Page 35 of Fractured Grief
“You’re not. Just a coffee run,” She smiled gently at Seb. “Let’s take a look, shall we?”
She lifted the bloody gauze. “This will definitely need stitches.” She grimaced, “You’re going to have a nasty bruise, too. There must’ve been some jagged metal on the car’s bumper. Good thing you’re all up to date with your shots. I’m sure you wouldn’t want another tetanus.”
She applied more gauze before turning to me. “I’ll need to get supplies and let Carol and Julian know what I’m doing. You keep the pressure on until I get back.” She patted my shoulder and left.
I quickly grabbed more gauze and added it to the wound.
“I guess we’ll be here a little while longer.” I smiled at Seb, taking in his stunning emerald eyes. They twinkled in the light shining through the blinds. So many conflicting emotions flickered across his face as he gazed back at me.
“You’re beautiful,” he whispered reverently.
His words hung in the air between us. My face heated, and I was sure I was blushing. I didn’t know how to respond, so I changed the subject.
“Is Lyric on his way?” I asked.
“Shit! I forgot again.” Seb fiddled with his phone a few times before bringing it to his ear.
“Seb! Thank goodness! Where the hell are you?” I could hear Lyric’s shout as if he were in the room with us. Seb flinched and moved the phone away from his ear.
“Lyric, it’s okay,” Seb tried reassuring Lyric.
“I was at the café for over half an hour, and you weren’t answering your phone. I thought you’d gone over on your appointment, so I checked in, and they said you left ages ago. Why didn’t you answer your phone? Where have youbeen? I can’t believe you just wandered off and didn’t tell me.” The more he spoke, the angrier he got.
Seb seemed too stunned by Lyric’s outburst to speak, so I took the phone from him. “Lyric, stop talking!”
Silence quickly greeted me. “You’re not Seb. Where’s my brother?” Lyric’s words were slow and measured. “Who are you?”
“It’s Indy, Seb’s physical therapist,” I paused to let that sink in.
“Why do you have Seb’s phone? Where’s Seb?”
“I need you to calm down, and I can tell you.”
One heartbeat. Two. “Okay.”
“There was an accident. Seb’s with me at my office in the Outpatient Care Building. He’s fine, but he needs some stitches. Can you come meet us here?”
“Stitches,” he screeched. “That doesn’t sound fine,” he muttered that last part before the line went dead.
“I guess he’s on his way.” I was a little flustered at the abrupt end to our conversation. Passing Seb back his phone just as Eve, Carol, and Julian, the head nurse, came into the room.
“Hi, Indiana. Mr. Papadakis,” Julian greeted Seb. “We haven’t formally met, but I’m Julian Chen, and I manage the nurses here. Eve mentioned your injuries, and I thought I’d take a look and see if I could fix you up. Is that okay?”
“Hi, ah, yeah, sure?” Seb muttered, his gaze flicking between all four of us. “No one’s in trouble, are they? Indy was just helping me off the street. It’s okay. I can go to the hospital,” he stuttered as he shifted in an attempt to get up.
Julian quickly moved forward to place a hand on Seb’s shoulder. “No one’s in trouble. I was just doing paperwork and thought I’d help out.” He aimed his dashing smile at Seb. His smooth complexion, high cheekbones, and rich brown eyes highlighted his model-handsome good looks. My stomach churned with jealousy. My jaw hurt from how hard I was clenching my teeth. I didn’t like Julian looking at Seb like that. I was about to move forward, to put myself between Seb and Julian, when Carol spoke.
“Why don’t we leave Julian to work on Seb? You and I can talk, and Eve can get back to work,” Carol motioned to the door.
I hesitated.
Eve noticed, and angel that she was, linked elbows with me and guided me to the door before I did something stupid and risked my job more than I already had today.
“Come on, Indy,” Eve gave me a nudge. “Jules will take great care of Seb.”
“I know,” I whispered. “I’ll be back soon,” I met Seb’s eyes and sent him a secret smile before letting Eve lead me away.
Once outside, Eve said her goodbyes, and I followed Carol into her office down the hall. Stepping inside, Carol closed the door before moving around to her desk and taking a seat.
