I raise Harley’s hand to my lips and kiss her knuckles one by one, singing quietly. Her brows pull together as the corners of her lips turn down.
“I know, Angel. I know the words I’m singing are different. But that’s a song about people who’ve lost one another. My version is about them finding each other, and never letting go.”
I follow the curve of her cheeks, her eyelashes fanned out over them. She murmurs, and I scan her face as she appears to be waking up.
“It’s all right.” I place my other hand on her forehead and stroke her hair back from her face. “You’re okay.”
“Huh?” Her eyes crack open, and she winces, her fingers tightening around my hand. “What happened?”
“You stood on glass and passed out.”
“Oh.”
“In front of a cab.”
Her eyes go round as she tries to sit. “I was hit by a cab?”
I ease her back down onto the stretcher. “You would have been if I hadn’t caught you.”
She stares at me. “You caught me?”
My brow creases with confusion. “I would never let you fall, Harls.”
She gazes around the back of the ambulance, her eyes landing on the paramedic who’s jumped in and is closing the rear doors behind him.
“You could have been seriously hurt.” I press my lips into a firm line, bringing her eyes back to mine with a gentle finger under her chin.
My heart leaped into my throat when she cried out in pain. Every cell in my body tore across that sidewalk to get to her. To reach her before she hit the ground. I made it to her just in time, breaking her fall, my shoulder taking the brunt of the hood as the cab pulled away from the curb.
“Why are we going to the hospital?” She jolts up, grabbing my arm. A strangled groan leaves my lips before I can stop it.
“What is it?” She sits up on the stretcher, ignoring me as I shake my head and indicate for her to lie back down. “Reed?”
“It’s nothing,” I reassure her.
She places her hand on my shoulder, and I suck my teeth with a hiss as the muscle spasms beneath her fingers.
“You’re hurt!”
“I’m fine.”
“No. You’re not. Did you get checked out?” Her eyes dart to the medic who’s leaning forward, telling his colleague in the front we’re ready to go. “Let me see.”
Before I can stop her, she pushes my jacket down my arm and pulls at the buttons on my shirt.
“Reed,” she gasps, her delicate fingers dusting over my bare skin as she slides the fabric away. I suck in a breath, my eyes shuttering closed as I bite my tongue to keep the expletives at bay. “Oh, my God.” Her voice wavers as she studies my skin.
My voice drops as my lips graze her ear. “Careful, Angel. You undress me and there’s no telling what I’ll do to you in here. Ambulance or not.”
“You’re turning black and blue!” She ignores me, tracing her fingers across my searing skin as I swallow the dry lump in my throat.
“It’ll heal.” I grind my teeth together as another shot of pain ripples down my arm.
“You might have broken something.”
“Harls, I’m fine.”
She ignores me again, and I groan in frustration as she turns to the medic.