The bleeding girl buried her face in my shoulder and a good chunk of her hair settled right under my nose, bringing with it the smell of strawberries and vanilla.
She was muttering something that sounded like, "Oh, my God, oh, my God" and I got the feeling she wouldn't mind if the ground suddenly opened up and swallowed her whole.
Ignoring her in favour of concentrating hard on not dropping her and keeling over in pain myself, I followed the nurse through the double doors and almost sighed in relief when she pointed to the nearest available booth on the right.
I placed the girl on the bed and bit back a groan when every pain in my body intensified before receding slowly. This was what I got for trying to play hero. Next time I'd do well to just mind my own business; it'd be much less painful that way.
Stepping away, I caught the dismayed look on her face and the way her body was shaking slightly. She glanced up at me for a split second, then quickly averted her gaze, looking down at her hands in what could only be described as shame.
"I'm sorry," she muttered.
I blinked, pretty sure the blood loss had affected her to the point where she was now rambling like an idiot.
"What?" I asked, on the off chance I'd misheard and she hadn't just apologised to me for God knows what.
"You're injured, and you had to carry me in here."
I scowled at the reminder, anger working its way into my chest to settle over me like a hot, heavy blanket.
"No. I'm fine," I lied, aware my voice was a tad harsher than I meant it to be.
But I couldn't help it, and I couldn't quite bring myself to care enough to offer an apology of my own. On top of being injured, I was still tired, still hungry, and as usual when I was that exhausted, a bone deep chill had started over the back of my shoulders and was spreading fast. Add a tension headache, and I considered it a small miracle I hadn't already left her here and snarled something about hoping to never see her again.
She looked doubtful as she gave me a quick once over, and I thought she might call me on my bullshit but mercifully the curtain whipped back and a doctor - one of the few in the place I hadn't been tended by as long as I'd been coming here - strode in snapping on a pair of gloves.
Jeez, did they all do that? It seemed Dr. Hilliard did the exact same thing, and so did Dr. Farrell and Dr. Marrilyn whenever I had the displeasure of being treated by them. Huh, maybe it was the first thing they taught you at medical school, before they brought out the big guns, like say, how to save people's lives.
"Hello, I'm Dr. Hendricks."
I immediately disliked him for his chipper tone alone. It was the middle of the freaking night, nobody had a right to be that damn happy.
He examined the girl's cloth covered hand with a severe frown on his face, his dark brow drawn down and his thin lips pursed.
"Well, what do we have here?"
Right on cue, the bleeding girl offered up her pathetic lie.
"I cut myself on some glass," she mumbled, and I rolled my eyes when both of them weren't looking.
Cut herself on some glass, yeah right. Just like I slipped and fell.
It was enough to make me seethe over what might have actually happened to her. You only lied when it was something you couldn't pass off without there being major consequences for someone involved. I'd lied to save Derek's ass - again, even after I'd decided to ditch him for good.
