"Julie? Julie, honey, can you hear me?"
A soft moan was her only response.
He touched her shoulder, too afraid to touch her anywhere else. He didnt want to jostle her or have her move her neck unnecessarily. If she hit the steering wheel, shed have a hell of a case of whiplash and who knows what kind of neck or back injuries.
Her eyes flickered open and she stared fuzzily back at him.
"Nathan?" she whispered.
"Yes, honey, its me. "
Her brow crinkled in confusion and pain. "Am I dead?"
His gut clenched at even hearing such a thing.
"No, youre not dead. I need you to stay with me, though, okay? Can you keep those gorgeous eyes open until the ambulance gets here?"
By now more than one person had stopped. Two cars had parked in the inside lane to keep traffic diverted around Julies car, a fact he was grateful for. The last thing he wanted was for them to get plowed again, and he wasnt going to leave her nor was he going to move her out of the car.
In the distance, sirens wailed, which meant either the cops or the ambulance was already en route. The sooner they got Julie the hell off the freeway, the better hed feel.
"Am I going to be all right?" she asked anxiously, her eyes focusing unsteadily on him. "I dont feel so well. "
Panic surged through his system. He reached tentatively for her hand, doing a quick look to see if there were any obvious injuries before curling his fingers gently around hers.
"Youre going to be fine, honey. I promise. "
Please dont let him have just handed her a huge lie.
Connor hurried up to stand next to Nathan. "Dont move her. Wait for the ambulance. "
Nathan tempered his irritation. Connor was only doing what was best for Julie. "I know. Im just trying to keep her calm. "
Connor leaned over to stare at the blood seeping down Julies face. "Julie, sweetheart, do you hurt anywhere else but your head?"
She clutched at Nathans fingers a little tighter, her pupils dilating a bit in fear. That had to be good, right? He remembered one thing about head injuries. It was good if the pupils were equal and reactive. And she was awake. Not entirely lucid, but shed just had the shit scared out of her. He could hardly expect her to act normally.
"I dont know. My head hurts. " Her brow wrinkled in concentration. "My shoulder, I think. " She glanced down and both Connor and Nathan shouted a quick no.
She blinked in confusion.
"Dont move your neck, honey," Nathan said soothingly. "Try and stay as still as possible. " He rubbed his thumb across her knuckles and tried to ease the shaking in her hand.
Connor nudged Nathans arm. "The ambulance just pulled up. "
Connor moved out of the way, but Nathan stayed with Julie, holding her hand until the paramedics hurried up and asked him to step aside.
Though he hated to get too far away from her, he was only in the way as they began the process of extricating her from the car.
Two policemen were talking to Connor, and Connor called him over.
"He and I both witnessed it," Connor explained when Nathan walked up.
"Yeah," Nathan said distractedly as he looked back to see the progress they were making with Julie. "I got the plates on the truck that hit her. "
"Id like your statement," one of the police officers said as he stepped away from Connor and the other cop.
"Uh, look, can it wait? I want to go to the hospital with her. "
The cop gave him a curious look. "You know her?"
"Yeah, I do. "
"Let me have your contact information. If I dont catch you at the hospital, Ill get in touch with you later this afternoon. Well need what information you can give us so we can prosecute this as a hit and run. "
"Damn right," Nathan growled. "The son of a bitch wasnt looking where he was going and then he left without even slowing down. Id like to ring his damn neck. "
One of the paramedics motioned for Nathan. They had Julie on a stretcher and were wheeling her toward the ambulance.
"Go. Ill get with you later. "
"Thanks," Nathan said as he sprinted to the back of the ambulance.
After the stretcher was loaded, one of the medics stepped back and motioned Nathan inside. Nathan climbed up and slid along the bench until he was at Julies head.
The paramedic got in behind him while the other shut the doors and went around to the cab.
"Do me a favor and hop into the jump seat," the paramedic said, motioning to the seat above Julies stretcher. "I need to examine her on the way in so I can give the hospital a report. "
When Nathan repositioned himself, Julie softly called his name.
"Right here, honey," he said, lowering his hand to lightly stroke the side of her head that wasnt injured.
He watched while the paramedic efficiently examined her for other injuries, checked her vitals, assessed her pupils and fitted a loose bandage to her head to stop the bleeding.
He listened with keen interest when the medic called in his report to the emergency room and breathed a sigh of relief when he reported nothing major in his findings.
A few minutes later they came to a halt outside the ambulance entrance to the ER and the doors opened. He and the medic piled out and he waited to the side while they removed Julies stretcher and wheeled her inside.
No one shooed him from the exam room, so he stood back out of the way while they poked and prodded, hooked her up to monitors and ascertained her level of consciousness. She looked frightened and incredibly vulnerable. Her gaze skated frantically left and right. Was she looking for him? He told her he wouldnt leave her, but how was she to know that now if she couldnt see him?
He stepped forward just enough that he could get into her peripheral vision. When her gaze settled on him, her eyes flooded with relief. She seemed to relax under the straps holding her to the backboard.
One of the nurses turned to him, putting her hand on his arm. "We need to clear her spine before we remove the C-collar and take her off the backboard. Were also going to get a CT of her head. Shes doing fine so far. Her vitals are stable. Blood pressure is good. Shes reacting to normal stimuli. You can stay with her until we do the X-rays. "
"Thanks. "
As soon as she moved, Nathan beat a path to Julies bed. Her gaze moved upward when he stood over her and their eyes locked.
"Thank you," she whispered.
"For what, honey?"
"I dont know where you came from, but I was so scared, and you made me feel safe. That was the single most terrifying moment of my life. Im so glad you were there. "
He lowered his head to brush a kiss over her forehead. "Glad I could help. You scared the life out of me when I saw that truck hit you. "