“Riley.” She was shaking hands with a woman wearing blue scrubs.
“I’ve been taking care of him.”
“He’s asleep? Resting?” I extended my hand. “Desmond, his emergency contact.”
“He’s in a medically induced coma. He’s in pretty bad shape.”
I could see that one of his legs was in traction. His face was all cut up. There was a cast around his left arm.
“Is he going to be okay?”
“I can’t say.” The nurse shook her head. “I’ve been a trauma nurse for a long time. After they made wearing a seatbelt in cars mandatory, I stopped seeing as many young men like this. But this young gentleman here was riding a donor-cycle, so…I can’t say.”
Riley was crying. I held her close. I knew that the nurse was just being honest, but it wasn’t what Riley wanted to hear.
It was my fault. If he hadn’t ridden off on his motorcycle after finding out about me and Riley, he wouldn’t have been run over by a semi. If he didn’t make it, Riley would never forgive me.
My phone chimed.
“I’m sorry, sir, you can’t have that in here. It interferes with our equipment.”
“Of course. Excuse me.”
Zara’s Return
Desmond
Through a side door, I escaped the hospital, with its twin smells of death and cleaning agents. I answered my phone.
“Hello, sir. Ordinarily I wouldn’t call you about this, but we need your signature for something that’s time sensitive. The window is going to close in a few hours. Do you think you could email me back your electronic signature?”
“Sure.”
“I’m sending it to you now.”
I opened up my inbox. It was a contract about an investment in a nearby brand-new club. It was a rooftop club that offered a stunning view of LA, called Rooftop. Riley had asked me to invest in it on her behalf. I was an accredited investor, and she was nowhere near achieving that status. I’d been putting her paychecks into a little fund, waiting for this day. I was putting in a little money of my own.
I put in my digital signature before sending the file back to my lawyer.
“Done.”
“Thank you, sir.”
“Night.” I hit the red button to end the call.
“Desmond!”
I turned around to see Zara Rodriguez behind me. Her lipstick was smeared around the bottom of her face and her hair was a mess.
“What are you doing here?”
“You know, I could ask you the same thing.” She ran a hand through her normally flawless hair. “Or were you also using some of the on-call rooms with a delicious doctor or two?”
I shook my head. “Same old Zara.”
“Hard for one man to keep me satisfied, what can I say?” She licked her lips. “But you came close.” She walked up to me and rubbed her body against mine. “Don’t lie to me. I know that you can remember what it was like. We were dynamite together. You know you deserve someone like me, not an innocent little girl who doesn’t know the first thing about pleasing a man like you.”
Her ruby-tipped hand went behind my head as she forced my head downward. I jerked away, but not before she somehow managed to connect our mouths.