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“What the hell did you do to him?”
Marcus lowered an unconscious Saks to Chrissy’s bed. “I didn’t do nothing to him. His own car attacked him.”
“His car?” said Chrissy incredulously.
“The hood fell on him.”
“Oh, shit! We need to get him to the hospital.”
“For what? A crack on the head? I got worse playing football in high school.”
Chrissy held back the snide remark brewing in her head. “Let me look.” Marcus moved out of her way and she sat on the edge of the bed. She did her best to ignore the fluttering of her stomach for the sexy man lying there. She felt instantly ashamed of herself. Saks is hurt, damn it! This was not the time to think of what it would be like to have him between the sheets. Yet the sight of the hard-muscled biker lying on her ruffled white comforter sent her insides into overdrive.
Tentatively, she ran her fingers through his dark hair. She pursed her lips when she found a growing goose egg at the top backside of the poor man’s skull.
“Here,” said Gloria as she entered the room with an ice bag. She handed it to Chrissy, who pressed it to the bruise. Saks lay as still as death and it scared the crap out of her.
“We should get him to a hospital,” said Chrissy.
“Nah,” said Marcus. “Besides, you girls need to get to your parents’ house. I’ll stay and watch him. Here.” He pulled a set of keys from his pockets. “You drive, Gloria. But be careful. That’s my baby there.”
Gloria took the keys with a flash of a smile.
“That’s okay,” said Chrissy. “We’ll take my car. You need yours in case you have to drive him to the hospital.” Chrissy snatched the keys from Gloria’s hand as her younger sister frowned, and tossed them back to Marcus. “We should try to wake him first. If he’s got a concussion he shouldn’t be sleeping.”
“Oh, he’s not sleeping. He’s out. Like, lights out.” Gloria pointed at Saks’ prone body.
Chrissy leaned forward and patted Saks’ face. “Saks, Saks, wake up.”
He groaned, which was encouraging. She repositioned the ice bag that had slipped while Marcus and Gloria claimed her attention. Chrissy moved it but inadvertently touched the back of Saks’ neck. He groaned.
“Saks, Saks, honey, you need to open your eyes.”
His eyes fluttered, and Chrissy sighed in relief.
“Shit... What happened?” he moaned.
“The hood of your car fell on you.”
“Bitch.” He groaned and tried to sit up, only to fall back again to her pillows.
“Hey, there,” said Marcus in a warning tone.
“I don’t think he meant me,” said Chrissy. “Did you, Saks?”
“I said,” he coughed, “it hurts like a bitch.”
Gloria studied her phone. “I think Chrissy’s right. Google says he needs to see a doctor, especially since he passed out.”
“All right, I’ll take him,” said Marcus grudgingly. “But you girls get to your parents’ house. That’s a world of hurt I don’t need right now. And for fuck’s sake don’t tell them about this fight. You’ve got enough troubles.”
Saks struggled to sit again. “I’ll be okay. Just... take me to my apartment.”
“Look at you,” snapped Chrissy. Damn, the man was stubborn. “Can’t even sit on your own. If you don’t go with Marcus, I’ll call an ambulance to pick you up.”
“Don’t,” gritted Saks. “You don’t get it. If my club finds out about this fight, they’ll be all over Marcus.”
“You weren’t hurt during the fight,” said Chrissy, “so just keep to that story.”
“Just because they’re bikers doesn’t mean they’re stupid.”
“I never said—”
“Okay, you two,” rumbled Marcus. “That’s enough. Come on, Saks, I’m taking you to the hospital.”
Saks tried to stand and passed out again.
***
“HEY,” SAID CHRISSY softly as Saks’ eyelids fluttered.
She leaned down closer to him beside the hospital bed. She’d ditched dinner, damn the consequences, and Marcus’ angry words. She couldn’t walk away when Saks was in dire need. What surprised her, though, was the wave of protectiveness that washed over her as she stood at his bedside. To gain entry into the ED room, she told them she was his sister. She also said she was next of kin. When she signed the consent forms to treat, a tiny amount of shame pricked her brain for the lie. But just a little. If Saks needed anyone to watch over him it was now.
“What’re you doing here?” he said hoarsely.
“I couldn’t leave you here all alone. I begged off the dinner, saying I didn’t feel well.”
“With the way Marcus went on about it...” He closed his eyes and sighed before slowly opening them again to try to focus on her.
“I did. I’ll hear about it for sure.”
“Am I in the hospital?”
“Yes.”
“What have they found out?”
Chrissy bit her lip. “They said you have a mild concussion. They’re keeping you for observation.”
“For how long?”
She didn’t know. The first doctor who examined him muttered something about “bikers who got rowdy” and ordered a CT scan. When they tried to wake him Saks was incoherent, which shot Chrissy’s worry meter to ultra-high. Each time they tried to rouse him he seemed slightly more together, but not enough. That concerned the doctor as well.
A knock at the door brought in a different doctor, the result of a shift change. The man in blue scrubs looked at a tablet and moved his hand to flip pages.
“Anthony Parks,” he said.
“Yeah.”
“Good to see you’re awake now. How’s the head?”
“Sore.”
The doctor nodded and did a physical check of Saks’ head. “This is an unusual accident. The hood of your car fell on you?”
“It’s an old car.”
“It rarely happens that you tear a ligament in your shoulder at the same time.”
“I uh, I fell afterward. Must’ve wrenched it.”
“Yeah,” the doctor said with suspicion. “Your sister told me a similar story.” He glanced at Saks’ Hades’ Spawn jacket neatly folded over the one chair in the room.
“Sis—”
Chrissy put her hand on his arm. “You weren’t remembering things so good when I brought you in, bro.”
The doctor walked to the bed and had Saks put his feet over the edge, and then flashed a light in his eyes, and then had him touch his nose and a few other exercises. Chrissy bounced on the balls of her feet waiting for the doctor’s verdict.
Please, Saks, be okay.
“Your responses are much better than last night. And your CT scan didn’t show any fractures or swelling. Which is good news. However, that doesn’t mean there isn’t an injury. Any time the brain gets hit by something hard, it’ll bruise like any other body part. Only this is the brain, so it pays to be careful. So, no work for the next three days, no driving for a week, no contact sports of any kind, and try not to get banged over the head with your car roof again. And no,” he tapped at the iPad, “biking till I, or another doctor, clears you.”
Saks groaned. “I’ll be fine.”
“You will, if you listen.” The doctor moved toward the door, his eyes still on his screen. “Oh, and you’ll need someone with you for the next twenty-four hours.”
“I’ll stay with him,” said Chrissy. “And make sure he does as he’s told.”
“Good,” he said with a nod. “Then I’ll sign the discharge papers and we’ll get you out of here today. Also, because of the head injury, I can’t give you any narcotics for pain.”
“Not a problem,” said Saks.
“He’s a tough guy,” said Chrissy at the same time.
“I can see that.” The doctor nodded again. “Take Tylenol. Nothing aspirin-based for the time being. No Bayer or over the counter stuff like that. It contains aspirin. You need acetaminophen. Follow up with your physician within a week; if your symptoms worsen, come right back here.”
“Sure, Doc. Thanks.”
The doctor left, leaving Chrissy alone with Saks. He looked unhappy, which Chrissy could understand. The whole weekend had been rough on the man, and the haggard expression on his face told that tale.
“Where’s my car?”
“Still at my house.”
“Well, take me there and I’ll go home.”
“Saks, the doctor said you shouldn’t drive for a week.”
“No offense, Chrissy, but hanging with you isn’t good for my health.”
Chrissy’s heart sank, but could she blame him? He pegged things correctly. In less than forty-eight hours, he’d fought with Marcus twice, she’d slapped his face, kneed him in the groin, and dumped Eggs Benedict on him. She couldn’t blame him if he didn’t want to see her again. But she couldn’t let him drive in his condition.
“I’ll take you to your apartment,” she said. “And have your car towed there at my expense.” She stared down at her hands. “I’m sorry about all of this, Saks.”
A nurse came in with discharge papers, halting their conversation.
While Saks dressed, Chrissy drove her car to the emergency entrance where Saks waited. He walked out slowly, the sight of him causing her breath to hitch. Damn. Why did he have to be a Rocco? She jumped out of the car to help him in.
He looked ahead and Chrissy followed his gaze. The sun rose over the horizon against the cityscape of New Haven.
“Don’t you have to go to work?” he asked.
“I’ll call in.”
“You shouldn’t on my account. Just drop me off at my apartment; I’ll call someone to watch me.”
“Who?”
Saks looked away.
“Thought so,” she said. “Who you gonna call? Ghostbusters?”
“That’s an awful joke.”
“And you’re a terrible liar. Are you that eager to get rid of me?”
“Last I heard you’d go to Hell before marrying a Rocco.”
“Let’s just get you in the car and home. We’ll go from there.” Chrissy grimaced, and ached to touch him at the same time. Every moment she spent with Saks only reaffirmed the crazy connection she had with him. This was dreadful, and she knew it. She was falling for Saks despite every argument she called up against it. Women who love the wrong men for all the right reasons pave the road to Hell.
