Total pages in book: 120
Estimated words: 113464 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 567(@200wpm)___ 454(@250wpm)___ 378(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 113464 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 567(@200wpm)___ 454(@250wpm)___ 378(@300wpm)
There’s nothing I can do to take the pain away. I’m helpless, and I’ve never been a man who handles helplessness well.
“What are you apologizing for?” When she licks her dry lips, I pick up the Styrofoam cup of water from the wheeled table next to the bed and guide the straw to her mouth.
She takes a sip and tries to smile, but it looks more like a grimace. “For not calling sooner. I was so out of it, and they had my purse. They didn’t give it back to me until I came up from getting all those tests done. I don’t even know what half of them were.”
I could kick myself to death. There I was, cursing her, prepared to tie her to my bed and leave her there until she rotted. While she was alone here at the hospital, afraid, and probably half out of her senses from the pain.
All because some asshole hit her with their car and left her for dead.
“Did you see who hit you?” It’s amazing that I can speak clearly when I’m barely hanging on to the last shreds of my sanity. “Did you see the car? Did you see who was driving?”
She shakes her head slightly, a tear rolling down her bruised cheek. My perfect little bird, bruised and swollen because some asshole ran her down. “I didn’t even see them coming. One minute, I was crossing the street, and the next thing I remember was waking up in an ambulance. It was all my fault.” The monitor beside the bed beeps faster, thanks to the sensors stuck to her chest.
“You need to calm down,” I murmur, which is almost funny coming from me. The way I feel right now, nothing short of beating someone to death would calm me down.
“But I wasn’t looking. Why didn’t I look?”
“These things happen all the time. That’s not your fault. Whoever was behind the wheel should’ve been paying attention.” And they should have fucking stopped. Who the fuck hits somebody and leaves them in the street—in broad daylight. Someone who wants to kill someone.
I stroke her hair as gently as I can. According to the doctor, her injuries are superficial, but she’s in an understandable amount of pain, and I don’t want to make things worse. They ran pretty much every test known to man while I ranted and raved and nearly burned my house down. We’ve been at the hospital for hours, but Bianca was here for a few hours before I got the call. The whole time, I was unaware of where she was or that something had happened. She could have been dead, and I wouldn’t have known. It never occurred to me she could’ve had an accident.
There’s no choice but to swallow back my self-loathing for her sake. “The doctor said you’ll be fine, just sore for a few days. I’m going to take good care of you. And don’t worry about the bill from this place. I’ll take care of that, too.”
“You shouldn’t do that. I can—”
“I told you I would take care of you, and I mean it. You’re only wasting your breath by arguing.” I have to force a smile I don’t feel for her sake.
Her eyes close. “I’m so sleepy,” she mumbles.
“That’s the pain meds. As soon as the nurse comes back with your scripts, I’ll take you home. Get some rest now.” I press my lips to her clammy forehead and close my eyes, reminding myself she’s all right. It could’ve been much worse.
Her mouth moves wordlessly before a soft whisper reaches my ears. “I was coming back. I wasn’t going to sign the lease.” She forces her eyes open and finds mine. “I was coming back to you. I swear.”
“Just get some rest.” I believe her. And it makes my rage that much more potent. Someone nearly took her from me and didn’t have the balls to stop and help her.
Romero clears his throat from beyond the doorway of the cubicle in the busy ER. I join him, always keeping an eye on the bed. Just in case she needs me.
“I spoke to the cop who took her statement,” he murmurs, looking around to be sure no one’s listening in. There are too many people needing help and too many alarm bells going off for any of the busy nurses to pay much attention.
“And?”
“They don’t have anything yet. She never saw the driver and didn’t have anything to tell them. The woman who called 911 didn’t get a good look at the car, either.”
At least somebody bothered to help. “I figured. Here’s what I want you to do. Call all the businesses on that block and find out if they have security cameras out front. We might be able to get footage of whoever did this.”