Chapter 34
34
SUMMER
My phone rang as I was checking my calendar of appointments for the morning. I glanced down at the screen. It was Eden.
I raised the phone to my ear. “Hello?”
“Summer, get out onto the street right now,” she hissed.
I frowned. “Why?”
“Just do it. Trust me.” She hung up.
Bemused, I strode out of our shared office, past Beverley, waving off her curiosity about where I was going to in such a hurry, and crossed the parking lot, which fronted onto Centennial Street.
As soon as I did, my jaw dropped. Blue and red lights were flashing from a pair of police cars parked about a block away, and a cluster of people were gathered outside Taste of Destiny. I ran down the street, grateful for my sensible work shoes.
When I reached them, I realized why Eden had called. Standing in the center of the group were Liam and Asher. Blood was streaming down Asher’s face, and he was carrying himself stiffly, as if hurt somewhere else too.
My stomach dropped, and I raced across the remaining distance between us. I whipped off my scrub top, grateful for my tank top underneath, balled it up, and offered it to him. He took the top without question and used it to staunch the flow of blood.
“Are you okay?” I asked, scanning him for other injuries. The skin beneath his eyes was beginning to take on a purple tinge. He might have a pair of black eyes later today.
“What the hell is going on here?” Nate demanded.
He and Mehrtens, his most trusted officer, had gotten out of their car and positioned themselves between Asher and another man, who was red-faced and cursing up a storm.
I jolted, caught off guard. It hadn’t occurred to me to look for whoever had done this to him. I’d been too focused on helping. It was lucky someone had, because the guy was straining to get free and have another go.
“James attacked me,” Asher said, loud enough for everyone to hear. “He tried to tackle Liam too, but these guys stopped him.”
“You fucking rat!” the red-faced guy shouted. “You’ve ruined my life!”
“No,” Asher replied calmly. “You did that.”
The guy, who was familiar—perhaps someone we’d been to school with—used his shoulder to shove Keith aside. I felt Asher tense, prepared for him to attack again, but the guy just pushed Trev off too and wiped his hands on the front of his shirt.
“I’m going to make you regret this,” he said.
What on earth could Asher have done to upset him so much? And was Liam involved too, or had he just tried to intervene?
“I wouldn’t recommend making threats in front of the police,” Nate said. “Why don’t you tell me, in your own words, what happened?”
I was tempted to listen in, but instead I gave my full attention to Asher and Liam.
“You should come down to the clinic,” I told him. “I can patch you up properly there.”
The corners of his mouth twitched upward, and his warm brown gaze held mine.
“Thanks,” he said gruffly. “We have supplies at the station though.”
I wanted to roll my eyes. “Of course you do.”
They had supplies intended for actual humans, rather than the animal ones I’d have had to make do with, and Maia had the proper training to deal with his injuries—not that they seemed to be severe.
“How’s your head?” I asked.
He tilted it from one side to the other. “A bit sore, but I don’t think I’ve got a concussion. My thoughts aren’t foggy now that my brain has stopped sloshing around. I’ll have Maia assess me to be sure.” He looked down at his pants leg, which was soaked with brown liquid. “I was bringing you a coffee, but I ended up wearing it.”
My heart skipped, and my insides lightened. I tore my eyes away from his or else it wouldn’t have taken long for me to give everything away to Liam.
A raised voice to the left had me turning that way. I sifted through the faces gathered until I landed on Lionel Lowry.
“Just great,” Liam muttered under his breath.
“Leave James alone,” Lionel huffed. “I say Asher Heaton deserves what’s coming to him.”
“Shut it, Lionel,” Mehrtens snapped. “Now isn’t the time for your petty vendetta.”
“There’s never a good time, sweetheart,” he drawled. “We’ve just got to make do. Go on, James. Take another shot at the useless asshole. Maybe if he gets a tune up and has to heal himself, he’ll finally learn how to do his goddamn job properly.”
Something flickered through Asher’s eyes that I didn’t like at all.
A hint of guilt.
“I hope you don’t believe him,” I said quietly, aware that Mehrtens was trying to persuade Lionel to stop talking. “What happened to his leg is not your fault. He’s the one who wasn’t as careful as he should have been around a dangerous piece of machinery.”
“What do you know, little girl?” Lionel called, obviously hearing me despite my best efforts to keep my words private. “Have you ever needed help and been messed around by incompetent pricks?”
Asher flinched, and I clenched my jaw. I didn’t know why he could be so hotheaded around some people and yet meek when others lashed out, but I wouldn’t accept anyone kicking him while he was down.
I marched over to Lionel and stopped two feet in front of him. He wasn’t a tall man, although he was taller than me, and he’d grown a beer gut since he’d been out of work on the farm.
I leveled a finger at him. “Listen to me, you old crank. It’s time for you to grow up and stop blaming other people for things that aren’t their fault. Your leg will never be the same again. It’s awful. We know that. But you can’t take it out on people who were only trying to help.”
His bloodshot eyes glared at me from sunken sockets. “I can do whatever I want, missy. Who’s going to stop me?”
Nate cleared his throat. “Everyone involved, down to the station. Quit bitching at each other. We need to take statements and discuss whether anyone is pressing charges.”