Sage Advice

by Katie Graykowski

  Her phone buzzed, and she looked down at the screen. “Oh no, it says that the Uber driver is already here. I’m going to go tell him you’re taking me home. She opened her door, slid out of her shoes, and attempted to roll out onto the sidewalk.

  “No, wait …” He opened his door and took his foot off the clutch. The car sprang forward and died.

  “Crap!” Chloe lurched to the side and landed flat on her bottom on the sidewalk. She grabbed at her ankle. “My foot, it’s stuck between the car and the sidewalk. I think if you reverse I can get it out.”

  Oh shit. He stomped on the clutch and cranked on the engine. He shifted to reverse and eased back. She pulled her foot out and gently touched it. Pain twisted her face, but she didn’t scream.

  He slammed the gearshift into park and set the parking brake. He threw open the door and ran around to the sidewalk. She was cradling her foot in her lap and rocking back and forth. Tears slid down her cheeks.

  “Oh my God. You just hit her.” One of the valets ran over. Rather than offering assistance, he pulled out his phone and snapped several pictures of Pierce standing over her.

  “I’m so sorry.” He knelt next to her. “Besides your foot, do you have any other injuries? Neck pain, back pain?” Christ, what if she’d broken her back. She could be paralyzed.

  “No, it’s just my foot and my pride.” She kept her eyes on her rapidly swelling foot. “I think it’s broken.”

  “I’m taking you to the ER.” Gently, he slid an arm around her back and another under her knees and tried to scoop her up.

  She screamed. He froze, trying not to cause her more pain.

  “Okay, I’m trying not to hurt you, but I need to get you to a hospital. Or if you prefer, we can call 911.” He felt terrible. She was hurt because of him.

  “You can take me.” She nodded to the valet, who continued to snap pictures. “You need to take his phone away before he posts this on social media.”

  “Screw him. He can post those pics wherever he wants. I don’t care. I need to get you to a hospital. I’m just warning you, this is going to hurt.” What had happened to the world that made people think that pictures were more important than actually helping someone in pain?

  Carefully, he lifted her and laid her in the passenger’s seat. He buckled the seat belt around her and sprinted to the driver’s side. He slammed the door and pulled away from the curb.

  “I am so sorry. I should have been paying attention. I shouldn’t have taken my foot off the clutch. It was stupid. I know better.” He would beat himself up about this for a very long time, probably the rest of his life. He’d hurt her because he’d been careless.

  “It was an accident. Plus, it’s more my fault. I shouldn’t have tried to jump out of the car.” She pressed her body back into her seat like she was bracing against the pain. She closed her eyes and took panting breaths. “I’m just clumsy. Don’t beat yourself up about it.”

  She should be yelling at him, cursing at him, but instead she was taking the blame from him. He’d never met anyone like her.

  “How bad is the pain?” He’d broken toes several times, and they hurt like hell.

  “It hurts.” She continued the panting breaths.

  “We’ll be at the emergency room soon.” He wanted to comfort her, but he wasn’t sure how.

  She nodded but kept her eyes closed.

  Ten minutes later, they pulled into the emergency bay of Seton Medical Center. He slammed on the brakes and honked the horn.

  A man dressed in scrubs ran out the electronic doors. “You can’t park here.”

  Pierce rolled down the passenger’s window. “She had an accident. Her foot may be broken.”

  His eyes zeroed in on Pierce. “Oh my God, you’re Pierce Rogan. You’re amazing. I still can’t believe you caught that Hail Mary against the Patriots.”

  “My friend is hurt. Can you help her, please?” Pierce’s one and only concern was getting Chloe medical help.

  The man opened the passenger’s door and knelt down. “Can you walk on it?”

  “I don’t think so.” Chloe set her right, nonbroken foot on the ground and tried to ease out of the car, but she banged her left foot and screamed.

  “Stay still, I’m coming to get you out of the car.” Pierce put the car in neutral and stomped on the parking brake. He turned off the engine and ran around to the passenger’s side. Gently, he slid his hands under her knees and under her bottom.

  “I don’t recommend lifting her. She could have other injuries. I’ll get a wheelchair.” The man ran through the automatic doors and came out with a wheelchair.

  Pierce anchored his feet. “You might want to hold your breath. This is going to hurt.”

  As carefully as he could, he lifted her and set her down in the wheelchair.

  The man pushed the chair toward the doors. “On a scale of one to ten, what’s your pain level?”

  “Five thousand.” Her voice was a shrill whisper.

  Pierce’s heart shriveled up to raisin size. He’d caused her horrible pain.

  “I’m going to take you straight back to the emergency room. We can register you while we treat you and get you started on some pain medication.” The man wheeled her through the automatic doors. He turned back and looked over his shoulder at Pierce. “You need to move your car. You can park in the garage over there.” He nodded toward a tall parking garage.

  Pierce parked the car in record time and ran through the automatic doors. He went over to a desk where a woman sat behind a window of glass. “I’m looking for Chloe … um …” He couldn’t remember her last name. It started with a C. He remembered that. “The redhead who was just wheeled in.”

  The woman’s eyes were as big as dinner plates. “Oh my God, you’re Pierce Rogan. My husband is your biggest fan. Can I get a picture with you?”

  “Of course, but it’ll have to be later. Right now I need to find my friend.” Right now, he didn’t have time for fans.

  “She’s in exam room four. I’ll buzz you back.” She hit a button and two huge doors swung open. Pierce race-walked through the doors as his eyes flicked from side to side, looking for room number four. He finally found it and pushed open the door.

  Chloe was handing her smartphone to a woman holding a tablet. “Here’s my health insurance card. If you swipe left you can see the other side. My driver’s license and med list are also in the same album on my phone.”

  “No, wait. I’ll pay for everything.” Pierce pulled a chair up next to the bed and sat down.

  Chloe waved it off. “No, it was an accident. It was all my fault. I have health insurance. You don’t need to pay just because I fell.”

  There she was again taking the blame. It made no sense.

  The door bounced open and a man in a white lab coat smiled down at Chloe. “I’m Dr. Singer and I’ll be examining you tonight.” His eyes went to Pierce and turned huge. “Oh my God, you’re Pierce Rogan. I’d love to get a picture with you.”

  “Later. Right now, she’s in a lot of pain.” Normally, having fans bother him didn’t, well, bother him, but right now, they were getting on his nerves.

  On the other hand, maybe it wasn’t such a bad thing if it meant Chloe got the best care. Pierce stuck out his hand and flashed the doctor a big smile. “Nice to meet you.”

  “Likewise.” Dr. Whatever-His-Name pumped his hand twice and then dropped it. “Now, let’s take a look at your sister’s foot.”

  “Why does everyone think she’s my sister?” Had Chloe told them she was his sister? Why would she do that?

  “It’s all over Twitter and Instagram,” said the nurse who was taking Chloe’s vitals. “There are pictures of you and your sister outside of Rave Nation.” The woman pulled the ends of her stethoscope out of her ears.

  “For the record, Chloe isn’t my sister, she’s my—”

  “I’m his close friend.” Chloe shot him a look that said he needed to drop it.

  Why didn’t she want people to kno
w they’d been out on a date? Did she have a boyfriend or a husband? No, it couldn’t be. Sweet Louise wouldn’t have set them up if Chloe had been in a relationship.

  The woman with the tablet handed Chloe’s phone back to her. “Here you go. I’ve got your info in the system. The doctor will take good care of you.” She left and shut the door behind her.

  “Okay, Miss …” Dr. What’s-His-Name glanced at the whiteboard with Chloe’s name on it, “Miss Caldwell, let’s check out that foot.”

  Now that Pierce had seen the not-remembering-people’s-names thing in action, he was going to try harder. It was so much easier when the people around you wore jerseys with names and numbers on them.

  The doctor touched Chloe’s foot under the second-to-last toe. Chloe screamed.

  “Sorry, I know that was painful. You’re going to need some X-rays. I don’t want to palpate your foot further in case it causes more damage.” He glanced over at the nurse. “Let’s get an IV going. Saline and …” he turned back to Chloe, “any allergies to medicine?”

  “No.” Chloe shook her head.

  He smiled kindly. “Okay, we’re going to give you something for the pain.” He glanced at the nurse. “Let’s do DepoDur point five with saline. I’ll order it now before I order the X-rays.” He turned around and headed out the door.

  The nurse handed Chloe a remote control wired to the bed. “Why don’t you turn on something to watch while I grab the things I need for the IV.” She patted Chloe’s shoulder. “I’ll be back soon. I know it hurts.”

  She walked out of the room.

  Chloe didn’t turn on the TV. She was back to panting with her eyes closed. He felt terrible and helpless. He hated both feelings.

  He leaned close to the bed. Maybe some conversation would distract her from the pain. “Why do you want everyone to think you’re my sister or my close friend?” A thought struck. Was she embarrassed to be seen with him? Old childhood insecurities welled up.

  “It all started with Reginald from the club.” She stared at her foot.

  “Who’s Reginald?” He hadn’t seen her talk to anyone but the club manager.

  “He’s the manager guy who tried to point me in the direction of the insurance actuary’s party on the second floor. Once I explained that I was there with you, he assumed I was your sister, because apparently that was the only reason you’d take someone like me out.” She concentrated on her swelling foot.

  It was true that she wasn’t like the girls he usually went out with. “I’m sorry about that.” And he was.

  She shrugged. “I think we need for the world to continue thinking that we’re either close friends or related.

  “Why?” It was strange and it didn’t make any sense.

  She lowered her voice to an almost whisper. “Think about it. You’re famous. People take your picture. You’re public property. That valet took several pictures of your car, my foot, and you helping me up. Somebody’s bound to twist it into something awful, like assault. You have a reputation to protect. It will play better in the media if we’re just old friends or maybe relatives. If anyone from the media asks, I’ll convince them it was just an accident, and hopefully it will all go away because there won’t be any story. We’ll both laugh it off, and everyone will forget about it. But if the media knows we were on a date, they will never let it go.” She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Every time you have a public argument with a girlfriend or a bad breakup, the media will drag this out and say, ‘We always knew he was a violent man. Remember what he did to that girl outside of that club in Austin?’”

  He hated to admit it, but she was right. Any time he had any kind of public disagreement with a girlfriend after this, the media would always dredge up the foot incident.

  He’d never had anyone take a bullet for him. She was doing this for him? There had to be a catch.

  “What do you want in return?” Everyone wanted something from him.

  Her eyes flicked open and he saw nothing but confusion in her green eyes. He hadn’t noticed them before. They were the color of apple Jolly Ranchers.

  She shook her head. “What do you mean?”

  “What do you want in return for taking the bullet for me?” Would it be money or fame, or both?

  “Nothing. Why would I want something for doing the right thing?” She closed her eyes again and went back to the panting.

  She didn’t want anything from him. That had to be a first.

  The door swung open and the nurse walked back in carrying a tray of medical implements. “Let’s get this IV going and see if we can’t knock that pain level down.”

  She pulled the tray table beside the bed and set the tray on it.

  He wasn’t afraid of blood, exactly; he just didn’t enjoy seeing it outside the body. To keep from watching what the nurse was doing, he focused on Chloe’s face. She had high cheekbones and an upturned nose. Her skin was as smooth as cream. She wasn’t a conventional beauty, but she was definitely pretty. His eyes fixed on her lips. She had the sexiest little overbite. He wanted to run his tongue over it.

  “Here comes the sting,” the nurse said.

  Chloe didn’t even flinch, but her eyes stayed closed. He could tell she was in a lot of pain. When you played pro football, you knew the signs.

  He wanted to take her pain. He threaded his fingers through hers, and she flinched. It said a lot that she’d flinched when he’d touched her but not at the needle stick.

  The nurse hung the IV bag on a pole. She took a syringe from the tray and injected the contents into a port halfway down the IV line. “This should kick in pretty fast.”

  Less than a minute later, Chloe’s eyelids slowly rolled up. “Wow, I feel funny.”

  She was a little glassy-eyed.

  Her eyes rolled over to him. “How are you?”

  He grinned. “I’m well. How do you feel?”

  “Tingly.” She looked down at her foot. “That’s really swollen.”

  “We’ll wheel you down to Radiology in just a minute so we can see what’s going on inside your foot.” The nurse gathered up her trash and left the room.

  Chloe’s eyes slammed closed. “Don’t worry. I’m going to tell them it was an accident and that we’re just good friends.” Her eyelids twitched. “I’m trying to wink at you, but you probably can’t see it. It’s very dark in here.”

  He bit his lip to keep from laughing. “That’s because your eyes are closed.”

  “Huh.” She opened them. “You’re right.”

  “Let me guess, you’re a lightweight when it comes to pain meds.”

  “Yep, I don’t like taking anything that makes me feel like I’m not myself. I don’t even drink all that much.” She closed her eyes, and her breathing became short and rhythmic. She’d fallen asleep. That was probably the best thing for her.

  The door flew open and Sweet Louise rushed in. She looked mad as hell. “You ran over her with your car? And why does everyone think she’s your sister?”

  Chapter 5

  “I didn’t mean to. It was an accident.” It was the truth, so why was his voice so high and squeaky?

  “How do you accidentally run over someone when your car is parked?” Sweet Louise pulled him out into the hall. Her eyes turned mean. “What did you do?”

  Pierce threw his hands up. “Nothing, I swear.”

  Sweet Louise looked him up and down. “Why does everyone think she’s your sister?”

  “Chloe says if everyone thinks that she’s my sister and she’s just clumsy, this will die down, but if everyone knows we were on a date, the media will bring it up every time I have a public breakup.” He still couldn’t believe she was taking the fall for him.

  Sweet Louise nodded. “I told you she was one of the good ones.”

  “She doesn’t want anything in return for doing this for me.” He just couldn’t wrap his head around that one. In his world, nothing, including kindness, was free.

  Sweet Louise hunched her shoulders. �
�Why would she need something in return for doing the right thing?”

  He glanced at Chloe’s sleeping form. She was curvy. He hadn’t noticed it before. “Nothing is free.”

  “That’s because you’ve been dating the wrong people. Most people are decent and kind. Helping others doesn’t come with strings.” Sweet Louise gently pushed him out of the way and went to sit beside Chloe, who was stirring in bed. The older woman laced her fingers through Chloe’s.

  He couldn’t help but notice that Chloe didn’t flinch.

  “Hey, child, how are you feeling?” Sweet Louise smiled down at her.

  Chloe’s eyes flickered open. “I’m well, how are you?”

  The nurse bustled back into the room, followed by a short man wearing scrubs. The name on his tag read “Mike.”

  Mike glanced in Pierce’s direction and his eyes turned huge. “You’re Pierce Rogan. Can I get a picture with you?”

  It took everything in Pierce not to snarl at him to buzz off. “Sure, later. Maybe right before we leave. Once Chloe is better.”

  Mike stuck out his hand. “Thanks, man. I’d appreciate it. I’m the tech who’ll be taking your sister’s X-rays. I’m glad to meet you.”

  Pierce shook Mike’s hand. “Nice to meet you.”

  Mike dropped his hand and turned to Chloe. “We’re going to wheel you down to Radiology now.”

  Chloe shifted like she was going to try to get up.

  Gently, Mike pressed her back against the pillows. “No, you stay in bed. We’re going to wheel you and the bed down to take some X-rays.” With his foot, he released the lever that kept the wheels from moving.

  With Mike on one side and the nurse on the other, they pushed Chloe’s bed out the door.

  Chloe waved at Pierce and Sweet Louise like she was on a float in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. “Byeeeee, I’ll see y’all later.”

  Sweet Louise’s husky laugh filled the room. “She’s a lightweight. Once we went out for happy hour, and she drank one mai tai and I had to drive her home and put her to bed.”

  “She ordered a mai tai? Who orders a mai tai?” He smiled at Chloe’s receding form.