Get at Me #8
“Don’t you dare move. We have no idea what the hell is going on with you right now.
Are you okay? How are you feeling?” I hated to throw so many questions at him at once but I had to get out everything that I’d kept bottled up.
He was blinking again as though he was trying to clear the haze from his brain but it wasn’t working.
Ori’s muscles tensed again as if he was about to sit up and I moved one hand from his face to his chest to stop him.
"You were out for too long. You can’t move without them checking you out.
You know how protocol goes in something like this.
” Having been in the military I wasn’t sure why he was acting as though he could circumvent protocols but then I had to remind myself who I was dealing with.
The door to the car was finally wrenched open and the man who’d told me to keep Ori’s face braced was there standing in the driver's door. Before I could speak, Ori’s hand was extended with his gun pointed in the man’s face.
“For Christ’s sake Ori, he’s a bloody medic trying to save us.
Put the gotdamn gun down!” I hadn’t realized that he even knew that I’d sat his gun back on his lap but he clearly was far sharper than I’d given him credit for.
I glanced over at the man who seemed hesitant to render aid and I couldn’t blame him since he’d just had a gun pointed in his face. "Get me a collar, please.”
I wasn’t about to coddle his fear especially since I wasn’t sure how bad Ori’s injuries were.
He was acting lucid and his reflexes seemed normal but that was nothing to a man like him.
If anything, his appearing normal instead of superhuman was a key indicator that something was very wrong.
After a brief hesitation, the paramedic reached into the car with the collar I’d requested.
“Don’t touch me.” Ori all but snarled at the man and I swore I was going to pull every rung out his fucking ladder after I tied him to his hospital bed.
Or find a very powerful magnet to do it for me just to torture him.
I straddled his body in the seat and his hands immediately went to my hips.
I knew he was acting on impulse but he needed to have something else on the brain.
“Ka’iulani, I’m fine.”
"The only way they will let you walk out of this car is with that. It's protocol and even you can't avoid it. He needs to steady your neck while I put this on." I nodded to the paramedic who unlocked the door and then climbed into the seat behind Ori using the driver’s side passenger door.
"How long was he out?”
“About seven minutes, BP is slightly elevated. 136/82 is my estimate. His pupils are slow in responding and even though he's trying to hide it his head and chest took the brunt of the force from the airbag so I know at a minimum there’s bruising to contend with.”
“I don’t need this, Asha!” Ori reached up and snatched the collar from my hands, tossing it outside of the car. He shifted me back to the center console with care before all but throwing his massive frame out of the driver’s side door.
“Stubborn mule,” I muttered under my breath as I watched him stagger and struggle to stand.
Paramedics were surrounding him and there was a woman who was trying to get his attention.
She was trying to shine a light into his eyes to gauge his reflexes but I saw when he had to catch himself from pushing her out of the way.
Instead, he took a step back before locking eyes with me.
It had rained the night before and I was shocked the car hadn’t slid further down the hill than it had, given how little traction there was on the hillside.
This would have to go down as a miracle because we should’ve flipped at least three times and ended up at the bottom of a ravine.
I knew Ori wouldn’t let anyone else near him so instead of arguing with him I walked over and started to do the work I knew the paramedics wouldn’t be able to. I tugged his button down from his trousers, a move that earned me a grunt even as I saw his dick starting to tent the front of his pants.
“If you don’t put that bloody thing away at a time like this.
So help me God.” I kept my voice low as I was palpating his sides to see if he had any broken ribs, which was difficult as hell given his physique.
His muscles were wrapped tightly over his bones and they were so thick I couldn’t access them easily.
“I can’t help that he has a mind of his own, Asha.” The humor in his voice made it clear he found my threat and his dick amusing. Neither of which surprised me.
“You are an utterly ridiculous man.”
“I told you I was fine. Why am I wet?” He blinked before looking down at me and I could tell his eyes swam slightly. He closed them briefly before opening them again and lifting the hand I’d been using to check him over. “Yours or mine?”
I looked at my hand and realized what he was asking me. “It’s mine—”
“Somebody get over here now!” The fierceness in his voice caused several of the paramedics who’d been waiting on my okay to approach to run over. I was annoyed because they were letting him call the shots instead of forcing him to be the patient that he was.
“It’s a minor cut and it doesn’t need attention.” One reached for my hand and I pulled it back quickly. I didn’t know who any of them were and having myself checked out wasn’t a priority or a desire. “No, he was knocked unconscious; he’s the one who needs immediate attention!”
I was attempting to keep calm and I glared at Ori pissed that he was putting me in this position. He could keel over at any minute all because he wanted someone to tend to my fingers, which would need a bandage at most.
“But, miss, your hands,” the paramedic seemed to be insistent on following Ori’s directions causing me to snarl at him.
“I promise you this isn’t nearly as bad as it looks.
But this man was just unconscious and I doubt your superiors would like to hear about how you treated a boo boo instead of focusing on the person with the bloody concussion!
” I was about to lose it but instead of snapping again I took a deep breath and plastered on a smile of understanding.
Ori, to his credit, had shut the fuck up but it was probably more for the amusement of knowing he’d gotten on my fucking nerves.
“Now I know he’s a gargantuan of a man but frankly you all can shoot his ass up with sedatives if necessary to move him. ”
“Asha—”
“You’d do well to shut your mouth or climb your ass up this bloody hill.
Those are literally the only options you have before I go full Jean Gray/ Phoenix out here and start letting bodies hit the floor.
Starting with yours.” I arched my brow and the arsehole had the gall to smile at me. As if I were a joke.
“You heard the wife. We wouldn’t want her to lose it on anyone. She’s as deranged as she is pretty so how do I need to get up this hill?”
The paramedics were all smiling as though our banter was some kind of cute inside joke instead of the credible threat it actually was.
“You need to come with us.” The paramedic put a hand on my elbow and I snatched it away. I didn’t know him for him to touch me and it pissed me off.
“Did you think I was going to stay here with the car?”
He blushed to the roots of his hair as I started to look for a way up the hill. “No, ma’am. I mean you need to be checked out as well.”
“I’m fine.”
“It’s protocol, Asha. We wouldn’t want the good people to go against what they’ve been trained to do now would we?”
Ori was smiling as he allowed himself to be strapped down to a gurney. I knew he was only doing it as a means to torture me and I wanted to kick that stretcher down the ravine with him attached to it.
“I’m more than capable of having myself checked out once I’m sure he’s fine.” That was as much as I would concede.
“Ma’am I understand you are concerned about him, but we have to take you in an ambulance, look at your car.”
I turned and saw the large SUV that had come to rest against a tree. It had scraps along both bumpers and markings from where they’d apparently used the machine to pry open Ori’s door.
I could feel my adrenaline wane and my knees threatened to buckle but I caught myself before I allowed such a disgusting display of weakness.
“Miss, please?”
I watched as Ori was lifted toward the embankment with some type of winch system that I’d originally assumed was for the car.
“Fine. But I’ll climb out.”
“I can’t let you do that. Between the accident and the cuts on your fingers—”
“But it’s—”
“Your husband has threatened everyone here to ensure your safety since he can’t. I’m sorry but I think I’d rather deal with your anger than his.”
I blinked slowly feeling my head tilt the way Jada’s did as I assessed this man like he was my next victim. “Oh dear. That was such a grave mistake.”
“Excuse me?” He’d heard me but wanted desperately to be wrong.
“Nothing. Show me what I need to do so that we can get on with it. I need to check on him and call our families.”
He nodded, still wary of me, which settled me more than his kindness. “We’ve grabbed your purse for you already. Just follow me and we’ll be sure to take care of both of you.”
ORI
“‘E needs to wake ‘is giant arse up. Too much goin’ on fo’ ‘im to be takin’ naps while the world turns wi’out ‘im.”
I rolled my eyes even in my sleep because leave it to Liam to be complaining about my being unconscious. As though I’d asked for this shit.
One quick inhale confirmed I was in a medical facility and when I opened my eyes I knew it wasn’t a public one or a military one.