5. Chapter 5
Chapter 5
Everything happened so fucking fast.
One second Ashley and Paige were in each other’s faces and the next Ashley was losing her shit. By the time David realized that Paige was really in trouble, he couldn’t get to her in time to prevent her from falling.
The sound of her head hitting the marble floor was something he would never un-hear.
“Are you out of your goddamn mind?” he yelled at Ashley as he dropped to his knees next to Paige. With a noticeable lack of finesse—because he was freaking the fuck out—David slid one hand under Paige’s head to get it off the floor, getting his fingers slightly tangled in her hair in his haste. His other hand went to the side of her now pale face.
“Paige,” he said, her unconscious form so limp and lifeless it made him cringe. All of the anger and bad feelings of the past few minutes had vanished and all he felt was raw, shit-inducing fear. “Come on, Paige.”
When she didn’t stir, he ordered Ashley, “Call 911.”
After a momentary pause, Ashley pulled her phone out of her purse and moved several feet away to make the call.
“Holy shit! Paige!”
“Oh, my God!”
David turned at the shocked voices to see a good-looking, dark haired man in a suit and the hostess rushing over. Almost immediately, the hostess ran back into the restaurant, while the man dropped to his knees on the other side of Paige.
“You know her?” David asked, surprised.
Instead of answering the question, Hale shrugged out of his jacket and began folding it into a makeshift pillow, which he then slid underneath Paige’s head. “Did you call 911?”
Before David could answer, Ashley came back and inadvertently answered for him. “Ambulance is on its way.”
“So, you know her?” David asked Hale again.
This time, Hale answered. “Yes. She’s my date,” he said, picking up one of Paige’s hands and squeezing. “Lucky number thirteen.”
“What?”
“Never mind.” Hale took a deep breath, then asked, “What happened?”
“She tripped,” Ashley said.
Hale looked up at her from where she stood behind David. “She tripped?”
“Yes. She tripped,” Ashley said, doubling down on her lie, making David literally cringe.
Hale looked around on the floor. “What did she trip on?”
“I don’t know. Sometimes people just … trip.”
“I know, but they usually fall forward.” Hale’s suspicious gaze darted between Ashley and David. “So, what really happened? And don’t feed me any more bullshit.”
David gave Ashley a disgusted look when it became clear she wasn’t going to answer. Did she think he was going to continue the lie with her? Fuck that.
“Paige is my ex-wife,” David explained after a short pause. “We haven’t seen each other in almost five years and she and my girlfriend—” David nodded toward Ashley, “—got into an argument. Some things were said, then Ashley pushed Paige and—”
“Oh, so she didn’t trip?” Hale’s gaze met Ashley’s.
David knew the question wasn’t really a question, but he answered it anyway. “No.”
Ashley’s face was red. “Damn it, David.”
“It’s the truth, isn’t it?”
“And that’s how Paige ended up on the floor?” Hale’s voice was flat.
“Yes.”
Hale’s gaze met Ashley’s again, this time with contempt. “It must have been one hell of a push.”
She set her jaw. “It was an accident.”
“An accident would have been if she’d actually tripped. But it seems more like you assaulted her.”
“Assault? She called me a cunt—”
“She did?”
“Yes.”
“Well, I’m thinking she was probably right about that.”
Ashley’s response was halted as the main restaurant doors opened and a small group of people came in, talking loudly and laughing. When they saw Paige lying on the floor, their exuberance turned to shock and with overlapping cries of “Oh, shit!” and “Oh, my God!” they rushed forward.
“Stay back,” Hale told them brusquely, then with another contemptuous look at Ashley, added, “You, too. I don’t want you anywhere near her.”
David barely heard him because his attention was completely on Paige, who was still unresponsive. What if she was seriously injured? He didn’t know much about head injuries, but he knew they could be bad. She wasn’t bleeding, but he could feel the goose egg on the back of her head and the possibility of her having a skull fracture was uppermost in his mind. At the very least, a concussion was on the table, but the longer she stayed unconscious, the more he panicked.
“Paige. Come on, open your eyes,” he begged. “Please.”
Just then, the hostess returned, along with a heavy-set man in his fifties who pushed past the people that had gathered, and as he lowered himself down next to Paige, he dislodged Hale a little bit.
“I’m Steven, the manager,” he announced. “How long has she been like this?”
“One minute, maybe two,” David said, just as the sounds of an ambulance could be heard in the distance.
“What happened?”
David gave Steven the same brief explanation he’d given Hale and was just finishing when the ambulance arrived. In a matter of moments two paramedics were rushing into the restaurant with a wheeled stretcher. Steven cleared the onlookers out of the way—which seemed to have grown exponentially—and David found himself pushed off to one side.
The paramedics seemed to know what they were dealing with, making David hopeful that Ashley had given the 911 dispatcher accurate, if not completely forthcoming, information. He watched as they gave her a quick exam, talking quietly to one another as they worked. When they appeared to be done, one of the paramedics said, “Let’s get her up.”
As they were lifting her off the floor and onto the stretcher, Paige began to stir.
So relieved he almost pissed himself, David shot a look at Ashley and found her … fucking around on her phone.
“What are you doing?” he demanded.
Hale smirked. “Googling affordable lawyers?”
If it wasn’t such an ugly situation, David would’ve thought that was funny.
Ashley ignored Hale and gave David an aggrieved look. “Carrie texted to see if I was busy tomorrow. I was just texting her back, that’s all.”
“I hope you didn’t make plans. Because you might be busy with the police, instead,” Hale told her. “And don’t even think about giving me that resting bitch face again. It’s a real possibility, since you’re responsible—” he pointed at Paige on the stretcher, “—for doing that. And that’s a problem.”
Ashley didn’t say anything, although she looked like she wanted to. David thought it a damn shame that she hadn’t had such restraint with Paige.
“You don’t think so?” Hale asked, when he got no response. “If that was you, would it be a problem? Would you maybe want the person who did that to you be held accountable?”
Even though she was still ostensibly ignoring him, for the first time, Ashley actually looked a little anxious and Hale tilted his head. “Oh, good. You’re finally getting it.”
“David,” Ashley began.
Not interested in hearing whatever she was going to say, especially when she was doing that whiny thing with her voice that he hated, David turned away from her. He could see that Paige’s eyes were now open and he drifted as close as he could to the paramedic who was leaning over her. Hale followed close behind.
“Hi there,” the paramedic quietly greeted Paige.
Paige blinked very slowly at him. “Who … are you?”
“My name is Brandon,” the paramedic said. “And that’s my partner, Lucas,” he added, motioning to the paramedic on her other side. “We’re here to help you.”
“You sound like that … um … Morgan, um …”
“Freeman?”
“Him. Yeah.”
“I get that a lot. Everyone tells me I’m better looking, though,” he said with a wink.
“No, they don’t,” countered Lucas.
Brandon ignored his partner and looked down at Paige. “So, now that you know our names, can you tell me yours?”
“It’s …”
David watched as her expression went utterly blank and his heart dropped as she obviously struggled with what should’ve been a simple question.
“… Paige,” she finally said.
Hale rubbed at the back of his neck. “Jesus Christ.”
Brandon nodded, pleased that she had been able to answer, but also seemingly a little concerned at how long it had taken. “How are you feeling, Paige?”
“My head hurts,” she answered slowly, her words a little slurred.
“Are you experiencing any nausea?”
She gave a short nod and then winced, as if that small action had hurt. “Yes.”
“Does it feel like you’re going to vomit?”
“I don’t … know.”
“Well, let me know if you think you are, all right?”
She didn’t say anything for a long moment, causing Brandon to ask, “Paige? Are you still with me?”
“You sound like Morgan … um …”
“Freeman? I know. I get that a lot.”
David swallowed hard; he’d been thinking that when Paige regained consciousness, she would be fine, but she clearly wasn’t.
“Fuck,” Hale whispered, barely louder than a breath.
“Paige, can you keep those pretty brown eyes open for me?” Brandon asked, when her eyes fluttered closed. “Can you do that?”
She did, but with difficulty, then murmured, “Sabre-Toothed Squirrel.”
It took David a moment to register what she’d said because her words were still coming out rather slurred, but when he did, a wave of nostalgia crashed over him. It was so strong that it actually hurt and he almost missed the paramedics exchanging alarmed looks.
He stepped forward a little more and without thinking, said, “That’s an inside joke. It makes sense to me.”
Brandon and Lucas both turned to look at him, as did what seemed like everyone else in the lobby, including Paige. At first, her expression was somewhat confused, but then it turned to one of recognition.
“David,” she whispered, a layer of relief in her voice. “You’re here.”
He gave her a forced, quick smile. “I’m here.”
“You two know each other?” Lucas asked Paige.
“He’s … my husband.”
“He’s what?” Over his shoulder, Brandon gave David a look that said Where you been hiding, man?
Paige slowly held out her hand toward David, obviously wanting him to come and take it. Without a second thought, he went to her side and tucked her hand into his, not caring that Ashley was glaring at him, or that Paige’s date was frowning; David’s main concern was the person lying on a stretcher looking at him like he was her lifeline.
He held Paige’s hand as the paramedics asked her a few more questions, until her eyes fluttered closed again and this time, it was allowed. Brandon and Lucas then began preparing Paige for transport and as they secured her to the gurney, Brandon gave David an assessing look and asked in a low voice, mindful of the people around them, “Are you really her husband?”
David cleared his throat. “I used to be. We’re divorced.”
Brandon glanced down at David and Paige’s clasped hands for a moment before he said, “We’re taking her to Holy Trinity, if you want to follow us.”
“Can I ride with you, instead?”
After a brief hesitation, Brandon nodded. “You can ride.”
“Thanks.”
Ashley practically jumped on David. “What are you doing?”
“What do you think I’m doing? I’m going to the hospital with Paige.”
“Is that really necessary?”
“Jesus Christ. Yes, it’s necessary.”
“David, we were supposed to go out after dinner and—”
“Change of plans, thanks to you.” Shoving a hand in his pocket, he pulled out a set of car keys and thrust them toward Ashley as Brandon and Lucas started to roll the gurney toward the front doors. “I’m now going to the hospital and you’re going home.”
She looked at the keys but didn’t take them. “No. I’ll go to the hospital with you.”
“Ash, I’m not fucking around, here. Go home. Pay the babysitter. Give Jacob a bath and put him to bed.”
He shoved the keys at her again. Grudgingly, she snatched them from his hand. “When will you be home?”
“I don’t know,” he replied, then without a backward glance, David followed the paramedics to the ambulance and got in.