Reed Ferguson 1-3 Omnibus by Renee Pawlish

Author:Renee Pawlish [Pawlish, Renee]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Goodreads: 12249248
Publisher: Llama Press
Published: 2011-07-18T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

The bright lights hurt my eyes. The sight of Willie Rhoden did not.

“What happened to you?” she asked, concern etched on her face.

“What are you doing here?” I asked, not knowing where ‘here’ was. I turned my head to one side, instantly regretting the movement. A dull throb pulsed behind my eyes. An oxygen tube poked up under my nostrils, and something warmed on my brow. “Where is here?” I asked, scrunching my eyes shut.

“You’re at Denver Health,” Willie said, laying a gloved hand on my forehead. “An ambulance brought you in a while ago. Seems like a nice couple saw you pass out and they called for help.”

That explained how I ended up at the hospital.

“What time is it?” Wasn’t it night? I gazed at Willie. “What are you doing here?” I repeated. She usually worked at Saint Joseph’s Hospital, at the front desk.

“I’m moonlighting here.” She pursed her lips as she daubed a piece of gauze on my head. “Reed, what happened to you? You’ve got a gash the size of Texas over your ear, and your face looks like a bruised banana.”

A fog surrounded my brain. I shut my eyes, but I couldn’t remember what had happened.

“I went to the office,” I said. “But I don’t remember why. I remember seeing stars. Pretty ones, blue, green, orange. A man skiing, you know, with a black mask that covered his whole face. And the parking lot. I remember the parking lot,” I said triumphantly.

Willie looked at me like I’d lost more than a little blood. “You probably have a concussion. That can affect your short-term memory.”

“Someone assaulted me,” I concluded, as any great detective would. As I talked, I became aware of my side hurting.

She gave me a no-shit-Sherlock look. “Who?”

I opened my eyes, squinting at Willie. “I don’t know, but I intend to find out.”

She worked on the side of my head, cleaning out the cut. I gritted my teeth and focused on something other than my body hurting. My attacker was male. Either that or a very masculine female, a la the 1970’s East German athletes. The last thing I remembered clearly was playing pool with the Goofball Brothers. That was it.

“They need to take some X-rays,” Willie said, breaking me away from my thoughts.

For the next hour I endured a series of tests that determined that I indeed had a concussion, along with two broken ribs and a bruised back, but no damage to my lungs or kidneys. I received eight stitches on my scalp, complete with the obligatory shave around the wound area. The rest of my hair wasn’t long enough to cover the wound, so that part of my anatomy looked akin to the Frankenstein monster’s head. I had a black smudge under my left eye, a couple of other small bruises on my cheeks, and a tiny cut on my chin that required nothing more than a Band-Aid. Now I just wanted a lollipop and my own home.

“Here’s your insurance forms,” Willie said.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.