My own mother took the news more stoically and asked if I wanted her to meet me at the emergency room. I told her to hold off until I had more information and promised to keep her updated when I knew more. She was worried but not one to fly off the handle like Royal’s mom, and the calm assurance did wonders to slow my rapidly thundering heart. I wasn’t going to assume the worst. I couldn’t.
When I got to the hospital, I moved as fast as I was able to since my own accident. I was intimately familiar with the emergency wing of the hospital, so it took me no time at all to maneuver my way through the sterile halls and around scrub-clad staff. Asa was easy enough to spot as soon as I hit the waiting room and intake area. He was standing by the desk talking to a lovely redheaded woman dressed in scrubs. Asa was a charmer and a stupidly attractive man. He seemed to attract female attention wherever he went, but the time and the place were not right for him to be flirting. It made me narrow my eyes at the scene before me.
The nurse had a hand on the outside of his arm and was looking up at him in a way that seemed way more personal than professional. There was concern and sympathy stamped on every line of her expressive face and I could see that she was trying to comfort the tall, blond southerner the best she could. He would nod occasionally at whatever it was she was telling him and at one point he reached down and enfolded the woman in a hug, which made my back teeth clench together. His girlfriend was injured, supposedly unconscious somewhere in this hospital and he had the nerve to have his hands on the first pretty face that wandered by? I wanted to choke him and then kick him.
The redheaded nurse returned the hug, said something else to him and then picked up a chart and disappeared down the labyrinth of hallways, giving me my opening to approach. Asa turned just as I reached him and his whiskey-colored eyes widened in shock as I put my hands on the center of his chest and gave him a solid shove. He fell back a step and caught himself on the edge of the desk where he had been snuggling with the nurse a moment ago.
“Royal is hurt and you’re already lining up her replacement? I told you if you broke her heart again I was going to break you.” The words snapped out harsh and fast, fueled by worry and anger.
Asa held his hands up and then moved them to shove back his sandy hair. “That nurse is engaged to one of my closest friends in case you missed the sparkler on her finger.” He lifted his tawny eyebrows at me. “She also used to live across the hall from Royal and considers her her best friend, so she’s just as worried as you and I are. Something you would know if you bothered to meet the new people in her life, Dom.”
I winced as a bolt of shame went through me. He had a point. When I got hurt, Royal had spiraled down into a dangerous depression and it wasn’t me that stopped her fall. It was her new group of friends, and this man who had been there for her without fail. I hadn’t made any kind of effort to meet them because it was a painful reminder that life and all the people I loved most in it moved on, grew, changed, while I was stuck just waiting to see if my body would heal. Everyone was going forward and I was stuck on pause. I hated it and kind of resented that while I couldn’t do anything about my situation, Royal’s life had become so full and vibrant. If I had been thinking clearly I probably would have put two and two together and realized the nurse was her friend Saint, who Royal talked about pretty much all the time.
I grumbled a weak apology that Asa graciously accepted. “What happened? Did she get hurt at work?” I was picturing a high-speed chase gone wrong, or a desperate suspect ramming into her patrol car trying to flee the scene of the crime.
Asa shook his head and heaved a deep sigh. “She was driving home from the grocery store and a kid texting ran a red light and T-boned her right on the driver’s side. The Four-Runner flipped, but she had her seat belt on, thank God.” He rubbed his hands over his face and I could see the pain and worry bright in his gaze. “She was in and out of consciousness at the scene, so they brought her in and rushed her in for a CT scan. Other than that, she got a wicked gash on her arm from broken glass and was complaining that it hurt to breathe, so she might have a couple busted ribs. Saint said she would come and let me know when they move her back into a room after the scan.” He blew out a breath and lifted a hand to rub the back of his neck. “I don’t think I’ve ever been so scared in my life, when Saint called and said there was an accident and that Royal was being rushed in.”
I nodded a little and felt some of the resentment I had towards this man who held my best friend’s heart in his hands fade. “I felt the same way when you called me. I automatically thought it had something to do with work.”
He swore under his breath. “Yeah. I worry about that call all the time, too, but it’s what she does, so it’s just part of loving her.”
That was surprisingly understanding, and I was starting to really see what Royal saw in this man aside from his obvious physical appeal.
“I called her mom. So she will be putting in an appearance at some point in time.” I watched as his jaw involuntarily clenched.
“Thanks for the warning.” He sounded like I had just told him the world was going to end and he was going to have to sit dockside and watch it all happen.
I wasn’t exactly a fan of Royal’s mom either, but there was something more to why Asa seemed to flat-out despise her. I wanted to ask about it, but I figured it could wait for another time. The pretty redheaded nurse was walking back towards us and this time there was no missing the sparkling diamond on her left ring finger. It wasn’t flashy or ostentatious but it was there and I felt like a total tool and a really shitty cop for not being more observant and getting all the facts before attacking Asa.