Chapter 11
eleven
. . .
Mia
I woke up on a couch that wasn’t my own.
I was sure of it, because I didn’t own a couch here in East Greenwich.
My arms and legs were so damn cold, which didn’t make any sense either, with the crackle of a fire nearby.
I blinked my eyes open.
The cabin.
The accident.
Armin.
Details came back, slow. My head ached viciously, and I recalled that we’d been using whiskey as my main painkiller, while Armin snapped my dislocated body parts back into place. But I didn’t feel hung over, exactly. Maybe because I was still drunk.
I struggled to push myself up to seated. It didn’t feel great, but I wasn’t screaming about it anymore, either.
“You’re awake.”
Armin’s voice from behind me. He brought a refilled plate of snacks and dragged an upturned crate over as a makeshift end table.
“I didn’t manage to get off the mountain to get you real food, so we’ll have to make do with this for another hour or two.
” He reached out and lay my phone next to the plate.
“Your phone was wedged up in the dash. Might not even have any damage to it. I didn’t check.
And your purse is by the door. That one I had to dig up out of the muck. ”
“Thanks,” I said.
“Sure. I also called your employer, so, uh, they won’t be expecting you for another couple of days.
Or more, if you want. It’s, um, up to you.
I got the tree divided up but I needed more equipment to drag it out of the road.
So I’m going to load up and head back out in a moment to take care of that. ”
I nodded. The room swam, violently, this time.
God, how much had I drank? I lay back down. Sitting wasn’t as painful, but it still wasn’t for me. I reached for the blanket, but Armin beat me to it and covered me over.
“Then I’ll go and grab us some food from Martin’s. Any requests?”
“I trust your judgement,” I said. My voice sounded small and far away.
“Alright,” he said. “I’ll try not to let you down, but Martin’s is a little limited. Except in ice cream.”
“I don’t need much more than that,” I said. “Except for you to leave that bottle of Ibuprofen near me, and pick up another one.”
“Of course,” he said. “Sure you’re not internally bleeding?”
“Mmmm,” I said. Maybe I wasn’t, but I felt like death warmed over.
“Are you?”
“No,” I said. Not internally bleeding, and not sure.
“Oh, I almost forgot. I made you the hot chocolate. Probably not up to standards, but better than no hot chocolate.”
He disappeared from my view, and I heard the clunk of a mug and the merciful rattle of painkillers. I stared into the fire, too tired to get up.
“Are you okay, Mia?”
“I don’t know,” I said.
“Alright. Well, at any rate I’ve got to get this tree out of the road to get you out of here. I’ll be as quick as I can.”
“Okay,” I said.
“Do you need me to help you sit up, and take the pills?”
“No,” I said.
My mind had the hum of anxiety, but I was too slow to even conjure up what it was I had to be afraid of right now.
“Alright,” he said. “Be right back.”
He stood there for a good while before the door creaked shut behind him. I heard the truck engine start and recede into the distance.
When I opened my eyes, the fire was still raging, but the sun was low in the sky. I reached for my phone, and then groaned. My body still wasn’t up to its usual tasks.
Damn it. How was I going to go back to work like this?
Armin’s offer echoed in my mind: stay as long as you like.
Harvey wouldn’t like that.
After I worked so hard to win his trust. To get into his good graces. Now I was going to blow it?
I pushed myself up from the couch. A wave of nausea overtook me. Eat something. I pushed around the carefully arranged hors d’ouerves Armin had left: those cured meats and the cheese and jam. Some nuts and trail mix this time, too. And a couple of cookies. But I had no appetite.
I reached for my phone.
Not only was it not waterlogged, the battery wasn’t even dead.
I coded in.
Only one message.
Harvey
where r u
Fuck. Fuck.
He had to be pissed by now. Gone 24 hours, and with a former sheriff? We’d be lucky if Harvey didn’t send his goons to execute us tonight.
I hit the call button. I’d explain everything.
I waited. Nothing.
Shit. There was no goddamn cell service up here. I tossed my useless phone back onto the crate.
I’d worked so hard down at the club, only for it to go up in flames. Now I’d managed to get on Harvey’s good side. Nothing ruined that faster than disobeying orders.
What the hell was I thinking? I couldn’t stay here. I braced my stiff neck with one hand and turned my whole body to look for Armin’s truck. Not back yet. But as soon as he walked in that door, I had to get him to take me home.
Everything I’d struggled to build, relationships with the other girls, the clientele, all gone in the club fire. Despite the loss, now I was on the verge of getting closer to Harvey than ever before, and I was going to blow it if I didn’t get the hell out of here and get back to him.
Why was it so damned cold in here despite the fire, and the woolen blanket, and Armin’s flannel shirt?
It didn’t matter. I had to get going. I shoved the blanket off me and pushed myself to standing.
My hip throbbed, but it was manageable. Armin had carefully lay my wet clothes on hangers and hung them off the mantle to dry.
I reached for them, groaning at the pain in my arm and my abs, still.
The screen door slammed, and the front door opened. “Mia?”
“I have to get out of here, now.”
“Oh, hey now. Wait a moment. I called your work, and they said you could…it would be okay for you to stay here a couple of nights.”
“Well, that’s not what the text from my boss said.”
“Maybe he sent it before I called.”
I tore my skimpy dress from the hanger, but the quick motion went straight to my head, striking me dizzy.
Armin dropped the bags he carried and hurried over to my side to steady me.
“You didn’t eat or drink anything,” he said.
“I’m not hungry,” I said.
“Not even for ice cream?” He nodded at the bags he’d dropped.
Tears pricked the backs of my eyes. Crying, and for what? Ice cream? I was tougher than this.
“I’ll bring you anywhere you need to go Mia, but for God’s sake, first it’s got to be a hospital. You’re burning up.”
He steered me back to the couch, and helped me sit down. My eyes wouldn’t focus. I opened my mouth to argue with him, but all I could do was stare straight ahead and watch my vision narrow until darkness overtook me.