“Climb in. I want to look at your back.”
I wasn’t planning on going to the hospital, so I hoped it was just a small scratch. I climbed into the ambulance behind an EMT while Scott followed behind me shutting the doors to block the whipping wind out. I hadn’t realized how cold I was until I got inside the ambulance and felt the heat blasting through the ceiling vents.
“I’m sorry,” I heard a soft male voice call out. I looked down at Ryan who was lying on the stretcher.
“Why are you sorry? You didn’t do anything,” I said as I examined him. Scott lifted up my jacket and shirt to look at my back.
“Scott, I’m fine. You need to work on him.” I shifted so that I could move my back away from him.
“You need stitches for that, Jack,” Scott said as I moved away.
“You got hurt because of me,” Ryan said quietly. His eyes were brighter in the light of the ambulance, and even though pain was written all over his face, I couldn’t help but think how incredibly handsome he was.
“It’s no big deal.” I turned from him, but he reached out his hand for me. “Look, you need to stop moving around. Please relax as much as you can and lay there; they’re gonna fix you up.” I took his hand in mine and put it on top of his chest. His hand was cold, and his body shook under our hands.
The side door next to me opened and Brad stepped in. “You going to the hospital, Jack?” I didn’t get a chance to answer before Scott did.
“Yeah, she needs stitches in her back.”
I rolled my eyes. “I’m fine,” I said to Brad when he looked at me with concern. “It’s just a scratch. Can you have someone follow us to the hospital with my truck?”
“Yeah, sure. I’ll have one of the guys drive it over.” Brad nodded and stepped out of the ambulance.
It wasn’t long before I felt the ambulance move, and Scott went to work on Ryan. There was one other person in the back with us, a young guy who was a new EMT. He did what Scott asked and kept quiet, sneaking looks at Ryan’s face and the way Ryan was staring up at me when his eyes were open.
“Ryan, I need a telephone number so that I can call someone and tell them where you are. Who do you want me to call?”
“Troy. Call Troy; my cell phone is in my jacket pocket.” I let go of his hand so that I could pat down his coat. I found his iPhone in the inside pocket and pulled it out. No security password was on his phone. I shook my head. That was dumb not to have it password protected, although it did make things easier for me at the moment.
I scrolled through the contacts until I found Troy and pressed the Call button. It took three rings before a deep male voice answered. “What’s doing, Ry?”
“Is this Troy?” I asked putting on my professional voice. I heard several voices in the background mixed with loud music.
“Who’s this?” I wasn’t surprised when he didn’t answer my question. I did call him after all.
“Troy, this is Detective Liveon. I’m with Ryan Palmer right now. He was in an accident.”
“Is he all right?” Troy sounded worried, and the noise I heard behind him started to fade away. He was probably going somewhere quieter so that he could hear me.
“He’s being taken to the Pine Temple Trauma Center. He appears to have struck his head and one of his arms hurts, but that’s all I can tell you about his injuries.”
“Thank you for calling me.” I was about to say, you’re welcome and hang up, when he asked another question.
“Is this really Jacquelyn Liveon? The same Jacquelyn Liveon from the airport?” I wanted to laugh at the way he phrased it, but the gash on my back was starting to throb.
“Ironically, yes. It’s one and the same.” Before he could say anything else, I continued, “Will you be coming to the hospital?”
“Yeah, I’ll head right over. Is he alone?” he asked me.
“No, I’m in the ambulance with him. I tried to keep it as quiet as I could. I don’t need a repeat of the media circus.” A deep, warm chuckle crossed through the line, and we hung up shortly after that.
The ride to the hospital took longer than normal thanks to the slick roads, but once we got there, things moved fast. They pulled Ryan from the ambulance, and it took some doing to get him to let go of my hand. I had to promise him I wouldn’t leave without seeing him again, and then they whisked him away to be worked on. I felt bad for lying; I had no intention of seeing him again before I left.
A nurse came and took me to another area where she had me get dressed in a gown. I told her it wasn’t a big deal, but after she took one look at it, she told me I needed at least a dozen stitches. I felt my shoulders deflate, but I changed and sat up on the bed, knowing I had no choice.
While I waited for the nurse to come back in, I thought about what happened tonight. What were the chances of not only seeing Ryan again, but to find him on the road, in the middle of the night, and hurt? Slim to none. Yet it happened, and right after I opened that once piece of mail that was from him. I shuddered to think about what was going to happen with the media now.
The emergency room was pretty busy, and I didn’t expect to get treated as fast as I did. Maybe it had something to do with the person I just brought in. No one said anything to me, but I could hear whispers on the other side of the curtain about how I was with him when the emergency personnel arrived. I could already feel the stories building.
After the nurse stitched me up, she came back and handed me a scrub top. My shirt was soaked with blood, and I appreciated the fact that she’d thought about that. I smiled and thanked her as I tossed my other shirt in the biohazard bin and left the treatment area.
As I walked past the nurses’ station, one of them glanced up at me. “There is a guy around the corner who wants to talk to you, Detective.” She pointed to the left. I nodded and made my way around the corner.
Three people stood in the hallway, one man and two women. I recognized them instantly and fought the urge to groan. I wanted so badly to turn and walk away, but the man saw me and walked over.
“Detective Liveon,” he said as he got closer. He was a tall light-skinned black male with bright brown eyes and strong cheekbones.
“Sir,” I said and nodded, “I assume you are Troy? I remember you from the airport.” I shook the hand he offered, smiling lightly at him.
“Yes, I’m Troy Reynolds, Ryan’s friend. How did you find him?” He watched me closely.
“I was on my way home from work. His car appeared to have lost control on the slick road and struck an embankment. It flipped over on its side.”
“Of all the cops, it had to be you who found him. I think fate has something to do with this.” He stared me down as if he was waiting for me to deny it.
Fate? Who actually believes in fate? Okay, so maybe the fact that I have been around twice when he needed my help and that just tonight, for the first time, I opened one piece of mail out of thousands, and it had been from him; it might mean something, but I wasn’t sure I believed in fate. Troy watched me carefully, and I didn’t know how the hell I should respond, so I decided to change the subject. “How is he?”
“He seems to be all right, they should be back any minute. They took him for a head CT.” I peered around him and saw that the two women he was with stood back and watched us as we talked. I nodded to them.
“Okay, good. Hopefully he’ll be all right.” I didn’t know what else to say, and I felt extremely uncomfortable standing there with Troy towering over me while the other two women practically glared holes in my head.
“If you could, please tell him I hope he feels better soon.” I started to turn, but Troy grabbed my arm. I snapped my face around to him and tensed. I didn’t like to be touched.
“You aren’t going to leave are you?” he said as he loosened his grip, but didn’t let go.
“That was my plan.” I pulled my arm out of his grasp. “It’s been a long day, and I’d like to get home.”
He studied me, and I saw anger flash over his
face. “You might have to charge me with kidnapping then, because if I let you leave before he gets a chance to talk to you, he’s going to kill me! You have no idea how much I had to endure the last time you disappeared after saving his life.”
“I was only doing my job. I didn’t need any special thank you then, or now.”
“Would you please stay just a few more minutes? Just let him see you and say thank you.” He paused, his eyes begging me. I contemplated what to do. As much as I wanted to just disappear and go home to bed, I also wanted one last chance to see Ryan. I finally consented. “Fine, but I can only stay a few more minutes.”
He nodded once, looking relieved. He turned back to the two women and gestured as he said, “This is Kayla Rainey and Beth Bradington.” I knew who Kayla was. She was not only the woman who was hugging Ryan at the airport, but she was also an actress and had several movies under her belt. I shook hands with both of them out of professionalism.
Kayla didn’t seem at all happy to see me. In fact, the look in her eyes specifically said she didn’t want me here. For just a feminine moment, I was glad I stayed. A jealous twinge ran through my veins as I thought about her with Ryan.
It looked like she was about to say something to me, but just then, an aide came down the hallway with Ryan lying on the gurney, and I stepped aside to let them pass. His eyes were closed, and as they wheeled him into a room, I saw the neck brace was off and his head had a bandage on it.
I knew from experience that bright fluorescent lights hurt your eyes like hell after a concussion. Troy headed toward the room, but he stopped and turned to me. I realized he was waiting for me, so I reluctantly followed him. I heard Kayla mumble something under her breath. I didn’t know what she said, so I glanced at her and then followed Troy into the room. Kayla and Beth started to come too, but Troy stopped them.
“You guys wait out here for a few minutes,” he told them pointedly as he closed the door after the aide walked out.
I inspected Ryan lying in the bed, his eyes still closed. The lights were so bright in the room, and I looked around to see what I could do to change that. I walked over to a wall and switched on the lights behind the bed. They were pointed up to the ceiling instead of down. I moved over to the main light and flipped it off. It was darker now, and I knew it would be easier for him to open his eyes.
I turned around and saw him blinking. His eyes finally focused on me, and I stopped moving, not only moving but breathing too. The top of the bed was propped up into a sitting position, and he already looked so much better than the last time I saw him. His blond hair was messy, and he had some caked blood on the side of his face, but his color was better, and his eyes looked much brighter.
Time seemed to stand still as we both studied one another. “You really were there. I thought I had dreamed you,” Ryan said softly.
Chapter 5
December – Ryan
“Hey, did you ever hear from her?”
I watched Troy as he spoke. We’ve been best friends since high school, and he’s the only person who knew I still thought about the mysterious fear no evil detective who saved my life at the airport.
I finished the soda I was drinking. “No.” I shook my head.
“I can’t believe she never called you back.” Troy compressed his lips tightly in a frown. “If it had been anyone else, they would have been all over that.”
I nodded absently. “I know.”
“She’s a rare person,” Troy said as he slapped me on the back.
I thought about that for a minute. She was a rare person. There were so many women who only wanted to be near me because of who I was, or what I could do for them. Women from all over the world sent me letters or found out my e-mail address, some even went so far as to make comments on Twitter about how they were “the one” for me. No matter where I was or what I was doing, I came across women who said they would do anything for me. Would they have put their life on the line for me? I doubted it. But, she had, and that put her in a class above all others.
I remembered seeing the interview she had done. It was a very simple press conference with her only speaking for two minutes. Her body and voice displayed such intense confidence and strength as she gave her speech. Her blond hair hung down in gentle waves around her shoulders. The blue of her eyes seemed dark and stormy with a passion I wish I could have seen in person.
She told the media that they had made me a movie star god. I laughed at her words, but realized that she was right. There was no doubt in my mind that if the roles were reversed that day, and I was the one holding the gun, she would’ve done exactly the same thing. In her eyes, I was just a human being, not a Hollywood god, but a mere person.
That was why I couldn’t get her off my mind. It was the fact that this small town police detective shunned me and refused to allow me to show my gratitude because, to her, she was only doing her job. To me, it was my life.
Some days, I wished I could be that normal person again. As much as I loved acting and giving people something to entertain them, I didn’t always want to see my name in lights or have people screaming for my attention and snapping pictures everywhere I went. Some days, I just wanted a quiet, private life that I could share with someone.
Now, more often than not, I found myself coming back to the new house I bought right in the township she worked. I knew I was hoping I would run into her again, or get a chance to see her for just a brief moment. The township she worked in was large, and I hadn’t come across a reason to need the services of the police. Maybe someone would try to burglarize my house, and she would come out to investigate it. I had no idea if she knew I even lived out here; very few people did because I had put the house under my parents’ names to keep it hidden.
Every week since the press conference, I sent her a simple card hoping that, eventually, she would call me so that I could talk to her. The memory of how calm and intense she had been while standing in front of me with that man holding a gun was ingrained in my memory and came back to me as I slept. The soft sound of her voice as she spoke, and the controlled way she responded to the media at the press conference, echoed through my mind on many occasions. I had visions of her blond hair spread out on a pillow as I leaned over to kiss her.
Troy was watching me when I looked up from my glass. I hadn’t even realized I was staring at it. I chuckled softly and shook my head.
“I have to get back to the house. I need to be up early to catch my flight. You coming back with me now, or are you going to stay?” I asked Troy as I stood. We were at a small party with some close friends. I glanced over to where Kayla stood. I wanted to slip out before she saw me leave. Things hadn’t been so great since the incident at the airport, and I was trying to put some space between us.
Troy followed my eyes, knowing exactly what I was thinking. “I’m staying here a while longer. I’ll keep her busy so that you can get out. Watch the roads, I hear it’s getting slippery outside.”
“Thanks, man. I owe you.” I slapped him on the back and waited until he walked over to where Kayla stood next to the sparkling Christmas tree. Troy had wide enough shoulders that he blocked her view of me, and I quickly took advantage of that and slipped out the front door and into the frosty night.
I almost fell on my ass as I stepped down the first step. Troy was right; it was slick out here. I carefully made it to my car and climbed in without finding out how hard the ground was on my backside. I turned up the heater and put the car in gear heading toward my country home.
No matter where I was coming from, or where I was going, I always ended up driving the long way back to my house. The country roads that wound through Rosewood, the township where she worked, gave me extraordinary views of the beautiful countryside. I’d spent a lot of time gazing out the window as I drove because I never knew when I might get a chance to see her someplace, and I took every opportunity to search her out.
Shortly after I entered her township, I felt the car slide as I began to
go around a sharp bend, and the car quickly lost control. I should have been driving slower, but I wasn’t. While the car spun on the slick roadway, I prayed it wouldn’t hit anything, especially another car. It kept moving, and I lost track of direction before it finally slammed into something with a jolt and bounced off. The pain in my head was immediate and I felt myself losing consciousness.
The first thing I felt as the black fog cleared was a stabbing pain in my shoulder. My head throbbed, and I thought I might be lying on my side, but I wasn’t sure. I heard footsteps coming closer, the crunch of glass and plastic under a shoe, and then a woman’s voice talking in a rushed, no nonsense tone filtered through the pounding in my ears. She was probably calling 911. At least I hoped she was.
The warm touch of her fingers on the side of my face gave way to the urge to open my eyes, but I found it almost too hard. “Oh, thank you, God.” I heard the woman’s soft voice as her sweet peppermint breath washed over my face. Her voice was so warm and sounded vividly concerned. It filled my mind completely, and I tried to open my eyes again, but they still wouldn’t budge. When I tried to move my head, she told me not to. That voice…no, it couldn’t be. Of all the times I’d driven through here, of all the times that I had searched her out, how could it possibly be her here, once again, while I was in need of help? I had to open my eyes.
I fought this time and finally won against the pain. As I looked at her, I thought maybe I had died and gone to heaven, only she wasn’t dead, so that couldn’t have happened. “Quen? Is that really you?” Her features were slightly out of focus, but I knew it was her.
“Ryan, yes it’s Jacquelyn. Ryan, can you hear me?” Her voice was so soft and full of concern. I wanted to smile, to pull her to me, but my head and shoulder hurt so badly it was hard to think clearly or even talk. I knew she was talking to me, but most of the time I didn’t comprehend what she was saying. I tried to focus on her voice. I felt myself falling back into the darkness just as she told me to stay with her. How much I wanted to do just that after all this time.
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