“Wow, New York is sophisticated. I have my personal airport escort and everything,” she said dryly.
She sped up her pace, but I was relentless. “Ha ha, very funny. I’ll just help you get your things and then we can be on our way to the hospital.”
“What is your obsession with this? Do you work for them or something and you’re trying to get new patients?”
“That doesn’t even make sense, but that’s not surprising,” I told her.
“And just what is that supposed to mean?”
“It means that women always bring things up for no reason, even if it doesn’t make sense.”
“Here we go!”
“Right,” I muttered, “Because this whole time I’ve been a jackass and you’ve been perfectly polite and reasonable.” My sarcasm was heavy. She didn’t appreciate it one bit.
“I’d say smacking a stranger on the nose to cause this,” she pointed at the cut, “Is pretty jackass-y.”
“It’s not like I did it on purpose.”
“Or maybe you did so you could bring a new patient to the hospital,” she said with a sense of satisfaction. She’d brought her little argument full circle; she didn’t even care how silly this all was by now. I knew she didn’t actually believe anything she was saying.
“If getting a new patient to come to my hypothetical hospital was a part of some evil-master plan of mine I’d be a lot smarter about it.”
“Right, because following me around like an asshole is a smart way to take care of things,” she muttered.
“Now I’m an asshole for wanting to take you to the hospital? It was an accident, but I caused it. I’m owning up and taking the responsibility here. You’re the one who won’t give in for whatever petty reason. But, again, not surprising at all.”
“Of course, because all women are petty, right?”
“Right you are,” I said in a ding-ding-ding sort of voice. “Petty and always blaming others for attitudes, even when you’re in the wrong.”
“Oh, what a poor little gentleman! I’ve been so inconsiderate of your needs!”
“All I’m saying is taking you to the hospital is the least I can do.” Now I sounded annoyed. I had reached the end of my patience.
“Actually, the least you can do is leave me the fuck alone. But like any other asshole-man, you don’t know how to take ‘no’ for an answer,” she spat.
“Then you should be thrilled to get so much attention from me.”
She looked over her shoulder at me and laughed. I was irritating and she wanted to dodge me, but she had to admit I had guts and confidence.
I gave her a huge grin, “So you do know how to laugh!”
“I guess I do,” she said. She slowed a bit and I fell in line beside her. She glanced over and cheekily said, “I just hope blood doesn’t squirt all over onto my clothes because of it.”
“Oh, hopefully not or else people are going to think I’m some sort of abusive husband,” I joked. I was looking straight ahead at the baggage claim carousels coming into view.
“They probably already think it. You can’t possibly have missed the shocked looks everyone has been giving us since we’ve been walking together. We’re quarreling and I’m holding a bloody rag to my face.” I chuckled, but she quickly shut me down, “It’s no joking matter.”
“Right. You’re right,” I said awkwardly before clearing my throat. There was a moment of dead silence as we approached the baggage claim area. “Our luggage should be at number three.” I said.
“I thought you didn’t have luggage?”
“I don’t. I mean the luggage for our flight,” I said in an obvious tone. “You all have to be so damn nitpicky.”
“How long are you going to keep on with this ‘you all’ crap?”
“How long are you?”
She stayed quiet. We stopped in front of the carousel and watched as different luggage moved on the conveyor. I was right; she was being a hypocrite by asking me that last question. She crossed her free arm across her chest to hold up her other arm; I could tell it was growing tired from holding the paper towels to her face. I snuck a glance over at her and realized that I didn’t even know her name.
As she leaned forward to grab her floral-patterned luggage I swiped it out from under her hand. “Well isn’t this pretty? Is this all you have?”
“Seriously?” Her tone was exasperated, but that didn’t make me stop.
“Yes, seriously. Just let me take you to the hospital,” I pleaded softly. I genuinely felt bad about hurting her and I wanted to make it right.
She spotted her other luggage, the large version of the one I had already retrieved. This time, she didn’t object when I picked it up. Her phone buzzed with a text message alert. She checked it and let out a huge frustrated sigh as she slide her phone back into her pocket and pulled the paper towels off her nose. They were mostly red with blood. The bleeding wasn’t too bad, but I could tell it wasn’t going to stop anytime soon.
“My friend that was supposed to pick me up is going to be late.” She looked more defeated than ever now.
“I think you’re going to need stitches,” I said apologetically. “I can take you to the hospital. I have a car waiting for me already.”
She looked at me for a brief moment. Her eyes were piercing at me from over the bundle of red paper towels. I could tell she was finally considering my offer. “Fine,” she replied with a long sigh.
I took her two larger pieces of luggage as she pulled out her cellphone and sent a quick text message. I assumed it was to let her friend know what was going on. When we got outside I quickly located my driver standing next to the limousine. He wore a perfectly pressed uniform and had a sign with my name on it “Mr. Ethan Wood.”
“You’re joking,” she breathed out in disbelief.
“I told you I had a car waiting,” I said. I stretched my hand out, “Ethan, by the way. And you are?”
“Uh… Amanda,” she said, absentmindedly shaking my hand. She was too busy staring at the shiny coat of paint on the stretch limousine and the smiling driver waiting patiently by the open back passenger door.
“I can’t believe you were about to get in a car with a perfect stranger,” I teased.
“No, it’s not…” Amanda’s cheeks flared red. She quickly placed her free hand over the blush on her cheek. “Yeah. I don’t know what I was thinking.”
I laughed and motioned toward the inside of the limo, “After you.” I walked around to sit on the other side without bothering to wait for the driver to open the door for me. I leaned back and closed my eyes, exhaling loudly. “Really, though, this is the least I can do after I deformed your face and all.”
“Oh, shut up! You didn’t deform my face.”
I laughed as I pulled my cell phone out from my pocket. I turned the screen away from her to send a text to the vice president of my company letting him know the meeting would need to be rescheduled to the following day.
The wait at the hospital felt a lot longer than the drive to it. Even though it was a bit awkward for me to be in the car with Ethan, a man who I barely knew but already couldn’t stand, I was too excited looking out the window to even care. A few minutes into the ride I turned my head to look out the window and appreciate everything passing me by. Even the pain from my nose and the headache that came with it temporarily eased up as I watched be big city pass by. I had limply held a new tissue up to my nose and looked at all the people, buildings, and everything else New York had to offer.
It wasn’t long before the two of us were sitting awkwardly in an exam room at the hospital. We were silent, except for when the nurses asked us questions. I had the feeling I was going to be stuck here for a long time and I started shaking my leg anxiously. I glanced over at Ethan and rolled my eyes. He was busy reading something on his phone. I took out my own phone and saw three new text messages from Tina along with a missed call.
“Shit,” I mumbled.
“What’s going on?”
I tapped the screen as I thought of what to tell her. I had no clue how long I’d be stuck at the hospital and I didn’t want her to lose her whole day. I decided to text her and let her know I would be okay finding my own way to the apartment once I was finally out of the hospital.
“Friend or friend?” Ethan said from across the room. I looked up to see him watching me with a smirk and arched eyebrows. He obviously thought I was texting a boyfriend so I rolled my eyes and placed my phone on the exam table next to me.
“My friend,” I said coolly. “Although she is quite something,” I added, tapping my lower lip with the tip of my index finger as I stared up at the ceiling thoughtfully. I looked over at Ethan and laughed.
He raised his hands, “Hey, fine by me.”
“Of course, you’d be into it.”
Ethan jerked his head back and made a face like I had insulted him somehow. He pressed a hand flat to his chest in mock offense, “What is that supposed to mean?” Then he made a low humming sound and held up his hand. “Never mind, I got it. All us men are the same, right?”
“Bingo,” I responded, pointing at him.
I instantly regretted it feeling like a huge dork, especially when he chuckled at me and shook his head. Still, I felt a familiar feeling creeping over me and one look at Ethan told me exactly what it was—annoyance. He just seemed to be so full of himself. I wanted to wipe that smirk off his face and tell him he didn’t know everything even if he thought he did.
“Was his name-o,” Ethan said under his breath in a singsong way.
“Oh my gosh,” I laughed, “I can’t believe you just did that.”
“Does that mean a man actually surprised you?” He gasped with over exaggeration.
“The only way men surprise me now is showing that they’re even worse than I think they are,” I shot back rather bitterly.
“Whoa there.”
“Yeah, I’m pretty much having the worst week ever. Between breaking up with my boyfriend and a stranger breaking my nose, you can see why I’m not super fond of men at the moment.”
“That’s too bad. Now he’ll never know what your new nose looks like.”
I shot a glare at him and watched as his mouth slowly turned up into a smile. It was Ethan bursting into genuine laughter that forced me to do the same. He wasn’t downplaying my feelings. I knew by now he hadn’t taken the accident on the airplane lightly either. I looked over at him and shook my head even though I was still chuckling at his remark. Just as I was about to give him a clever quip of my own there was a knock on the exam room door and a doctor poked his head in.
“Ms. Blake? I’m Doctor Corrigan,” the older man said as he stepped into the room.
He nodded toward Ethan, but didn’t bother with introductions. Instead, he got started immediately on examining me. The room was quiet, except for the doctor’s remarks. “Well, you’ll need stitches.”
I shot Ethan a glare as he looked at me apologetically. Even though I figured I would need stitches, it felt all too real hearing it come from the doctor’s mouth. “How many?”
“Oh, just three,” he said easily. The doctor left the room to gather supplies.
I turned to look at Ethan and he immediately said, “I’m sorry!”
“You should be,” I told him, half in jest and half seriously.
“I am! The bright side is you’ve met a real-life troll now,” he laughed, nodding toward the door.
“Are you—are you talking about Doctor Corrigan?”
Ethan smirked and nodded. “Oh, come on, you can’t deny he looks like a troll! I’m not being mean. Okay, maybe I am being a little mean but it’s true. But with his giant nose and huge ears—he looks like the troll from that movie Earnest Scared Stupid.”
I gaped at him even though I couldn’t help, but agree. I would never admit it to Ethan, but he was right. It was a mean joke to make about the man who was going to save my precious nose, but I could tell Ethan was trying to lighten the mood. He had been dead-set on bringing me to the hospital because he was sorry about the whole ordeal. For the most part, he was being polite.
Really the only time he had veered from being polite was when he made jabs at how “all women” act. Then again, I felt like a hypocrite holding that against him when I was doing the same thing. I bristled at the thought; maybe I was doing it too, but it was the result of men doing hurtful things to me, not just being annoying like he said all women were. There was a difference.
“Seriously, Amanda, I am sorry about the nose. I lost my patience and now…”
“Don’t,” I told him somewhat sternly. I gulped and turned to look at his apologetic hazel eyes. The smirk was long gone from his lips, which were now slightly downturned. “It could have happened to anyone… I guess.”
Ethan laughed, “That was convincing.”
I laughed, “I mean, it’s sort of a strange thing, don’t you think? But I doubt you had it in for the bridge of my nose.”
“Well, not the bridge of your nose specifically,” Ethan joked with a quick wink.
I feigned shock, pressing my hand to my chest and letting my jaw drop. Then I winced and pressed my hand back to the cut with a paper towel. “Oh, that wasn’t smart,” I said aloud. I turned to see Ethan staring at me, all wide-eyed with concern. “Calm down, it just hurt a bit. I’m sure it’s nothing compared to the stitches I’m about to get in. Save that look for later.”
“Geez,” he responded. “You tell me it’s fine and then guilt trip me.”
“Just like a woman,” I winked.
Ethan laughed loudly and quickly covered his mouth, turning to look out the door. “Hey, now, there were some nice parts of this whole experience.”
“Like?”
“I don’t know, getting to ride to the hospital in style for your meeting with ‘The Troll’?”
“Oh my gosh!” I clamped my mouth shut in a vain attempt to keep from laughing because laughter just made my nose hurt more. It had already started bleeding again. “He’s not a troll! And I can’t believe you’re throwing that in my face!”
“I’m not! I’m just saying it’s nice!”
“Well, it’s the least you can do, Money Bags!”
“Wow, ‘Money Bags’, really?” Ethan arched his brow and tilted his head to the side.
“You can’t pretend your well-dressed self, riding around in a limo even to the hospital isn’t someone of a higher class than me,” I told him.
“It’s not really something I thought about. Although you were in coach on the airplane.” He grinned.
“You were in coach too. Need I remind you how this happened?” I pointed to my nose accusingly.
“I never fly coach. This was an exception,” he pointed out.
“Well, excuse me,” I said.
“What can I say?” Ethan sounded excruciatingly arrogant, but it was clearly a joke. He turned to look out the door, “I hope Dr. Tro- I mean Dr. Corrigan hurries. What if you have to sneeze? It might fly off!”
“Oh my gosh. I hope he hurries up too.”
“Why? Do you need to sneeze?”
“No! I need to be done with you!” I blurted out, but I couldn’t help but giggle. I hated that he managed to make me laugh.
I hadn’t gotten a chance to come up with a witty reply to her little jab because the doctor, or troll in disguise, stepped back into the room. He was pushing a little table in front of him that had everything he would need to stitch up Amanda’s nose. I looked at her holding the tissue paper to the cut. My stomach churned with guilt when I saw the spots of blood soaking through the thin paper.
I couldn’t believe I was really in this situation. Of all the reasons I might have had to cancel my meeting t
oday; taking a beautiful, albeit spunky and annoying, woman to the hospital wasn’t on my list of potentials. Especially if I was the reason she was there. Accident or not, it was a pretty messed up situation.
I sat quietly and watched the doctor put in the stitches. Every time Amanda winced I felt worse than before. I couldn’t believe I had pulled the bags out from the overhead compartment bin so hard. The doctor finally finished up and instructed her to wait while her paperwork was drawn up.
“I’ll be covering all the costs,” I told the doctor. I followed him out to the hall to let him know. The doctor nodded and walked off to talk to the nurse.
Just Sex Page 3
