“We’re going to monitor you for signs of seizure activity for another few hours given your history and the symptoms we noted when you came in,” the doctor continued. “Assuming nothing else happens, I expect we’ll be sending you home.”
“Nothing else happens?” I repeated, staring at Sunny.
She lifted a shoulder, winced. “My brain got a little spicy after all this went down, but I held it all together.”
“Sunny,” I breathed, brushing my fingers over her forehead. “Tell me who did this to you so I can find them and drown them in the cove.”
“You wouldn’t do that.” She reached up and closed her fingers around my wrist. “It would mess up your ecosystem.”
“Let me worry about those details.”
The doctor cleared his throat and made some noises about coming back to check on Sunny later, then dragged the curtain shut behind him.
I pressed a kiss to her forehead and took a moment to inventory the injuries I could see. Cuts, bruises, scrapes. Broken arm. Loopy look in her eyes that said she’d had her bell rung hard. I didn’t even know where I could touch her.IfI could touch her. I was powerless in the most enraging ways. I wanted to fix something—anything—and I wanted to scream at the world for harming this one perfect thing of mine.
“Sit down.” She pointed to the chair behind me, adding, “Breathe. I hear it’s very important if you want to continue existing.”
I sat, closing her hand in both of mine. “Please tell me what happened.”
“There’s a spot where Old County Road cuts through the bike path. It’s just two lanes and the speed limit is low in that area because it’s near the elementary school. There was a car stopped on the side of the road. I waited at the intersection for a minute but the car didn’t move. But then they sped up and—” She rocked her head from side to side, let out a heavy breath. “I don’t know how it happened. One minute I was in the crosswalk, the next they were speeding away.”
I blinked at her. Now I was really going to drown someone. “They left the scene?”
“Yeah,” she said, her brows pitching up. “But there was a runner on the path. He was a few yards behind me and saw the whole thing. He stayed with me after it happened.”
That guy had a lifetime of oysters coming his way. “There’s a shred of hope for humanity.”
She squeezed my hand, saying, “I know I’m a little fuzzy right now but I don’t remember you getting down on one knee and begging me to marry you.”
“You will,” I murmured. When she gave me a puzzled frown, I added, “Agent Price said they wouldn’t let me back here unless I told them I was your husband.”
“Agent Price?”
“Yeah. He drove me here.” I lifted her hand to my lips, kissed her knuckles. “I went over to Naked to see you, and Meara told me there’d been an accident. You could’ve called me. I don’t like that you were here all alone.”
“I have a lot of experience with being alone in ERs.”
“Not anymore,” I said.
“And my phone died in the accident,” she said. “Totally destroyed. Same with my bike.”
I nodded. “Yeah, about that.” I kissed her knuckles again. “I promise I’ll buy you a bike just like the one you lost today as long as you promise to never, ever ride it.”
A smile curled at the corners of her lips. “I don’t think I’ll take that deal but I am wondering if you’re finished with the murderous freak-out yet because I need to ask you a really huge favor.”
“You were involved in a hit-and-run and you have two broken bonesanda concussion. I don’t think I’ll be finished with this freak-out until next year. At the earliest.” I gave her a manic smile that made her laugh. “What do you need? There’s very little in this world that I can’t give you.”
She raked her teeth over her lower lip and ducked her gaze. Silence stretched out between us.
“Sweetheart, if you don’t tell me right now, I’m going to—”
“My parents are going to be here any minute,” she said, reaching for my tie and yanking me in close, “and I know I shouldn’t ask this of you but I really need you to step in front of that runaway train for me. They’re going to turn this place upside down. They’re going to panic and they’re going to move in with me for at least two months and they will become a pair of planets orbiting me until I burn out and explode. I need your help holding them off.”
“Sunny. Sweetheart. Storm cloud. You werehit by a car. A runaway train of panic is appropriate.” I tapped my chest. “I’m living it right now.”
“Beck,” she whispered, her eyes soft and pleading. “Please.”
As if I could say no to her. As if I could do anything but exactly what she wanted. As if I had a single bargaining chip in hand.
