After we finished up and the tow truck pulled up to take away my totaled car, I rushed over to the ambulance where they had Harper sitting on the stretcher inside. Her gaze lifted to mine as I stepped up inside.
“Is everything okay?”
Harper nodded slowly and closed her eyes as she winced from the pain. “They want me to go to the hospital just to be sure.”
One of the paramedics stepped beside Harper and urged her to lay down. “You need to rest right now.” The woman turned around to face me and motioned for me to step outside of the ambulance. “We suspect she has a concussion. We’re going to take her to the hospital so they can check and make sure that is all it is.”
I swallowed roughly over the lump lodged in my throat. “I need to go with her.”
The woman nodded in understanding. “We will let you ride along with us to take her in and we also need you to get checked out too.”
“I’m fine,” I assured her as I felt the twinge of pain running down my leg. “I don’t need anyone to worry about me. I just want to make sure she’s okay.”
She shook her head at me. “The choice is ultimately yours, but they’re going to insist you get checked. Also, considering the fact that you’re not putting weight on your right leg is a sign that something is wrong. We’re leaving in two minutes, so please be ready to go.”
She moved back to the ambulance without giving me a chance to say anything else to her. There was nothing I really needed to say. She was right—I needed to get my leg looked at. There was no way I could safely skate with the pain I was feeling. As I turned around I found the old man lingering. I sucked in a deep breath and shoved my hands in my front pockets as I approached him.
“Is she okay?” he asked as I stepped up to him. There was a hint of worry in his tired features and his voice was strained. The guilt was evident, yet I knew we were both at fault.
“They’re going to take her in to make sure there’s nothing wrong, but she’ll be okay.” I paused for a moment as I let out the breath I didn’t realize I was holding. “I apologize for what I said earlier. I shouldn’t have been so crass and rude to you. You were only trying to help and you didn’t intentionally pull out in front of us for this to happen.”
His chin wobbled a bit and his eyes grew damp as he sucked his lips in between his teeth. I watched his throat bob as he swallowed and nodded. “You don’t have to apologize to me, son. There was no harm done on your end and I would have reacted the same way if something like that would have happened to my Eleanor.”
My eyes dropped down to his hands and I watched as he toyed with the wedding band on his thick finger. My gaze met his and I gave him a small smile. No other words needed to be spoken between us because he knew. A complete stranger knew the exact feelings that were racing through my body at the moment of the accident.
I looked back to the ambulance as the man hobbled away. They had the engine running and they were getting ready to take her to the hospital. My footsteps were quick as I rushed across the road to her and I hopped on just before the woman pulled the doors shut.
I moved to Harper’s side and sat down on the bench as I slid both of my hands around hers. Harper turned her head to look at me, her bright blue eyes colliding with mine.
“Nico,” she whispered. “What are you doing? You can’t come to the hospital with me.”
“The fuck I can’t,” I growled as I cut my eyes at her. “You’re hurt. I’m not letting you out of my fucking sight.”
Her throat bobbed and a worried look passed through her irises. “Nico,” she started as she tried to argue, but I shook my head at her.
“This isn’t up for discussion, love. I don’t give a shit about what happens or who sees us. I’m not leaving your side.”
She let out a deep breath and her expression was grim. “Goddammit.”
“I know, love,” I murmured as she closed her eyes and tightened her hand around mine. This was either going to be the end of us or the end of her career. Either way, someone was going to catch wind of this and there was only so much denying the both of us could do. “I know…”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
HARPER
The stretcher was smooth on the linoleum floor of the hospital. The entire emergency room was loud with the noise of other patients and the staff consistently on their toes. I watched in a daze as people rushed past us. My head felt like it was swimming while simultaneously pounding. The blood on my forehead had since dried and turned into a scab that felt like a piece of glue stuck to my skin. It felt taut and was really sore.
They wheeled me into a room and Nico was right there walking beside me the entire time. A nurse stopped him at the door as she put her hand up in front of him.
“I’m sorry, sir, but we need to check to make sure it’s okay if you’re back here with her.”
His eyes went wild and his jaw clenched. “I’m not going anywhere without her.” There was a coldness in his tone and it was almost too calm. It was as if he were a volcano that was getting ready to erupt. Like the calm before the storm.
The nurse glanced over at me and looked back at him. “Please wait outside for one moment. If you don’t cooperate, I will have to call security.”
Nico’s gaze flashed to mine and I nodded at him. He let out an exasperated sigh and stepped out of her way. The nurse pulled the door shut behind her and stepped inside the room. “It’s protocol for us to ask questions in private in regards to your safety.”
My eyebrows pulled together. “Okay…”
She went through a series of questions, all of which I answered honestly. After she deemed it was safe to let him back into the room, he rushed in like a whirlwind and took his spot back by my side. He was standing guard, like he would attack anyone he thought wasn’t doing what they should be or if they were a threat to me.
Various nurses and doctors came in to check on me before they decided I needed to get a CAT scan for them to make sure there was no trauma to my brain. Nico’s phone began to ring as we were waiting for someone to come take me back. I watched his face fall as he looked at the screen and glanced back at me.
“It’s Wes,” he said with his voice low. “Fuck.”
“Answer it.”
Nico frowned, but he accepted the call and held his phone up to his ear. His body instantly grew rigid as he listened to Wes rambling through the speaker. “No, we’re fine. We’re at the hospital right now for Harper to get checked.”
His jaw was clenched as he listened again and he ran a frustrated hand through his hair as he hung his head. His shoulders sagged and something wasn’t right. “Who all knows?” He fell silent again. “What the fuck did it say?” Silence again, but his footsteps filled the void as he began to pace. “No. Fuck. That’s not what happened at all.”
My head was still pounding and there was a feeling of dread building in my stomach from the way Nico was behaving. I watched the slight limp in his gait and that made me feel even worse. My mind began to race as I played over every possible worst-case scenario in my head.
“Yeah, I’ll let you know when we get out of here. Thanks, bro,” Nico said quietly to Wes before walking back over to the bed. His eyes instantly found mine. “Someone posted about the accident on Twitter. No one has any idea how anyone found out… but I’m pretty sure everyone knows.”