The man’s face paled and he immediately was at my side, shoving me to the ground next to my car.
“Oh my god you’re hurt. I’m calling 911,” he insisted, whipping out his phone and punching in the numbers.
Geez, were all men this dramatic?
“No really you don’t have to do that, it was just a little fender bender,” I argued but it was too late, the call had already been picked up.
I leaned my back against the side of my car while I listened to his conversation with the emergency service. My ears picked up the words seriously injured and I sighed.
“I’m not seriously injured,” I interjected loudly but I could see it was useless; he’d already ended the call with a flip of his cell phone.
“You really didn’t have to do that. It’s just a little neck pain,” I insisted as he kneeled down beside me.
“The lady from 911 said you needed to lie down in case you have a severe neck trauma,” he said, reaching out a hand as if to push me down further on the ground.
Holding up a hand I leaned out of his reach. “Seriously that’s not necessary, I’ll be fine.”
He shook his head, a frown on his face. “But the 911 lady said you have to lie down and I’m pretty sure we’re supposed to do what they tell us.”
I sighed again. “If the 911 lady said we needed to jump off a bridge would you do it?”
The guy rocked back on his heels, contemplating my words.
“It was a joke,” I muttered, my ears picking up the distant sounds of sirens wailing. Within minutes a fire truck along with an ambulance and squad car arrived on the scene. As the EMT’s piled out of the vehicles my stomach dropped to my toes at the familiar face among them; Tony Parsons.
My history with Parsons was rocky, to say the least. While it was clear we were mortal enemies throughout grade school and high school, somehow adulthood brought on an unexpected turn in our relationship; lust.
Parsons was pretty hot by any standards from his finely tuned body, dark brown hair, blue eyes and sexy dimples that appeared when he smiled. Not too long ago I’d had the pleasure of being up close and personal with Parsons but we’d decided it would be best to part our own ways. He thought I was too much baggage for him to carry; I thought he was too full of himself. Ok, not really, but he did have an annoying way of bossing me around and seeming to always be right. That counted for something, right?
As he approached a flutter of something crossed his features before he shuttered them again. I held my breath as I watched to see what he would do, disappointment instantly flooding me when he moved to the back of the group to let the others take the lead. Obviously his way of handling things where I was concerned was to blow me off. His cold demeanor burned a bit but I forced it down. It’s not like I have any claims to Parsons, I guess asking for a little civility was too much for him.
“Hi there miss, what’s your name? What happened and where are you hurt at?” one of the EMT guys asked when he reached my side. He was pretty cute I noted, taking in the light blonde hair and ice blue eyes. Knowing my luck I’d guess he’s either married or gay.
“My name’s Taci and I’m fine, really. It was just a little fender bender,” I insisted, frowning when the twenty something year old kid jumped in.
“I hit her pretty hard from behind and I think she has a traumatic neck injury,” the kid announced proudly. I rolled my eyes.
The cute EMT leaned closer to me, inspecting my neck carefully. The scent of his aftershave wafted past my nose and I breathed in deep. Lord he smelled great.
“Hey Taci, I’m Sean. It doesn’t look like anything’s injured but just in case I’m going to place a collar around your neck before we transport you to the ambulance,” he said softly, giving me a reassuring smile. One of the EMT people standing behind him ran back to the ambulance to get the collar. I gritted my teeth.
“I’d rather you didn’t, I really am fine. Seriously, isn’t there something more important you could be doing than sitting here and taking care of me?” I asked.
Sean’s smile widened and he chuckled softly. The EMT person returned with the collar and handed it over. “Probably, but right now you’re top priority. Now be a good girl and hold still while I put this on you.”
That brought a half hearted smile to my lips but that was about all he was getting; I was still annoyed with all the commotion we were causing in the middle of the street.
“There, how does that feel?” he asked when he finished fitting it around my neck.
“Snuggly soft, thanks,” I muttered.
He grinned. “Anytime. So do you think you can stand or would you like to be carried to the ambulance?”
That brought me to my feet; no way was I going to get strapped to a board and shoved in an ambulance. It was bad enough that I was wearing the neck brace, no sense in giving the gathering crowd anything more to gawk at.
“I’m great, just lead the way,” I replied as cheerfully as I could muster. The neck brace was really uncomfortable.
Taking my arm he guided me towards the back of the ambulance while our entourage followed closely behind. I breathed a sigh of relief when I was finally in the back of the truck and out of everyone’s view.
“Oh man, is she going to the hospital? Do I need to go with her? I might need some testing too,” the kid’s voice whined from beyond the ambulance doors.
I rolled my eyes. Yeah, a brain scan might do him a world of good.
“Is there any chance we can hurry things up a little bit here? I’m on my lunch hour and my boss gets a little cranky when I’m late getting back,” I said, watching as a blood pressure cuff was strapped to my arm.
“Maybe he’ll be a little more forgiving if he knew you were in a car accident. Where do you work? Would you like us to call him?” my new friend asked as he pumped up the blood pressure cuff, assessing eyes watching the machine off to my right for the numbers to pop up on the screen.
“I’m a reporter for the Riverdale Times and no, I don’t want you to call him,” I said quickly.
He paused while taking off the blood pressure cuff, his brow furrowed in thought. “Taci…as in Taci Andrews? Aren’t you the one who did the piece on the big drug ring bust a month or so ago? That was some piece you reported, I had no idea something like that was going on in Riverdale.”
I smiled. The drug ring bust had been huge news in a town like Riverdale. What had started as a filed missing person’s report ended up at the new construction site out on the highway with a drug ring working under the guise of a construction company. With the help of my partner in crime Annie we snooped around an old farmyard and discovered the barn was being used to repack and transport the drugs. We could have gotten in and out with no problem had we not gotten caught by the bad guys. Things got a little hairy for a moment there until I was able to distract the bad guys so we could make our escape but not without consequences. It’s surprising how firing a gun can make a room filled with formaldehyde suddenly explode. Who would have guessed?
“That’s me alright, I’m glad you liked the story. So, do you think we might be able to wrap things up here without a trip to the hospital today?” I asked hopefully, giving my best flirtatious smile. A shadow passed the back of the ambulance doors, drawing my attention. Parsons stood a few feet away from the doors seemingly uninterested in what was going on. The stiffness in his shoulders told me otherwise.
“Your vitals look good, you don’t have any obvious fractures or bruising and by your smart assed comments I’d say you’re in pretty good spirits so no, I don’t think this warrants a trip to the hospital. I just need to get some paperwork filled out for you to sign and then you can be out of here,” Sean reported back.
Breathing a sigh of relief I sat up, swinging my legs over the side of the gurney.
“Great, let’s do it then,” I replied, watching him pull a clipboard off a shelf and begin the task of filling out the forms.
“Ok Taci, I need you to sign here stating you were
offered a trip to the hospital and declined and then once again on the sheet underneath. Oh, and what are you doing this Saturday night about 7:00?” he asked smoothly, catching me off guard.
I blushed, I couldn’t help it. It’d been awhile since somebody asked me out and by the way I saw Parsons straighten up before stalking away I was pretty sure that’s what was happening. Now had Parsons actually acted like he might have cared about my well being I probably would have blown off the invitation on the off chance I would hurt his feelings. However, since Parsons was a dumb ass and wounded my pride I wasn’t exactly in the mood to spare his feelings. “Actually I don’t have a thing going on. What did you have in mind?”
“I’ll surprise you. So, can I plan on picking you up at 7:00?” Sean asked, scrawling his signature at the bottom of the paperwork underneath mine. Ripping off a page he handed me a copy, his hopeful eyes watching mine.
“7:00 it is. See you then,” I replied sweetly, sliding off the gurney and out of the ambulance.
My car had been hooked to the back of a tow truck while I was inside playing with Sean and I was disappointed to see the hanging bumper was no longer hanging but was now sticking out my backseat window. Great. Resignedly I walked over to give the tow truck driver the address to my repair shop before watching my car be towed away.
“Looks like your ride is leaving without you. Can I give you a lift somewhere?” Sean’s voice spoke from behind me. I turned towards him, smiling in relief. I’d been so remorseful at the thought of my car going back to the shop that I hadn’t considered how I was going to get back to work.
“I’m heading to that side of town Harmsen; I’ll drop her off,” Parsons voice came out of nowhere, making me jump.
I turned towards Parsons, somehow managing to keep the shock from my face. From the tight set of his jaw I could tell he was pissed and I could only imagine why. Parsons isn’t exactly what you would call an “open book” sort of guy.
Sean took a step closer to me, a frown on his face. “It’s not a problem Parsons, I think I can handle it. Besides, aren’t you on duty?”
Tony gave a slow smile, shaking his head. “Just got off duty when the call came in so no, I’m not. But I believe you are and I’d really hate to see you get in trouble.”
I narrowed my gaze on Parsons, letting him know I didn’t appreciate his interference before turning back towards Sean. Reaching up I pulled the forgotten collar from my neck and handed it over.
“It’s alright Sean, Tony’s an old….friend and can drop me back off at work. I’ll see you Saturday night,” I assured him.
Sean looked as though he wanted to argue but since he didn’t have much of a leg to stand on he let it drop.
“Saturday night then,” he agreed, flashing me a toothy grin before walking away.
Turning back to Parsons I eyed him expectantly.
He met my gaze unflinching, giving a shrug. “What?”
Author Biography
Amy is a lifetime resident of the town of Clinton, Iowa and resides there with her husband Dan and their two children, Emily and Brody.
Visit Amy’s website at www.amymanemann.webs.com or write her at [email protected].
Deadly Reunion (The Taci Andrews Deadly Series) Page 18
