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“Hey,” he says in answer, his deep voice sounding sexy even now, when I’m frantic with worry for Ro.
“Hi,” I say breathlessly. “My roommate Ro, she fell down some stairs and she’s hurt. I have to go get her.”
“Where at?”
“Uh…” I get in my car and start it, putting the phone on speaker and tossing it on the seat beside me. “All I know is she’s close to Caesars Palace.”
“I’ll meet you there,” he says.
“What? No, you don’t have to do that.”
“You’re going to need help. On the Strip, you can’t just pull up wherever you want.”
“I don’t…uh…shit. I can’t even remember which way to turn!”
I’m picturing Ro, who is pretty much my best friend, bleeding and crying on the sidewalk. Tears are blurring my vision as I imagine some asshole making off with her purse while she’s immobilized—or worse.
“Hey,” Maverick says softly. “It’s gonna be okay. It’s early afternoon, and there are lots of people on the Strip. Someone will stop to help her. I’ll meet you there, okay? Let me know exactly where she is when you can.”
I burst into tears, which is so unlike me. I’ve been a dick to Maverick, telling him I only want to be friends when in truth, I want more and he knows it. Yet here he is, coming to the rescue of my friend just because I need him.
“I will,” I say through my tears. “Thanks.”
“It’s going to be okay,” he says. “I promise.”
“I know, but she’s, I mean you and her are my only friends and I know that must sound sad but it’s true. I try not to get close to anyone because then I care about them and I just hate that she’s hurt.”
The words are flowing out of my mouth unchecked by my brain. I wipe my cheeks as I stop at an intersection.
“Gia,” Maverick says. “Take a deep breath. Don’t get into a wreck. I was about to have lunch with a teammate at a place not far from Caesars, and we’re on our way there now. I’ll text you if I find her first, and you do the same. Okay?”
I inhale, exhale and say, “Okay. I’m okay. Thanks.”
“See you soon.”
“Okay.”
I reach over and push the button to end the call, taking another deep breath. Maverick is right. The best way for me to help Ro is to stay calm and get there to help as quickly as I can. I press down on my car’s gas pedal, trying to remember where the closest parking lot to Caesars is.
“Gia!” Ro calls out when she sees me.
I smile, relieved to see she’s in one piece. A small crowd has gathered close by, and a couple people are using camera phones to record Ro. Maverick and another dark-haired man I assume is his teammate are on the ground beside Ro. I feel a wave of gratitude as Maverick meets my gaze, gives me a wink and tells the people getting too close to Ro that they need to move back.
I get down on the ground beside Ro, taking her hand. A woman is pressing a cloth of some kind to one of her eyes. She looks at me and says, “Pretty nasty cut by one of her eyebrows. I’ve been putting pressure on it.”
“Thank you,” I say, smiling at her. “It means a lot that you stopped to help. I’ll take over.”
I press on the cloth and another stranger passes me a bottle of water for Ro. Maverick was right; there are good people who made sure Ro was cared for. She’s got a few small scrapes that already have bandages on them.
“How are you doing?” I ask softly.
“It hurts, but that’s not why I’m crying,” Ro says, sniffling. “There’s no way I’m getting that first-line spot in the show now.”
“Hey, we don’t know anything yet,” I say reassuringly. “Let’s see what the doctors say.”
Maverick nudges me and when I look at him, he nods toward Ro’s ankle.
“Oh, shit,” I murmur.
It’s about three times its normal size. She’s right—dancing is out for the time being. I just hope she can come back from whatever this is and dance again.
“We FaceTimed one of our trainers,” Maverick says. “He said we have to take her to the hospital for some scans. We’re supposed to keep the whole leg as immobilized as we can.”
“You want to get your car and I’ll carry her to it?” his teammate asks.
“Yeah, that’ll work.” He gestures at the other man and says, “Gia, this is Pike.”
“I remember you,” I say.
“Yeah?” He grins. “Have we met before?”
“The first night I met Maverick, you were at the table with him for a little while.”
Pike scrunches his face. “I don’t remember.”
Maverick gives me a wry look, because we both know Pike was too drunk and hung up on the woman he left the poker table with to remember much from that night.
