Summer Swing (10 page)

“Sure, I can do that.” He handed me his keys and I said, “Why don’t you jog around a bit.”

With a smile he said, “
I’m cold because
I’ve got ice on me.”

“Yeah, about that… Well, I’ll tell you later. I’ll go grab your jacket.”

“Thanks, Ellie.”

I was almost to Gage’s truck, wondering if he’d actually been jealous that Harlan had been sitting by me, when a car came around the corner pret
ty fast. With the music blaring
I don’t think the driver saw me until he
was about ten feet away
.
He screeched to a stop, and
I got out of the way just enough to only get nailed in
the thigh with the corner of his car
.

Chapter Six

“What the
hell
!
”
the driver shouted, getting out of
his
car.

I had my hands on the hood of the car to support myself after he’d stopped. As it was, I wasn’t sure if I could stand on my left leg.

“What’re you do
ing standing in the parking lot
?
!
” was the second thing out of his mouth.
At least that’s
what
I preferred to hear, because what he really said had
a couple more f-
bombs
attached to it.

“
Standing
in the parking lot
?!
” I finally exclaimed. “I was walking,
you jackass! It’s a parking lot!
What’re you doing racing around the corner like a moron
?!
”

Once I got a better look at the guy I felt that I should probably be careful about what I called him. If I were to be judgmental, I’d say that he’d just gotten out of prison.
He had tattoos all over his arms and another one on his neck, and the only hair on his head was
the
black
stripe
he sported on his chin
.

“Oh, you think you’re gonna pin this—”

“Shut up,” another voice said as he got out of the passenger
’
s seat. He looked like he could h
ave been the driver’s cellmate
, but his appearance wasn’t as extreme as his friend’s
.
His tattoos weren’t as excessive and he didn’t have
any piercings that I could see. Hi
s hair was pretty short, and he
had a dusting of stubble over his chin. H
e also had this really attractive, smoldering look to him, like he could be one of those tough looking, bad boy fashion models that my sister always gushed over.

He came toward me slowly and asked, “Are you okay?”

I was completely on guard
.
I didn’t know if this was the part
where his false concern for me
led to
a ride in the trunk
and
the
dumping
of
my body somewhere no one could find me.

I moved away from the
old,
junky
car
and said, “I’m fine
.”

“You can’t even put weight on your leg,” he observed.
I was surprise by how
gentle his voice was
, and I didn’t want to admit how attractive his eyes were as he studied me carefully
.

“
Yes
, I can,” I replied, taking two more steps away. I could definitely put my weight on it when I forced myself to, but it didn’t feel too good on my thigh.

“She’s fine,” the other guy retorted. “Let’s go.”

“Is there someone you’re here with?” the second guy asked.

I completely ignored him as I unlocked Gage’s truck and grabbed his jacket. The first guy had gotten into the car already, but the other one was still standing there
, waiting for a response
. He eyed what I had in my hand for a second, and then said, “Okay, if you can manage on your own…”

I didn’t say anything further and hobbled past the car to return to the stands. I glanced back once to see if they had left, but the second guy was
only
leaning
through
the window talking to the driver. I took a deep breath, and once I was out of their view, tried to squat a little to stretch my thigh out somewhat. I was pretty sure I was going to have one nasty bruise within the hour.

Once I thought I could handle walking norm
al again, I re-entered the ball
park and quickly found Gage to give him his jacket. I was
pretty
rattled from being nicked by that car, but I was glad that
my boyfriend
only thanked me and that was that.

Harlan was still sitting where I’d left the group, so I quickly sat down between him and Dawn. My sister made a quick comment about the hit that had just scored a run for the opposing team, but other than that I just quietly watched the next batter.

Until Harlan whispered in my ear, “What the bloody hell happened to your leg?”

I glanced down at my thigh that was next to him, and even though I’d already noticed the tiny tear in my jeans, I wasn’t aware that I was bleeding.

I wanted to freak out.

“Don’t look at it,” he said quietly, covering it with his hand. “Take a deep breath through your nose.”

I did what he said
and released it
.

“Do it again.”

I took another breath.

“What happened?” he asked, careful not to let Dawn hear.

“You’d better get your hand off my thigh or people are going to be asking questions,” I quietly responded.

He removed his hand and I replaced it with my own.

“Tell me what happened before I make a scene,” he gently threatened.

“I got hit by a car in the parking lot.”

He paused for several seconds. “You mean you hit your leg on a car while you were walking by it?”

“No, an actual car flew around the corner and I barely got out of the way in time.”

“But it
hit
you?”

“Yes.”

He was quiet for another second and then said,
“It’s not broken, then? You walked back here okay?”

“I have no idea.”

“What do you mean you have no idea? You have no idea if it’s broken, or you have no idea if you got here okay?”

I kind of smiled. “I don’t think it’s broken if I walked here, right?”

“No, not right. You can still walk with a broken leg. Meet me outside the front entrance of the stadium in five minutes—” I was about to protest but he said, “You’ll do it or I’ll tell everyone you just got hit by a car.”

He said polite
departing
words to
Dawn and Wyatt, and then
he left.

“He’s so nice,”
Dawn
said instantly. “I love his accent.”

“Mmhmm,” I replied
vacantly
.

Once five minutes had actually passed, it just didn’t seem long enough. I was so paranoid that someone was going to catch on that I was meeting Harlan in the parking lot. I knew it was ridiculous because he only wanted to ask me questions
about the injury
, but I wasn’t sure why I had such a guilty conscience.

“I need to use the bathroom,” I mumbled to Dawn.

“Ooh, can you get me a Snickers on your way back?”

“Uh, s
ure.”

My leg had stiffened up again the second I tried to walk on it, and I had to stop
abruptly
.

“Oh, what’s the matter?” Dawn asked, fully concerned.

“
Uh
, I just have a cramp.” I took a second to get used to my weight and said, “It’s fine.”

But it wasn’t fine. Just stepping down the bleachers almost did me in. I clenched my jaw to give myself something to focus on, and somehow made it to the parking lot.

“You look
horrible
,”
Harlan
said when he saw me.

“Thanks.”

“I mean you look like you’re in terrible pain.” He had a bag of ice in his hands and he motioned for me to follow him. “I’m just parked right there. You need to sit and put some ice on that.” He knew I was going to make a comment about the ice, so he added, “In this case, ice is deemed necessary.”

“Nice Porsche,” I said as he made me sit in the passenger’s seat.

“Set this right on your
thigh
for about fifteen minutes.”

“Fifteen minutes? I told Dawn I was going to the bathroom.”

“Well, I guess you’ll have to tell her it took a while.”

I groaned, but Harlan
sat in the driver’s seat and
began
asking me question about what had happened. He was particularly relieved that the driver hadn’t hit me and ran off.

After a while he said, “I want to see it.”

“What?”

“I want to see the injury
.”

“What,
here
?”

He shrugged. “Either here or in the ER. Makes no difference to me.”

I gave him a look and he kind of laughed.

“Oh, come on, Ellie. I’m being a doctor, here. I’ve seen many thighs.”

I raised an eyebrow at him and he rolled his eyes.

“It’s my
job
,” he clarified.
He took his jacket off and handed it to me.
“Here, toss this over your waist
and just let me see your leg.
Hurry up or I’ll just drive you to the ER.”

I growled at him and began unbuttoning my jeans. It was awkward not only because Harlan was sitting right next to me
(even though he was looking the other way)
,
but
because his car felt so small and I barely had room to maneuver. I did, however, get my pants down just
far enough to see the injury
.

“Oh, gosh,” I breathed out. There was a slash across my leg that was about three inches long.

“Just don’t look at it,” he said as he examined it closer. “This will sting a little…I’m just going to disinfect it so I can see what I’m looking at here…”

Ooh, it did burn, but I didn’t say anything as I looked out my window.

“When was your last tetanus shot?” he asked.

“Uh…probably when I was a kid. Oh, please don’t tell me I need a tetanus shot.”

“Y
ou’ve most likely been cut with metal. But the good news is that yo
u don’t need stitches
.”

“Oh, thank goodness.”

“But you need the tetanus shot
anyways
if you’re not up to date.”

I groaned.

“All done. You can pull
up
your
knickers
now.”

I gave him a look and we both started to laugh. But I glanced down at my leg to see that it looked much better, and he’d even put a couple of bandages over the scrape.

“Thanks, Doc.”

“Put the ice back on it; I’m going to go talk to your sister and let her know what’s going on.”

“Oh, come on,” I moaned.

“Ellie, you should probably have it x-rayed tonight.”

“Then I’ll go get it x-rayed. Please don’t tell Dawn what happened. She is going to
freak out
.”

“Then how do I explain that you’re sitting in my car, icing your leg?”

“Just let me walk back in there, finish watching the game, and Gage can take me when he’s done.” He didn’t look convinced so I said, “It’s not broken, I promise.”

With a laugh he said, “You have no idea how many times I’ve heard that very thing.
And also the opposite.
In this case you shouldn’t be self-diagnosing your injury. I’m sure you’ve just got some deep tissue bruising, but I can’t be
certain unless it gets x-rayed.
It’s better to be sure.
”

In defiance,
I opened the car door and got out. Just t
rying to climb out of his tiny
B
oxster
was ridiculous.

Harlan got out of the car too.
“Well you’re going to have to put up with me, as well,” he told me
with a sigh
. He watched me walk toward the stadium and shook his head. “I can’t believe I’m letting you talk me into this,” he quietly groaned.