Chapter 40
Chapter Forty
VERA
“Yo, V. After work, you wanna grab a beer?” Nico yelled from where he was working on the carpet in the corner of the room.
We were almost finished with the project on the same floor as Cara’s office. We only had probably about a few weeks left until everything was completed. I’d miss walking by Cara’s office everyday, or stopping in to makeout. Sometimes more if no one else was around.
I smiled and nodded. “Hell yeah. That sounds great.”
I was headed to Cara’s office to say goodbye when he stopped me. She was leaving for two days and I was going to miss the hell out of her.
I’d just started walking away again when I heard some yelling, followed by a loud thud. I turned around to see Nico underneath a steel beam. “Shit! Nico!” I ran over to him, panicked.
When I got to him, he was laying on the ground, eyes closed. Shit. I checked his heart rate and blew out a relieved breath that he was still breathing.
“Joe! Call 9-1-1, Now!”
Fuck! I tried to talk to him, tried to get him to wake up, and nothing. I checked his pulse. Thankfully, he was still breathing. “?Mierda!” I whispered.
I felt helpless. All I could do was sit there and wait for the ambulance to come.
This was all my fault. I should’ve been more careful and made sure everything was safe and secure.
I shouldn’t have left the job site until everyone was gone like I normally did.
I was eager to see Cara before she left, and I’d really fucked up.
After what felt like an hour, the ambulance showed up to take Nico to the hospital. He was barely coming to when they arrived and he’d asked what happened.
“You’ve got a shitty boss. That’s what happened. I’m so sorry, man.”
“Nah. I’ve got the best boss, amiga. You still want to meet for drinks?”
I laughed, masking the tears that were slowly spilling down my face. I didn’t think he was dying, but something in my chest ached at the sight of him being put into the ambulance.
“I don’t think they’ll let you out that soon, bro. Get some rest. I’ll call Diana and have Joe ride with you. I’ve got to take care of stuff here, but then I’ll be right over, okay?”
He nodded. “Yeah. Thanks, V. I’m going to have one hell of a headache, huh?”
I chuckled and waved him off. “Oh, hell yeah.”
When the ambulance drove away, I rushed back inside to send everyone else home. I made sure to close up everything and make sure everything was secure.
When everyone left, I told Joe to go to the hospital with Nico and I’d call Nico’s wife to let her know what’s going on and offer to take her to the hospital if she needed a ride.
I was just about to call Nico’s wife when I heard a panicked voice behind me. “Vera.”
I looked up from my phone to see Cara heading toward me. She had left her suitcase at Eloise’s desk and looked as if she was heading out. “I heard the ambulance. Are you okay? What happened?”
“Yeah I’m fine.” I said looking back at my phone. “A steel beam wasn’t secured and it fell on Nico. They just took him to the hospital. I have to call his wife.”
“Oh my God. Is he okay? Is there something I can do to help?” She walked closer and reached out for me. I let her touch my arm, but I didn’t lean into the touch. My mind was racing from all the things I needed to do and should’ve done to prevent what happened. I couldn’t deal with anything else.
I shook my head, finally looking at her. “No. I’m fine. You should get going. I’ve got it handled.”
“Please, Vera. I want to help. Can I call someone for you? Take you to the hospital? Help you clean up here? Just let me know what I can do.”
She smiled and I hated how closed off I was being, but I couldn’t help it.
This was my job. My company. My team. It was my responsibility and mine alone to handle the situation.
I appreciated that she was being supportive, but I couldn’t deal with it.
It wasn’t like helping me with a sick dog. This was a lot bigger.
“I’ll be fine. You need to get going. You’re going to miss your flight.”
She frowned at me, like she couldn’t understand why I wasn’t agreeing to her help. I wanted to, but my ego wouldn’t let me. I had to handle it on my own. It was my fault and I needed to be the only one to resolve it.
“I’ll take the next one. I want to stay and help. It can be a very stressful situation, and you shouldn’t have to deal with it alone. Here, let me see your phone. I can help—”
“Just go, Cara! I don’t need your help. You’re only a publisher.
You don’t know what it’s like to run an actual business where people get hurt.
That’s probably the reason you only date femme’s, huh?
Because you guys don’t get hurt on the job and you don’t have to worry about things like this.
Well, I’m sorry, but that happens a lot in my job.
People get hurt and I have to deal with it.
Alone. Just go. You’ll miss your flight. ”
I didn’t give her time to respond before I was heading down the stairs and out the building. I had a few phone calls to make on my way to the hospital, and I couldn’t get distracted by my conversation with Cara.