Shielded In The Shadows

Whatever was touching her head didn’t even pause.

“Emma? I’m Janelle. I’m a nurse. We need you to lie completely still, okay? We’re almost through here and you’re going to be just fine.”

Keeping her eyes closed, she was happy to comply.

She preferred darkness, anyway.

* * *

The next time Emma opened her eyes, she was still in the same small space, with the same bright lights, but there was only one face there. Beside her, not directly above.

She recognized it. And felt immediate relief.

“Jayden.” Her back didn’t hurt as much. The board felt...softer. She no longer craved the darkness.

“Yeah,” he said. It was only when she felt the pressure of his fingers squeezing hers that she realized he was holding them. “I’m right here.”

She could see that.

“How long have I been here?”

“A couple of hours. They gave you something to help you rest.”

She wanted to rest and to move, too. But was afraid to. Flash memories of pain splashed in and out. Mostly her head. She had feeling in all of her parts. She’d already assured herself of that much. But she had to move. To know for sure she could.

Because her feet didn’t hurt, she started with them.

“I’m in bed,” she said aloud.

“Yeah.” Jayden’s expression didn’t look anything like it usually did when he was watching her in bed. “You were upstairs for testing, but you’re back in the ER. You were in an accident.”

Right. The truck. And the cliff. She pushed away the mental pictures popping in and out. Just for a moment.

“I was on a board.”

“They were afraid you might have neck or spinal injuries.”

Emma wanted to move her legs immediately. To move everything. Get out of bed and go home. Except that she didn’t want to move her head. It felt...not like her own. “Do I?” she asked.

“Nope. Everything came back clear.” His lips softened a bit at that one. Almost smiled.

“My head hurts.”

“You’ve got a bad gash, just below your hairline on the left side. And you’re concussed.”

She lifted a hand to her forehead, knocked into a bandage. “I can’t feel anything there.”

“They numbed it to put in the stitches. Seventeen of them.”

Glancing down at his shirt pocket, he pulled out his phone, held it up to her. “It’s your parents,” he told her. “They’ve been calling every half hour. They’re on standby for a flight out.”

“No. They don’t need to come,” she said. “Seriously, I don’t want them to come.” She wasn’t sure what she wanted, but to be coddled by her parents, having them worrying about every move she made...

She only had a week of sex left with Jayden. That fact was absolutely clear in her befuddled mind. This was their week.

“You talk to them.” He handed her the phone.

Jayden had given her parents his number. They’d obviously been conversing. Something felt completely right about that.