The guy looked at me strangely, but hit the button and dialed. After a moment, Parker must have answered. “Yeah, not sure who this is, but there’s been an accident and the lady wanted me to call you.” A pause as the sirens got louder so it had to be hard to hear. “Down here on Madison and Clark. You close by?” The man glanced at me. “I’d get down here as quick as you can.” He ended the call and handed me back the phone just as an ambulance screeched to a stop.
I was flanked by two EMTs almost immediately. Then more ambulances arrived and people were helping the driver of the truck and the drivers of two other smashed cars he’d hit when he’d swerved to avoid me.
They moved me to sit in the back of the ambulance and wrapped a blanket around my shoulders to ease my shivering. They took my vitals as they peppered me with questions, shined a light in my eyes, asked me who the current president was, what year I’d been born, blah blah.
“From what witnesses say, you’re very lucky,” one of the EMTs said. “You need some stitches in your arm and have some bumps and scrapes, but otherwise, you’re going to be just fine.”
“Sage!”
I knew that voice and looked up to see Parker barreling toward me, his face stricken. When he saw me, his expression eased somewhat, then he caught sight of the blood.
“What the hell happened? Are you all right?” he asked, stopping at the edge of the ambulance’s open door.
I’d held it together until then, but seeing him made the floodgates open as relief poured through me. Tears blurred my eyes and I reached for him. He had me wrapped in his arms in an instant, and the warm strength of him eased the residual terror of only an inch separating me from becoming roadkill.
The EMTs told him the extent of my injuries and what had happened. Parker’s grip on me got progressively tighter as he listened.
“… amazing story, that she’s not hurt worse,” the EMT said. I knew we were all silently thinking “or dead.”
Parker turned to me, his hold loosening. “So you just tripped and fell?” he asked.
I shook my head. “No. I’m not that much of a klutz. It-it was almost as though … someone pushed me.”
“Someone pushed you?” Parker echoed. “Are you sure?”
“I don’t know,” I said. “I mean, I guess it could’ve been an accident. It happened so fast …” I was getting blood on Parker’s suit and winced at the stain. Doubtful that would come out, and I’d just gotten back on his dry cleaner’s good side. Of course, Parker also didn’t know that several thousand dollars’ worth of his clothes was currently decorating Madison Street.
The EMT glanced behind him. “The cops are here,” he said. “I’ll send one over to talk to you.”
Parker still had his arms around me, one hand stroking my hair—the bun I’d had it in was a distant memory—as I rested my cheek against his lapel. I was in no hurry to move. The guy had bandaged my arm to stop the bleeding until I could get to the ER for stitches and for the moment, I just reveled in the miracle that I was still alive.
“Call Ryker for me,” I said to Parker. “Please.” I needed to see him, feel his arms around me.
Parker didn’t say anything, though his body stiffened. I twisted slightly so I could look up at him.
“I don’t have his number,” he said.
“My phone is in my purse.”
His arms were slow to drop from around me, but he dug inside my purse and pulled out my phone. A moment later, it was at his ear. His eyes met mine.
“No, it’s not Sage,” he said curtly. “It’s Parker. Sage has been involved in an accident. She’d like you to come.”
There was a pause as he listened. “She’s injured, but will be all right,” he said. Parker gave him our location, then ended the call.
“He’s on his way,” he said to me.
“Thank you.”
“Do you want me to stay as well?” His face was carefully blank.
“Can you?” I asked.
Parker’s expression softened and he nodded. The shivering started again so I pulled the blanket tighter around me. Without a word, Parker stepped forward and drew me close to him. I sighed. The blanket was okay, but nothing helped more than the feel of his arms around me.
It must have been fifteen minutes or more before I saw Ryker coming toward us through the crowd. He caught sight of us and I straightened.
“God, Sage, you nearly gave me a heart attack,” he said when he was close. Parker eased a few feet away as Ryker grabbed me in his arms to hug me. I gasped in pain as he inadvertently pressed on my shoulder. He immediately let go.
“Shit, I’m sorry,” he said. “I just … I hadn’t expected …” His words cut off as he kissed me, a quick, hard press of his lips against mine. He said nothing else, just rested his forehead against mine.
I felt better now, and it was strange, in a way. I’d needed Parker, but something inside hadn’t eased until Ryker had arrived, too. Even as I knew it shouldn’t be that way, near-death experiences had a tendency of making you not lie to yourself.
Ryker’s thumbs brushed my cheeks, his breath mingling with mine. I reached out my hand behind him, searching, and felt Parker’s slip into it. I gripped it tightly. Now I could breathe properly again.