AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He opened his eyes and stared at his brother. Concern was written all over Rory’s face. He glanced over his brother’s shoulder to see a crowd had gathered. Someone was holding an umbrella over them to keep the rain off his face. Didn’t matter, he was soaked to the bone, and shivering. Jordana squatted beside him.
“The ambulance is coming from the medical center,” she said. Just then, the emergency vehicle, lights flashing, arrived in the lane in front of the trucks. He slammed his lids shut to block out the sickening strobes. The crowd made room for the EMTs.
“I don’t need an ambulance. I’m fine,” he protested and then tried to get up, but Rory wouldn’t let him.
His head hurt. And his back. And… “Fine.”
The EMTs checked him over and put him on a gurney. He started to relax when it all came back to him in a rush. “Where’s Greer? Is she okay?” His heart pounded, and his ears rang in rhythm with the glaring ambulance lights. She had to be okay. The image of her in front of him and the car coming made his stomach revolt. He barely refrained from retching.
“I’m here.” Greer came out from behind an umbrella.
He stared at her, his eyes roaming over her entire body, making sure she was fine. “Are you okay?” he asked as they started wheeling him away. “Stop,” he snarled.
She nodded. “I’m okay,” she said but then someone jostled her, and she winced.
“Bring her, too,” Dalton demanded. “She’s hurt.” It was bad enough what happened to Moore, but there was no way in hell he would let anything happen to Greer. Not on his watch. He could not be responsible for that. It would kill him.
The EMT glanced at her and then nodded. They put him into the back of the ambulance and Greer climbed inside as well. The ride to the medical center took less than three minutes. They pulled the gurney with him on it out, and Greer walked after it.
The overhead lights glared into his eyes as they wheeled him into an area just behind the front desk. Once they moved him from the gurney to a bed someone pulled a curtain all the way around the exam space so he lost sight of Greer. The doctor, a tall balding man with a fringe of white hair, the same man who’d dealt with Moore’s death, shone a light in his eyes as he asked him. “How is your vision?”
“Can’t see anything but spots since you put the light in my eyes,” he groused.
“No double vision?” the doctor asked.
“No.”
“Do you feel nauseous?”
Dalton paused, assessing the state of his gut. “No. My head aches and my body hurts where I hit the ground and Greer landed on me but I don’t have a concussion.”
“I see. Perhaps, Dr. Hughes, you could leave the diagnosis to me,” the doctor said as he continued to prod and poke the back of Dalton’s head. A nurse bustled in wearing a set of blue scrubs with a jacket over them and a harried expression on her face. Her dark hair looked windblown, and she frowned as she took his blood pressure. “Heart rate, sixty-six. Blood pressure, ninety over sixty,” she said. “Should I start an IV?”
The doctor nodded but Dalton said, “No” and wrestled his arm away from her. “That’s my normal blood pressure. I don’t need fluids.”
She glanced at the doctor who now had Dalton’s shirt up and was palpating his stomach. “Doctor?” she asked.
“It’s fine.” He pulled down the t-shirt. “I don’t feel anything abnormal.”
“I’m fine,” Dalton said yet again. He’d been in enough accidents that he knew his body well. He had a headache, and he was bruised, but otherwise okay. The doctor helped him to a sitting position and pressed a stethoscope to his back. Dalton hissed in a breath as the cold metal hit his skin.
Might as well take advantage of the situation and ask some questions. The doctor pushed him back and his head gave a thump. He just had to manage the headache.
“Hey, Doc, I have a couple questions about Moore’s death. He was my driver.”
“Mr. Hughes, I am not at liberty to discuss the situation. Now, follow my finger.” He held up his forefinger and moved it back and forth. Dalton tracked it with his gaze. The doctor ran him through a few more tests and then asked again if he was nauseous.
“I’m fine. I know the drill. About Moore?—”
“As I said, I’m not able to speak about the situation. How is your back?”
“It hurts.”
“Describe for me, please, what happened.”
“There was a speeding car in the lane. Maybe the driver didn’t see us in the rain, and it was getting dark out. But it was coming fast, and right at Greer, so I ran and grabbed her, jumping out of the way of the car. I twisted in the air, and she landed on top of me.”
“I see. Does your neck hurt?” The nurse was taking his blood pressure again.
