I was so used to Asa’s slow, mellow southern drawl that when his words came out in a rush I had a hard time deciphering what he was trying to tell me. The bits and pieces I did pick out, like “accident,” “hurt,” “emergency room,” and “unconscious” made my heart lodge in my throat and the world tilt dangerously off-kilter. I had to grab the handrail on the stairs because I momentarily lost my balance and almost ended up on my ass.
I asked Asa if he had called Royal’s mother and he just grunted at me and bit out a harsh “No.” I told him I would make the call since there seemed to be some kind of hostility on his end toward my best friend’s flighty parent. Royal’s mom wouldn’t ever be inducted into the parenting hall of fame, but they were close and she was going to want to be there if Royal was hurt, even if it meant facing the silent scorn that seemed to emanate off of Asa when she was around. He told me what hospital they were at and I jogged the rest of the way down the stairs calling not only Royal’s mom but my own as I did so. She would want to know what was going on with the young woman she loved like one of her own as well.
The call to Royal’s mom was exhausting and frustrating. The woman was as dramatic as they came and since I didn’t have any details I couldn’t ease her fears or hysterics as she started screaming, “My baby! I told her she was going to get hurt!” over and over again. Finally, I couldn’t handle it anymore and just hung up on her. She was going to have to pull her shit together before she showed up at the hospital. I had a feeling Asa wouldn’t let her anywhere near Royal unless she showed up in full-on mom mode, something that was always a struggle for the woman.
My own mother took the news more stoically and asked if I wanted her to meet me at the emergency room. I told her to hold off until I had more information and promised to keep her updated when I knew more. She was worried but not one to fly off the handle like Royal’s mom, and the calm assurance did wonders to slow my rapidly thundering heart. I wasn’t going to assume the worst. I couldn’t.
When I got to the hospital, I moved as fast as I was able to since my own accident. I was intimately familiar with the emergency wing of the hospital, so it took me no time at all to maneuver my way through the sterile halls and around scrub-clad staff. Asa was easy enough to spot as soon as I hit the waiting room and intake area. He was standing by the desk talking to a lovely redheaded woman dressed in scrubs. Asa was a charmer and a stupidly attractive man. He seemed to attract female attention wherever he went, but the time and the place were not right for him to be flirting. It made me narrow my eyes at the scene before me.
The nurse had a hand on the outside of his arm and was looking up at him in a way that seemed way more personal than professional. There was concern and sympathy stamped on every line of her expressive face and I could see that she was trying to comfort the tall, blond southerner the best she could. He would nod occasionally at whatever it was she was telling him and at one point he reached down and enfolded the woman in a hug, which made my back teeth clench together. His girlfriend was injured, supposedly unconscious somewhere in this hospital and he had the nerve to have his hands on the first pretty face that wandered by? I wanted to choke him and then kick him.
The redheaded nurse returned the hug, said something else to him and then picked up a chart and disappeared down the labyrinth of hallways, giving me my opening to approach. Asa turned just as I reached him and his whiskey-colored eyes widened in shock as I put my hands on the center of his chest and gave him a solid shove. He fell back a step and caught himself on the edge of the desk where he had been snuggling with the nurse a moment ago.
“Royal is hurt and you’re already lining up her replacement? I told you if you broke her heart again I was going to break you.” The words snapped out harsh and fast, fueled by worry and anger.
Asa held his hands up and then moved them to shove back his sandy hair. “That nurse is engaged to one of my closest friends in case you missed the sparkler on her finger.” He lifted his tawny eyebrows at me. “She also used to live across the hall from Royal and considers her her best friend, so she’s just as worried as you and I are. Something you would know if you bothered to meet the new people in her life, Dom.”
I winced as a bolt of shame went through me. He had a point. When I got hurt, Royal had spiraled down into a dangerous depression and it wasn’t me that stopped her fall. It was her new group of friends, and this man who had been there for her without fail. I hadn’t made any kind of effort to meet them because it was a painful reminder that life and all the people I loved most in it moved on, grew, changed, while I was stuck just waiting to see if my body would heal. Everyone was going forward and I was stuck on pause. I hated it and kind of resented that while I couldn’t do anything about my situation, Royal’s life had become so full and vibrant. If I had been thinking clearly I probably would have put two and two together and realized the nurse was her friend Saint, who Royal talked about pretty much all the time.
I grumbled a weak apology that Asa graciously accepted. “What happened? Did she get hurt at work?” I was picturing a high-speed chase gone wrong, or a desperate suspect ramming into her patrol car trying to flee the scene of the crime.
Asa shook his head and heaved a deep sigh. “She was driving home from the grocery store and a kid texting ran a red light and T-boned her right on the driver’s side. The Four-Runner flipped, but she had her seat belt on, thank God.” He rubbed his hands over his face and I could see the pain and worry bright in his gaze. “She was in and out of consciousness at the scene, so they brought her in and rushed her in for a CT scan. Other than that, she got a wicked gash on her arm from broken glass and was complaining that it hurt to breathe, so she might have a couple busted ribs. Saint said she would come and let me know when they move her back into a room after the scan.” He blew out a breath and lifted a hand to rub the back of his neck. “I don’t think I’ve ever been so scared in my life, when Saint called and said there was an accident and that Royal was being rushed in.”