was right.
I try to sit up. Black Hair pushes me down. “Please don’t try to move.”
“I’m fine.” I realize I have an oxygen mask on, and pull it off.
And want to put it back on. “Wow, there’s not a lot of oxygen in here.”
“You’ve had several concussions tonight, Ms Saint Claire. You need to let us treat you.”
I let the mask snap back on my face, and giggle.
“You need to be careful,” Black Hair tells me, “your nose might be broken.”
“Is that what that feeling is?”
A hand brushes my face. I see Cade sitting next to me. It’s his hand. “She’s bleeding again.”
“She did it to herself. Give her another hundred.”
And then my eyes close without my permission.
Chapter 8
By the time I wake up, I’m in a hospital bed, and have a gown on. Which I’m very much grateful for.
I tentatively touch my nose. It doesn’t hurt. Am I on painkillers?
I sniff, and everything seems in place.
“Hey,” a voice says.
I look to my left and see Cade getting up from a chair.
“How do you feel?”
“Good?”
“Are you sure? You don’t sound it.”
“Good? Or sure?”
He brushes hair from my forehead. “Jesus, I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
“For knocking you over.”
My mind flashes back to the incident, and I remember. “Yeah, asshole.”
“The doctors said you should be fine.” He runs the back of his hand over my cheek. “You’re young and resilient.”
I laugh.
“Well, that’s what the hundred-year-old doctor said, anyway.”
“Is he really a hundred?”
Cade shakes his head. “They want to keep you for a bit. Make sure you don’t die.”
“I can handle not dying.”
“Still want to come with me?”
“With you?”
“Home. SF.”
I nod. “More than ever.”
He leans over, kisses me. Not on the forehead, but on the lips. It’s gentle, soft, but instantly brings a heat to my face.
He stands, runs his thumb over my lip. “I’m glad. Get some rest.” He frowns. “Well, don’t fall asleep, I guess.” His frown deepens. “Or maybe you can.” He shakes his head. “Anyway, I’ll be back.”
“Where are you going?” I ask quietly, oddly calm.
He runs his hand along my bare arm, and I shiver. “I have some things to set up. I’ll pick you up in the morning.”
“You can’t spend the night?”
Only when he bites his lip do I realize how this must sound.
“In the chair, I mean. You know…”
“I can’t. I’ll see you soon, Mags.”
And then he’s gone.
I wake up again, not realizing I’d fallen asleep, and I’m in a wheelchair. I look around, and find Cade sitting next to me.
“Yes, it’s fine. Put it on the card.”
I look to the person he’s speaking to. A woman. A receptionist? There’s a name plate on the desk that proclaims her name to be Arlene Johnson. I look behind me, and we look to be in a hospital waiting room. Did I dream all that? Dream Cade kissed me? Have I not gotten treatment yet?
I look down at myself, see I’m wearing a sweatshirt. Wonder who put it on me. Let myself imagine it was Cade.
He sees me looking around. “You’re up,” he says, interrupting whatever the receptionist was saying.
I look at him and nod, smile weakly. “Where are we?”
“Dealing with payment.” He glances at the woman. “Trying to.”
Wasn’t a dream, then. Maybe Cade did put the sweatshirt on me. I feel a smile form on my lips.
“I have to be thorough,” Arlene says.
“Of course.”
“And the ambulance—”
“Charge it,” Cade groans.
Arlene’s eyes widen. “Are you sure you don’t have insurance?”
“Look,” Cade says quietly, speaking slowly. “I don’t care about the costs. Just put it all on the card I gave you.” He gestures at the card sitting on the desk between them.
“Well, there’s another charge for nine hundred fifty-two dollars and thirty-two cents.”
Cade groans. “Just charge all of it on the card.”
“But sir, that’s almost a thousand dollars!”
“I make that in a minute,” he mutters under his breath.
“Take all the minutes you need.”
“What?” He closes his eyes and lifts his head toward the ceiling. “No. Look, Jesus, charge the card now, or we’re leaving without paying.”
“I’m sorry sir, I can’t let you do that.” She presses her lips together and gives her head a quick shake, her eyes half-closing.
“Then charge me! For fuck’s sake what is wrong with you?”
“My,” she says, looking at me with a wry smile, “who’s the one who had her nose broken?”
“Indeed,” I agree, even though I have no clue what she’s talking about. I think I’m still high. Or maybe just sleepy.
Cade looks at me like I’ve betrayed him.
“This is your fault,” I tell him with a shrug.
Arlene’s face makes an O expression. “Do you need someone, dear?”
“Hm?”
“I can call someone. If you need time alone, away from your… boyfriend?”
“No. He’s my brother.”
“Oh.” She looks at Cade. “How is this your fault, then?”
“I don’t know.” Cade looks at me.
So does the woman.
Why is everyone looking at me? “The door. I wouldn’t have fallen if you hadn’t opened the door.”
“I wouldn’t have opened the door if you hadn’t screamed.”
“And I wouldn’t have screamed if my nose wasn’t broken.”
“So you’re saying, it’s your fault.”
Arlene, arbiter of justice, licks her teeth and nods. “Mm hmm, I’mma have to agree with him. Your records say you fell at the airport.”
“To catch a plane he was on!”
She shakes her head. “Doesn’t add up. This was at LAX. If he was on a plane, how is he still here?”
I squint at her. “How do you know so much about what happened?”
She raises her eyebrows and gestures at the monitor in front of her. “It’s all here in the system sweetie, can’t no one hide from Dave.”
“Who the shit’s Dave, and why does he know about me?” I cry.
“The computer. Don’t you watch movies? Or are you one of those ditzy types?”
“It’s Hal, you idiot!” This exclamation makes my nose vibrate, and hurt.
And subsequently, bleed.
“Fuck,” I say.
Cade glances at me. “Fuck,” he says.
“Fuck,” the receptionist agrees.
“Just charge the card,” Cade says, pressing on my forehead and tilting my head back.
“Mm hmm, I’m gonna charge the card. I’ll charge it s
o fast you won’t if know what hit you. You’ll be like, was I in a hospital? I can’t remember, the service was so fast.”
“I doubt I’ll think that.”
“Just you wait.”
I hear keys being pressed.
Chapter 9
We wait in the waiting room by the water fountains and bathroom. Me sitting on the stretcher, and Cade standing.
“Other people are waiting to have their bills gone over,” Arlene told us, before pointing to a stretcher and telling us to wait there.
Cade just groaned, and pushed me to where she directed. A nurse helped me up onto a stretcher, then said someone would be with me in a minute.
“What about you?” Cade asked.
The man shook his head. “I’m just a nurse, sir.” He looked at me. “And that’s a lot of blood.”
Then he went back into the room he came from, which looks almost like a doctor’s examination room, except there’s a desk and computer in there as well, and a large window gridded with what looks like wire.
I wonder why a waiting room needs such security.
As I’m pondering this, finally, a doctor comes to see me.
A doctor who, “Had to come all the way back from the parking lot.”
“My shift is over in ten minutes!” he continues.
“I…”
“It takes fifteen minutes to get home. So, now I’m going to be working longer than I’m supposed to!”
“Uh…” I look to Cade, then back. “Sorry?”
He shakes his head and grabs mine.
I flinch.
“Does this hurt?” He moves my head about.
“No, but it’s making me dizzy.”
He waves his hand. “You hit your head last night. I don’t think you’re going to die.”
“You don’t think?” I ask in a strained voice.
He shakes his head. “No.” He places his thumbs on either side of my nose, and I can’t help but wonder if he shouldn’t be wearing gloves.
“Hm. It’s not bleeding anymore.” He pulls his thumbs apart, stretching my nose.
“Does this hurt?”
I shake my head.
“What about this?” He shoves his thumbs together, compressing my nose.
”Ow!”
He waves his hand. “It’s fine. Not broken.”
I sniff, which hurts. “You sure? It might be now.”
He puts out his arms, twisting back and forth at the waist. “Look around. Don’t you think I know this kind of thing?”
“So you’re responsible for everyone in here?” I ask.
“I don’t need your sarcasm.” He huffs. “Try not to… bleed again.”
“Great. I’ll do that.”
“That should help.”
“It seems like it would.”
“Oh it will. I know these kinds of things.”
I nod. “Because you’re a doctor.”
He frowns. “I’m not a doctor.”
“What?” Cade and I ask in unison.
He belts out a laugh that sounds like he might be trying out for opera. “Why would a doctor come all the way out here?”
“So, you’re a nurse.”
“Em, something like that. Anyway, gotta go. Can’t be late.”
“Wha—” I begin, but he turns and—surprisingly quickly—disappears through the keypaded doors leading to the ER just as a woman is coming out.
“Rex?” she calls, looking at a tablet.
Two people at the other end of the waiting room stand, and slowly make their way to her.
Slowly, because the young boy has a bone sticking out of his arm.
“Oh my god!” I cry.
And feel blood start to pour from my nose.
Cade pinches the bridge of his nose, perhaps in sympathy. “For fuck’s sake, Mags.”
Chapter 10
Turns out it was not a bone sticking out from his arm, but a chunk of a cast that the boy tried to remove himself, and which had attached itself to his skin.
At least that’s what Cade told me.
I couldn’t see, since I was trying not to die, or even pass out, from blood loss.
Now, I sit on the stretcher, head tilted back, wad of gauze to my face, waiting for whoever it is the useless nurse playing on the computer called.
I hear a groan, I cast my eyes down. I groan too.
“Oh good lord!” the not-doctor says, throwing his hands up in the air. “You know I was all the way in my car this time?” He looks at his wrist. “And now my shift ends in two minutes. Two! I live in Silverlake. Do you know how far away that is?” He pauses briefly, and I open my mouth to answer. He goes on before I get a chance. “It’s over ten miles away! I can’t possibly make it in that time, even if I speed.”
“Sorry?” I say.
He huffs. “You look fine. I thought you needed help.”
I let my head level itself, remove the gauze. Sniff. “It seems to have stopped bleeding.”
He stares at me, hands on hips. Then he throws up his arms again and shakes his head. “Just, great. Perfect. I’m so glad you’re happy.”
He storms off, through the doors again.
The same woman comes out. “Jones?” she calls.
What looks to be a father and daughter stand and make their way to her. The daughter looks a couple years younger than me, and is wearing one of the shortest skirts I’ve ever seen. Short enough to see her thong, and bottom.
But what really catches my eye, is that the dad is too. I would have thought it was the girl’s mom, except for the large beard covering much of his face.
Their outfits make me feel modest in my Hooters uniform. Or at least the shorts, since I’m topless under this sweatshirt. But hey, kept them from having to cut off my shirt when they brought me in.
“Think you can make it to the car without rupturing anything?” Cade asks.
“I’ll manage.” I slide off the gurney, and slip as soon as my feet hit the floor.
Cade catches me.
“Thanks,” I mumble.
He puts his arm around me, and I wrap mine around his waist—he’s way too tall for me to reach his neck—and we hobble in this manner to the car, which is waiting for us outside the hospital.
Cade takes me around to the passenger side, and opens the door.
I look around for paparazzi, but don’t see any. “No cameras,” I say, as he gets my butt onto the seat.
“I’m not that famous.”
“Besides,” a female voice says, “they don’t know he’s here.”
I jump and turn.
And find Amélie sitting in the driver’s seat.
She smiles. “Feeling better?”
Chapter 11
We drive in silence, and Cade, the asshole, sits in the back.
Cade and I are silent, anyway. Amélie, is not.
“And then we went on the snake roller coaster. Remember?” She looks in the rearview mirror at Cade as she’s done thirty-seven times now since leaving the hospital parking lot.
“Viper,” Cade says.
“Yes! That was so fun.”
She looks at me. “I’m so glad I went to Six Flags instead of Disneyland that day.”
“I bet,” I say, and try not to groan.
She’s so… perky.
I pull my eyes away from her chest. Jealously will get me nowhere.
Although I wouldn’t mind having that sweater she’s wearing. My sweater is less than flattering, and I constantly feel like it’s in danger of sliding down too much and revealing a tit at any moment, even though I’m just sitting here and not moving.
I look at my broken phone in my hand and lament my loss. Amélie brought it and my purse for me. And a candy bar, which I’ve long finished. I hate it when she makes it hard to hate her.
“So fun,” she repeats.
Six Flags is where they met. Cade was with his friend Corey, and they saw Amélie and her friend Grace sitting on a bench. Cade waved, and the two girls came over.
And the rest is relationship history.
I can only hope the relationship itself is too.
Chapter 12
Amélie doesn’t stop talking on the way back, reminiscing about when she and Cade first started dating, but I stop listening about the time we exit the hotel parking lot.
When we get to her building, there’s a valet to take the car, and Cade puts his arm around me as we make our way up to her apartment.
“You two are so cute!” Amélie squeals as we wait for the elevator.
When we get in, I’m reminded of earlier, Cade pinning me, kissing me, his hardness.
I cross my arms over my chest and try to steady my breathing.
“Oh, love, are you cold?” Amélie asks. “You can take a nice hot bath when we get back.”
“I’m fine.”
“I insist.” She pinches my cheek.
I stare at her. Her smile looks insane.
“You’re just so cute!”
“Uh. Thanks.”
She turns to Cade. “I love your sister.”
Cade sighs.
In the apartment, Amélie puts on a movie while Cade walks me to the bathroom.
“I’ll make popcorn!” I hear her call as Cade shuts the door.
“She’s nicer than I thought.”
Cade shakes his head.
“You don’t think so?”
“She’s nice,” he agrees.
“And beautiful. She manages to be all made up no matter what time it is.”
“I guess.”
I stare at him, contemplating pushing it. But I don’t want to seem jealous. “So, are you here to help?”
“Huh?” He looks around, like he’s stunned to find himself here. “Oh. I…” He shakes his head. “Sorry, I’ll leave you.”
“Wait.” I grab his arm before he can open the door. “Can you help? My shoulder hurts.”
“You’ve fallen enough recently.” He grabs the sweatshirt, begins lifting, and suddenly I get embarrassed.
“Wait!”
He stops.
I pull my arms in, place one across my breasts.
I nod. “Okay.”
He pulls the sweatshirt over my head, careful not to hit my nose.
The cool air caresses my skin, raising goose bumps.
I look to my left, to watch Cade in the mirror, feeling suddenly shy and unable to look directly at him.