Babygirl and the Mean Boss (3 page)

             
As if in a dream, s
he
found herself
star
ing
into space and before she realized it time had passed her by.  She didn’t know how much, or even how she kn
e
w that time had passed
--o
nly, that she now remembered
everything
. 
An
SUV had hit her.  She
couldn’t actually recall
being hit, just
waking up
on the ground
,
bleeding.

             
Painfully she pulled herself to her feet in a state of shock.  She saw her bike a few feet away.  One wheel was totally bent.  Carefully, she looked around, the initial pain ebbing to a dull throb.  Where was the SUV and the nice motherly lady?  Had she just left her for dead?

             
Nicole
cried out as her arm moved.  She
held
it
to
her body to
keep it from moving and slowly began walking.  The first step was like cut glass in
every one of
her joints
, though after that first step
she couldn’t much remember pain
…she didn’t remember anything.

             
Nicole knew that
she must have lost conscious
ness at some point during
the long walk because
the next thing she knew is that she was
s
tanding at the door of
the restaurant
.
For a moment she felt confusion that she was back here and not home.

             
F
rom her spot outside of the restaurant, Nicole could see that t
he interior
of THE CALABASH was dark.
  Everyone
had already gone
! 
That mean
t
that
it was after one am because after closing it took
nearly
two hours to clean and
to
do night prep.
Dear god…she’d been hurt for over 2 hours.

Nicole stumbled on her feet as a
sob of despair fell from her lips. 
She was so tired
…
h
er
eyes welled with tears.  She just
couldn’t walk anymore.  Why she had come here instead of home was a mystery, but now that she was here she was too tired to go anywhere else.  Nicole leaned against the door, her knees buckling beneath her. 

“Ahh!”  She cried out.  Black spots dotted her vision as she began sliding down the door.

~
***
~

Marty was in no
hurry to get back to his empty condo. 
In fact, he had often times considered bringing in a cot for his office.  Hell
,
his office was more like home to him
then his actual home
. 
IKEA
had a nice couch that could double as a bed and no one would be all in his business
about why there was a cot
…

He jumped when he heard a thumping sound at the back door.  “What the hell…?” 
Marty stormed t
hrough the kitchen
, hesitating momentarily as he contemplated grabbing his handgun.  But he heard a small
mewling sound and his blood almost ran cold.

             
He barely hesitated as he unlocked the door.  Thankfully he had never been robbed.  CALABASH was located in a decent residential district.  He could hear soft sobs and he carefully
pulled
open the door.  Nicole’s crumpled form feel forward.  Surprised, Marty reached for her.

             
“Nicole!” 

She screamed in pain when
he gripped her shoulder
. 
His face went white at the
sound of her scream as well as the
sight of her
battered
form.  Without thinking he
knelt down beside her
,
his arm going around
her torso where he held her carefully against him.

“What happened?!”  His
voice
sounded and felt like it had turned into dust in his mouth
.

Without waiting for an answer h
e swept her up in his arms
,
ignoring
her cries of pain.   Wordlessly, he hurried outside to his truck.  Marty placed her into the passenger s
eat
as if she
was little more tha
n a baby.  Carefully he reached over and pulled a seatbelt across her
body
.  Again she cried out.  He blanched even more.

             
“Take it easy, Baby Girl.  Take it easy.  I’m going to go lock the restaurant.”  With
trembling
hands Marty quickly locked the restaurants doors
, dropping the keys once in his excitement
.  His hands squeezed into fist
s. 
Marty cursed himself. 
How many times had he wanted to offer to drive her home at night? 
There wasn’t a night that went by that he didn’t worry
that there would be some thug l
ying in wait for her in those damned woods that she rode past to get to her apartment.  And now it had finally happened. 
When he found out who had done this to her
he was going to kill the bastard!

Hurrying back to his truck
, h
e pulled out of the parking lot like a bat out of hell.  Slowly Nicole’s eyes began to close.

             
“Nicole!  Wake up!
 
Don’t go to sleep!  Who did this to you?”  Marty’s gray eyes looked almost dark with anger.

             
From a distance she heard the question and struggled to clear her head.  It
was pounding
so hard.

             
“Lady…” Suddenly she was alert.
She blinked and cried out in distress.
“Marty
, she
hit me.”

             
“Shhh, shhh.  It’s okay.”  He said as he drove, one hand on the wheel, the other
gently holding her hand
.
A lady??  Why would a lady--
“Were you hit by a car?  Oh g
od, I thought you’d been…I’m
taking
you to the hospital.”

             
“My bike…Marty go back and get my bike.”

             
“Nicole-
”

             
“My b
ike, Marty.  Please get my bike,”  s
he pleaded. 

             
“Okay.”  He
relented
,
knowing that he should
be rushing her to the hospital
,
but the pain in her eyes was too much for him to bear.  “Where is it?”

             
“The other way.”  He did a U-turn in the middle of the road and headed in the opposite direction.

             
“Nicole…”
He spoke her name
more
to himself, anxious to get on the track back to the hospital. 

It wasn’t too long before he saw definite signs of a wreck.  He pulled over to the curb and jumped out of the truck.  Nicole’s bike lay in the middle of the street. 

             
“Jesus…” He picked up the bike and
took a moment to examine it before tossing
it into the
truck bed
.  The thing was mangled
!
  He looked around cursing. 
She had just been left like trash
.  Marty got back into the truck.  Nicole’s eyes were closed again.

             
Baby Girl?”  He peered into her face.

             
“Hmmm…”
 
She groaned. 

             
“Don’t go to sleep.”  Carefully he touched the back of her head.  His hand came away bloody and he could see the blood down the back of her neck and smearing the back of the seat. 

             
He cursed
himself for not taking her directly to the hospital.
  “Hang in there, Baby.  Hang in there.”  Quickly he pulled back into the street and to the hospital.

             
Nicole felt her eyes closing beyond her control.
  She just wanted to sleep for a little while…

             
“Nicole!”  Then they jerked open.  “Talk to me, Baby.  Tell me about…the lady.”
  That fucking bitch-ass lady.

             
“The lady?”  She mumbled and looked at him.  “What lady?”

             
“The lady that hit you.”
  Nicole could see the surprised look on the woman’s face all over again.  Why did she just leave her for dead?  Nicole wouldn’t leave a dog for dead.

             
Marty kept looking at her curiously.  “Are you
with me, honey
?”

             
“My head
--st
omach… feels weird; heavy.”

             
“When we get to the hospital I’ll call your parents-”

             
Nicole
paused
. “No.”  She
mumbled.
 
He had to strain now in order to hear her.
“
I don’t have any parents.
My Mom passed
…
I only talk to my Dad at birthdays and Christmas
,
”
i
f then.

             
He glanced at her again.  “What about other family?
  Friends?
”

             
She hesitated.  “
S
cattered all over the country…Marty
...”

             
“
W
hat?”

             
“I feel funny-
”
s
he
caught her breath
as she felt
a sharp
pain
.  Marty
pressed the gas, pushing the car dangerously fast.

             
“Almost there.  Funny how?” 
There was no answer.
Thank God the hospital was just up ahead.

             
Her eyes were closed again.  Marty grasped her hand.
 
“It
’
s okay, baby.”  He pulled into the emergency entrance like he was at the Daytona 500.  “We’re here.  Hang on.”
  Jumping o
ut of the truck
, he
waved for an attendant.

~
***
~

             
The next time Nicole opened her eyes it was daylight.  Alarmed, she tried to sit up.

             
“Hey, hey.  Relax.”  Marty placed
a gentle hand on her
shoulder.  “Don’t
.  Y
ou
just
had surgery.” 

             
When she tried to look around her head felt like it had been hit with a sledgehammer and she sucked in her breath.