Page 84 of Next in Line
“Miles, I’m sorry! Sam and I were just supposed to be casual and fun. It wasn’t supposed to get this complicated.”
“You’re my little sister, and that is my best fucking friend. You both should have known better.” He yanks his arm out of my hand and storms out of the ER without looking back.
I look at Kate with wide, terrified eyes. “This is bad.”
Kate nods. “Really bad.”
Then, to add fuel to the fire, Sterling comes shuffling out of the double doors holding an ice pack to the back of his head. He looks at me with a somber look. “Twelve stitches. Can you believe that?”
My eyes roll so far to the back of my head, I can see the wall behind me. “I have to go, Sterling.”
“Go where?” he exclaims.
“I can’t be around you anymore,” I state honestly because it’s about damn time I start being honest for once.
“Maggie,” Sterling growls, grabbing my arm and turning me on my heel. “What about us?”
I shake my head, laughter bubbling up inside me because just looking at Sterling as he is right now, I can’t believe I ever truly loved him. “Us? You dumped me, Sterling. There is no us. Probably never should have been. I thought I knew what love was, but I was wrong…so wrong about so many things.”
I turn to leave with Kate by my side, and I hear Sterling shout behind me. “So you’re just leaving me in an emergency room in Boulder? Where the hell am I supposed to go?”
“I’ll text you the number to a lovely bed and breakfast,” I call over my shoulder. “Tell Claire I said hi!”
Just as we fly through the emergency room doors, we have to jump back out of the way for a stretcher being wheeled in. I glance down at the patient, and the girl looks oddly familiar.
“Lynsey?” Kate asks, her eyes wide and questioning. “Lynsey! Holy shit!”
“Oh my god, Kate. Thank God!” she cries, tears streaming down her face.
“Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” she says pathetically.
“What happened?”
She whimpers as she clutches her hand. “I was on a date, and I cut myself with a steak knife.”
“Yikes.”
“And I’m having an allergic reaction.”
Kate’s and my eyes fall to the blotches covering Lynsey’s chest in what looks like a really cute first date dress.
“And I twisted my ankle when I tried to run to the bathroom, and I think it might be broken.”
Kate shakes her head in disbelief. “Holy shit balls, Lynsey.”
“I know. And then my Tinder date just bailed on me.”
The paramedic looks up at Kate with sad eyes. “Yeah, we even said he could ride in the ambulance with her, and he passed.”
Lynsey lets out another whimper. “I even heard him complaining about picking up the bill.”
“What a fucker.”
The paramedic agrees.
Kate looks down and grabs her friend’s unbandaged hand. “Well, I’m here. I’ll stay with you.”
