“Probably wasn’t even my first. Just the first that was caught.” Her voice breaks, and she swallows. “You scared the shit out of me, Ash.”
This isn’t about Owen. It’s about how close I came to this being much worse.
“I’m sorry,” I whisper. Sorry for scaring her, but mostly sorry that this is bringing up old wounds for her.
“Don’t,” she snaps. She reaches out and cups my face, avoiding the bruising. “Don’t you ever apologize for someone else attacking you.”
That shuts me up. Her shoulders drop a little.
“You don’t get to try to downplay this okay?” she adds. “This is serious. Let us help you.”
I nod in agreement. She knows me too well; knows that I would rather suffer than bother anyone with my problems, but she’s right.
A nurse enters a little while later with a wheelchair and pushes it to the edge of my bed.
“I can walk,” I protest weakly.
“No, you can’t,” Parker says immediately, shooting me a warning look.
The nurse smiles at her approvingly.
“Hospital policy.”
The two help me sit up slowly. My ribs protest, my head swims, and the room tilts slightly before righting itself. Parker sees it, and her hand goes to my back in a flash.
“Easy.”
I hate that I need help, but I do. The nurse settles me into the wheelchair and hands Parker the discharge folder.
“She’ll need to be supervised for at least the next forty-eight hours,” the nurse says firmly. “Head injuries can be unpredictable.”
“Of course. I’ll be with her,” Parker tells her without hesitation, then looks at me. “I’m going to go down and bring the car to the front. Wait right here.”
I nod, the nurse smiles, and Parker exits the room.
“I’ll be right outside at the nurses station if you need me dear,” the nurse tells me, rubbing my shoulder. She exits and takes her seat behind the desk in the center of the hallway.
The hall hums with quiet movement–a cart rolls by, someone laughs softly down the corridor. The world continues as if nothing happened.
I sit there, hands folded loosely in my lap, staring at the far wall. My ribs ache with every breath, and I just want to get back home and go to sleep.
My phone buzzes in the pocket of my hoodie, folded over the back of the chair, and I flinch at the sound. Everything feels louder now. I don’t reach for it. I just close my eyes for a second and try to breathe. Footsteps approach and stop outside the door, followed by a soft knock.
Looking up, I see Andy leaned up against the door frame, his hands tucked into the pockets of his jacket, expression drawn tight with concern.
“Heard you were here,” he says softly.
Relief washes over me before I can stop it. I thought for sure when I stepped away from Jack and Melissa, Andy would walk too. I haven’t heard from him since the gala, and I had let go of the idea of him still being in my life after.
“Word travels fast I see,” I murmur. “How did you hear?”
Stepping into the room, he shrugs.
“I stopped by the casino, thought we could grab some lunch and overheard some busy body waitresses talking about an attack. When I couldn’t find you, I put two and two together.”
He gives me a small half-smile and steps closer but not too close.
“You look…rough.”
