Page 34 of Fighting Temptation (Men of Honor 1)
Well at least she’s stopped fucking yelling for the time being.
“Yes a little. Thank you.”
“On a scale from one to ten what’s your pain?”
“About an eight.”
“Are you hurt anywhere else?”
“My ribs,” she says pointing to her left side.
Shit I didn’t even think to check her for other injuries. The nurse grabs a sheet to cover Julia’s lower half and then lifts her dress exposing her beautiful toned stomach. I suck in a sharp breath at the sight of her ribs. They’re already turning blue and she has road rash starting from her hip all the way up to where her bra is.
“Wow, what did you fall on dear?” the nurse asks in astonishment.
“On my driveway, well I more slid, I guess,” Julia looks at me anxiously. I sit in the chair by her bed and bring her hand up to my mouth. I’m trying to control the rage that is consuming me, not wanting to upset her more.
“The doctor will be in any minute. In the meantime, I’ll go get you something for the pain.”
When the nurse leaves Julia looks at me sadly, “How did you know to come?”
“Kayla told me you were ending it with him. I knew it wouldn’t end well.”
“I’ve made a mess of everything. I’m so sorry,” she says touching my mouth that’s cut from when Cooper and I went at it.
I shake my head, “It’s not your fault baby,” before I can say anything else the doctor comes in looking more like a med student than a doctor.
“Hi Julia!” he says smiling familiarly at her.
“Hi Doctor Carson.”
“Call me Blake, remember?” he says with a wink.
Who the fuck is this asshole?
I see him glance down at Julia’s hips where the sheet isn’t covering. I rip them up covering half her stomach. When he looks at my narrowed gaze he loses some of his confidence.
“And you are?”
“A friend,” I say menacingly.
He looks away wearily then he clears his throat, “Nurse Debbie says you had quite the fall,” he walks to Julia’s injured side and removes the scarf. “This is going to need a few stitches.”
Before he starts the stitches he asks her simple questions like her age and name. I decide if the prick asks for her phone number I’m going to lay him out, thankfully he doesn’t.
He shines a light in her eyes checking for a concussion then starts probing her forehead around the cut with his fingers, making her gasp in pain.
“Watch it asshole,” I say warningly.
“Jesus Jaxson lay off. He’s trying to help her,” Cooper says.
Shit! He’s right I need to chill out. I take a deep breath to calm myself and look at the doctor, “I’m sorry, just be careful with her. She’s in a lot of pain.”
The doctor nods and continues his work. The nurse brings Julia the pain medication while the doctor starts on her stitches. It’s only a few minutes before he steps back and looks at her, “Well Julia, you’re all finished. Now you do have a small concussion. So we have two options, either you can stay here for the night as you will need to be woken up every 2 hours or, if you have someone at home who can do this, then I can let you go home with them. I will also give you something for the pain to take with you. You might need it for a day or two.”
“I’ll be taking care of her,” I say before Julia can answer.
“I figured,” the doctor mutters under his breath causing me to glare at him again.
Julia looks at me in surprise, “No! It’s fine Jaxson, I’ll stay here. No need to keep you or anyone else up all night,” she says guiltily.
“Don’t argue Julia, I said I’ll do it.”
She lets out a tired breath, “Ok, thank you.”
The doctor looks at me, “As I said, it’s important to wake her every two hours. Ask her simple questions like her name or her age. The drugs could make her drowsy and a little disorientated so expect that. But she should be able to answer the easy questions. If she seems worse bring her in, otherwise I expect a full recovery.”
“Thank you Blake.” I tense when Julia uses his first name.
“No problem-o,” he winks again at her. What a jack-ass. He sees my glare and clears his throat. “Nurse Debbie will bandage your ribs and show you how to care for the dressing. Take care Miss Julia.”
I turn to Julia when he leaves the room, “How are you feeling?”
“The pain has lessened, I’m just really tired. Where’s Kayla?”
“I’m going to get her now,” Cooper says walking out the door.
The nurse comes in as he leaves, “Alright dear, I’m going to put some ointment on your ribs and bandage you up. Keep this up for a couple days, it will prevent infection. Cover it with saran wrap when you shower ok? You will probably need some help with it.”
“I’ll be helping her,” I say reassuring the nurse. I watch and listen carefully to her instructions.
“Ok all set, you can leave when you’re ready. Take your time.”
“Thank you,” Julia says tiredly, barely keeping her eyes open.
Kayla comes rushing in the door, her eyes blood-shot from crying. She leans over and hugs Julia gently, “I’m so glad you’re ok.”
“I need to know what happened tonight Julia,” Cooper says cutting in.
“Not now! She’s too tired. We can talk about it tomorrow,” I say firmly.
Cooper lets out a frustrated breath, “Fine, but we can’t leave it past then. I have a feeling I’ll be having that dick-head’s father on my ass, so I need to know details.”
I forgot about Cooper being the sheriff. I can only imagine what shit he puts up with when he has to deal with arrogant pricks like the Jennings.
“Come on Jules, let’s get out of here,” Kayla says helping her out of bed.
“Whoa,” Julia grabs on to Kayla unsteadily.
I quickly come around and pick her up.
“I can walk Jaxson, I just need a minute.” I ignore her protest and keep walking. Once we reach the truck I look down to see her sound asleep. Jesus, that didn’t take long.
