“Now. I have to meet Darren in about twenty minutes, he’s taking me to dinner.”
“Oh nice. I’ve got some patient notes to finish up.”
“Paperwork, bane of my existence. Have fun.”
“Thank you. So much for that. Really appreciated.”
Caitlyn laughs again and grabs her things.
I head back to the office and start pulling up records so I can update them electronically from my notes. Sometimes it gets like that, too busy to be on the computer, I write everything down. It’s worked for me for years, even if it means staying back longer than I really need to.
Shannon pops her head in and says she will be working late too, and to say goodbye when I’m going because everyone else has left and the front doors are locked.
It’s almost six when I finish up. Still early enough but the clinics finish at 4 so it’s overtime but I figure it’s my issue for working the way I do so won’t claim it. As requested, I pop in and say goodnight to Shannon then head out.
It’s a bad idea to drink coffee this late in the day but I’m beat and I have some things to do at home. There is a coffee shop a few blocks away, and it’s a nice enough night, so I leave the car and start walking.
I’ve been going through dad’s stuff because eventually I am going to decide what I’m keeping or giving away. I’m not ready to actually part with it all but I’ve begun boxing things up. My phone buzzes and I pull it out of my purse. It’s a text from Dana to see if I’m interested in going to the Battlefield with her.
God, why is she still so hung up on this fighter biker dude? It’s clear he’s not interested. I type out a text and pause at a crosswalk. It’s still rush hour so fairly busy.
It’s why I don’t notice the motorcycle riding up towards me. I’m in the middle of replying to Dana when it stops a few inches from me and the rider grabs my phone.
“Hey, what the hell,” I tug on it and he fights me. He goes for my purse and I wrestle it back. “Stop, get off me.”
He lunges for me and I scream as he hits me in the face. Putting up my arms to defend myself he hits me two more times and my lip splits. The final hit is so hard my head spins and I start to lose my balance. He pushes me so hard, I go down sideways, falling like a ton of bricks.
As I land on the hard pavement, I scream out again but in seconds everything goes woozy.
The man tugs my purse from arm, picks my phone up from the floor and jumps on his bike, speeding away before anyone can stop him. It happened in less than sixty seconds.
Everything blurs as tears leak from my eyes and people run over to help me. My brain is still trying to catch up with what happened while people are shouting about calling 911 and a woman ducks down asking if I’m okay.
No, I’m not okay. I’m really not.
The police and an ambulance are called, the EMTs set me on the back and treat my wounds, wrapping my wrist. The police ask me a ton of questions I barely remember. My face hurts, my wrist is throbbing, my body is going into shock.
Vaguely I hear the police talking about a spate of these kinds of assault and robberies. They ask if I can describe him but he was wearing a full helmet with a black visor I couldn’t see through and gloves. I don’t even know what race he was, or if it was a man or woman.
Although the force with which I was hit says it was a man.
Finally, the questions stop and I’m loaded into the ambulance. I lay back on the gurney and close my eyes, trying to get some respite from the lights. The shock will fade soon, and I will have to deal with what happened but right now, I’m fighting the pain, my whole face hurts.
I’ve never been hit before. I’ve treated people who have when I did nurse training but it’s never happened to me. I wrap my arms around myself as we drive through traffic toward the hospital. It’s not an emergency so there is no need for lights and sirens but the paramedic wants me to get my wrist x-rayed and check for concussion.
More tears spill from my eyes, running down my temples and into my hair. I wish with all my heart that dad was here. If ever there was a time I need him, this is it.
Chapter Twelve
Nero
Blaze sits down at the table beside me looking less grim than most of my officers have the last few days. I’m fucking exhausted but I don’t have the luxury of taking a break. I’ve found one of our regular buyers is breaking off a deal. We’ve had a relationship for five years. We supply them with all their drugs but they called off the next buy. No reason, in fact the asshole hasn’t been responding.
The plan is to go see him tomorrow. He doesn’t know that. Or that half the club is gonna roll up at his shitty little nightclub and fucking ruin his day.
This shit is getting out of hand. Chains is proving to be more difficult to crack than any of us thought. Not even Ellie has got him to open up. I tried to call her off a couple of days ago but she is determined and has been spending most of her spare time with him.
She even told me he is thinking of her as his girl, which makes her want to vomit, but no man has ever beaten her in this game.
