Page 28 of Broken

“I’m still mad at you about that cat,” I tell her.

“Screw the cat. If you don’t get this checked out, you might not be able to tattoo.”

“What’s going on?”

Great, now Phoenix is here too. He barges in and makes a face when he sees my arm. “Was he a hero or an asshole, I’m getting conflicting stories.”

“From where?”

“Couple of people have come in to check on you, said they saw you get knocked on your ass by a push bike,” he grins.

“Shut up, dickhead,” I mutter. They might be right. As they bicker and Calli apologizes again, I try to move my arm. “Ah, fuck,” I groan.

“That’s it,” Calli all but stomps her foot. “You need an x-ray. I’ll go get my car, unless anyone else has one?” she looks around. Lucky doesn’t drive and Phoenix only has a motorcycle.

“I have a car,” I say. “I can drive myself.”

“You can’t drive yourself,” Calli tells me.

“You’re not driving my car, and neither of these assholes know how.”

“There is gratitude for you,” Lucky mutters. “Garrett, I love you, but stop being a prick.”

“Yeah, dude, go get it looked at. We can’t shut up the shop, we have clients. Harris will be here soon and if I don’t see him today, it’ll be months before he can come back. I’m not putting him in that position. Just stop beingyouand go get it checked.”

“Fuck… Re-arrange my appointment,” I tell Lucky. Even if I don’t go to the hospital, I can’t possibly do that tattoo today.

Calli cocks her head, waiting for me to say something. I stare between the three of them with their varying degrees of concern, annoyance and judgment. Fuck.

“Fine, we can take my car.”

Calli inexplicably smiles. I get caught up in that smile. Jesus, she’s stunning. Not the time, my elbow kindly reminds me.

“Let’s go,” I push off the table and walk out of the room.

“The bear with a sore head has a sore arm,” I hear Lucky whisper, not so subtly.

They care. The question is, why does Calli, when I’m the one who caused the accident?

Chapter Eight

Calli

Garrett is quiet most of the drive. I can only assume it’s because he’s in pain from how he’s cradling his arm. I feel awful. I mean, he stepped out in front of me without looking. I was distracted because of a news article I stupidly shouldn’t have looked at.

I took my break early because I didn’t want Ruby to see me upset. And now I’ve hurt Garrett. He might have been as ass to me the last time I saw him, that doesn’t mean I can forgive myself for running him down.

He gives directions but they’re gruff, and he stares out of the windshield as he does it. I focus on driving, crashing the car would be the cherry on the shit sundae today is turning out to be.

We find a parking space and head inside. Garrett tries to tell me he can manage on his own, but I ignore him. He cusses, but I ignore that too. I stand by as he speaks to reception and gets the forms to fill out for his insurance. We find a quiet space in the far corner.

Garrett tries to fill out the form but winces when he grips the pen.

“Let me,” I say.

“I’m fine.”

“Just let me do it. Once you’ve seen a doctor and know how bad it is, you can write as much as you want but for now, it’s hurting you.”

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