My Fake Fling

“Are you okay?” I asked. “I mean, you don’t look okay, but you’re not dead and I don’t see a lot of blood.”

“I’m fine,” he replied. “I was a little out of it when my saviors happened upon me. They insisted I needed an ambulance. I called Rich. Rather, the guy called Rich. The cops were there as well. I asked them to tow my car to the office.”

I had to touch him and verify he was okay. I reached for his hand and saw the bloodied and bruised knuckles. “What happened here?”

“I wasn’t going down without a fight,” he said with a lopsided grin.

His jacket was draped on the chair. His white shirt had droplets of blood, but I couldn’t find any wounds actually bleeding.

“Hello,” an old man in a white coat said. “I’m Dr. Knight. I heard you tangled with some of the city’s finest.”

Reese held up his arm and shook his hand. “They weren’t the best at their job. I kept my Rolex, wallet, and my phone. My Porsche too. They should probably look into another line of work.”

The doctor chuckled and immediately started to look over Reese. I didn’t find it to be a laughing matter. This could have ended so much worse. They could have killed him. The doctor checked him over and declared him to be fine with the promise to send in a nurse to clean up the cut above his eye.

“How many were there?” I asked after the doctor left.

“Three,” he answered. “They demanded my wallet and watch.”

“And like the asshole you are, you put up a fight,” Rich said as he pushed the curtain out of his way. He looked at me. “You got here fast.”

“I live close,” I replied. “I wanted to make sure he was okay.”

Rich nodded and looked at Reese with a grimace. “You know you’re supposed to give them what they want, right?”

“I wasn’t giving them my watch,” Reese said. “I might have given them my wallet if I thought they would stop there.”

“How did you manage to keep it all?” Rich asked.

“Look at him,” I said. “He fought them off.”

“For a watch?” Rich asked with disbelief. “You could buy twenty watches.”

Reese looked down at the watch on his wrist. “This is the one my dad gave me when we broke ground on the tower.”

I immediately understood why he fought so hard to keep it. Rich looked at me and we both just knew. “You’re lucky,” Rich said. “Your Good Samaritan friend and his wife are in the waiting room. They wanted to make sure you were okay. They heard me give the nurse your name and asked how you were.”

“Without them showing up when they did, I don’t think I would be sitting here talking to the two of you,” he replied in a wooden voice. “I’ve done some stupid things in my life, but that was probably the dumbest.”

The nurse returned with a tray. “I need to get him cleaned up. You two can wait in the waiting room. We’ll have some instructions for him. The doctor thinks he might have a mild concussion. He can’t drive.”

“I’ll drive him home,” I quickly volunteered.

“I can do it,” Rich said.

“He’s closer to my house than yours,” I argued.

“True,” Rich said. “I’ll be waiting out there.”

Reese flashed me a small smile when Rich turned his back. I was so glad he was okay. To think it could have been much worse almost made me vomit. I would have never been able to deal with the guilt. Not to mention, the man had just come back into my life. I wasn’t quite ready to lose him.

Rich and I sat down to wait. “That place is getting more dangerous,” he lectured.

“I know, I know,” I said. “They’ve never attacked any of our customers or us. I don’t understand why they went after Reese.”

“Because he’s loaded, and he was getting in a Porsche. They can’t resist an easy target with what they probably assumed would be an easy reward.”

“Guess they fucked around and found out,” I said. “Did you see his knuckles? I wonder if any of them are in a hospital right now. I hope so.”