“I told you I was a mess.”
I snapped out of it and crouched, just like I had done multiple times with Jolie. I moved my head and craned my neck until I could see his eyes. He glanced at me, and I felt terrible for him.
“Andrew, this ends with her. I have an empty house, and you are going to stay there.”
He didn’t respond to what I said and quickly looked away. The partial end table shifted with him when he moved his hands to the passenger seat. On the seat next to him was a pair of gym shorts.
“I grabbed them on the way out. I thought I could put them on in the car, but the pain and this fucking table—”
“I really wish you would let me call an ambulance.”
“No, please, Josh. They’ll arrest her. They’ll get her for assault with a deadly weapon,” he rasped.
The mugs she threw at him? I looked closer at his body. The blood. The blood wasn’t from a splatter. They were cuts.Did she use a knife on him?I wasn’t even thinking clearly, and I tried to snap out of it.
“What weapon, Andrew?” My heart skipped a beat while I tried not to show my anger.
“She stabbed me a few times.”
Stabbed.
Knife.
Blood.
Loss of blood.
Internal injuries.
Time.
Death.
Snap the fuck out of it, Josh. Help him!
“Andrew, I’m going to wrap my hands around your upper arms as gently as possible and will help lift you up. All you need to do is try to turn and move with me. Okay?”
He nodded as I helped him get his legs and bare feet out of the car.
“Hold the table and legs so it doesn't get caught on anything,” I suggested. I glanced at his wrists again, and the cuffs had dug into the skin on the one hand. “Dude, did you break the fucking table trying to get loose?”
“I did. I could only get one leg off, though.”
“They’ll take care of this at the hospital,” I assured him. “I’ll get you in my car, and then I’ll grab your shorts.”
I got Andrew out of the car and upright, and he coughed and leaned over to throw up again. His breathing was shallow and rapid. I tried to give him a moment to be still as he grunted and groaned through the pain. Time was thin, though, and we needed to go.
“I have a blanket in the back of my SUV. Can you stay standing up on your own for a minute?”
Andrew nodded and leaned against his open car door. I left his side for a few moments and grabbed the blanket. On my way to the passenger seat, I unfolded the blanket, opened the door, and spread it out over the entire seat and backrest. It was huge, and once he was seated, I would be able to wrap it around him.
“Come on, it’s just a few steps to my vehicle, and it’ll be easy for you to sit in,” I encouraged.
I quickly scanned the asphalt to make sure there weren’t any glaring pieces of glass or rocks as we moved. Andrew grunted with each step and as soon as I got him inside my SUV, I quickly shut the door and raced back to his car. I reached in and grabbed his phone from the cupholder and his wallet and shorts from the passenger seat. I took the keys out of the ignition and shut and locked his car door. The fabric of the driver seat had absorbed so much blood. That car was going to need to be totaled.
“Hey, doing okay?” I asked as soon as I got in the car and pulled my seatbelt on.
“Yeah.”
