Free Imperfect Bastard by Pamela Ann

pavement until they get here? My back isn’t in the best of conditions, but my determination will get us there.”
    “Oh, no. No, you’ve done enough for me by calling for help. Thank you, but hurting you while you help me wouldn’t either of us any good.” I gave the best smile I could muster. I was holding on by a very loose thread. “But could you do me one favor? Do you mind picking up my phone? It’s a few steps behind you.” My eyes landed on the cracked screen, and I felt my heart falter.
    She immediately went to pick it up and then handed it to me. She introduced herself as Evelyn. She had been on her way to Bingo night when she had seen me being pushed like garbage to the side. She stayed with me until the paramedics arrived, inspected me, and placed me on the stretcher. But before they carted me away, I made sure to get her number and address because I had to thank her somehow. Had it not been for her, God knew I would have crawled, pushing on my elbows to simply fetch my phone to call for help.
    The paramedics busied themselves with asking me questions ranging from the incident to the level of pain I was in, and I couldn’t help feeling relief when they injected me with some powerful drug to numb the pain.
    Upon reaching the hospital, I was unloaded in the Emergency Room before a proper doctor came to see me and addressed my wound without a hitch. After getting X-rays and a thorough examination, he had to place my entire foot in a boot since there was an injury in one of the ligaments that supported the joint, a stage two sprain. It could take four to six weeks to heal, depending on how my body responded to medicine and therapy.
    “Is there someone we can call to pick you up, Miss Armstrong?” the nurse asked me after the doctor had signed the discharge papers before being paged to the trauma unit.
    Jackson wasn’t here, so I had to rely on someone else. “Yeah, there actually is.” Clearing my throat, I scrolled through my contact list with the newly cracked screen then showed the nurse his phone number.
    She left me to make the call while I filled out the paperwork and what not. The chaotic madness in the ER made me even more anxious. The sound of the sick and the dying wasn’t any comfort. It was a major contrast to the world outside these walls.
    While the other side fought the stock market and brokers, in here, mortals fought to survive. And when I overheard that an ambulance was coming in with survivors from a tragic head-on collision, it made me realize how small and irrelevant my problems were. My toe and ankle seemed pathetically laughable at the thought of what others were dealing with here tonight.
    “Chloe?” Drew’s alarmed voice appeared out of the blue as he finally found which section of the room where I was located. The moment his eyes rested upon me, they imminently widened. “Christ, Chloe, what happened? Are you okay?”
    “Sorry, the nurse made me bug you. I wouldn’t have bothered, but they wouldn’t discharge me if I didn’t have someone to care for me in the next twenty-four hours. You, my friend, are the chosen one.”
    He shook his head, solemn. “You should know better than to hesitate to call me. I’m always here for you. Always. Why can’t you understand that?”
    Because so much has happened between us that it’s gotten so awkward, and nothing’s been the same since.
    As much as I wanted to state how I felt, this wasn’t the time or the place.
    “Drew Cavendish?” The nurse came back before systematically eyeing him, as if he were a good specimen to be studied. There was a blatant glimmer of interest before she reverted back to business, clearing her throat as she did. “She was given Percocet, but the doctor prescribed a lesser dose for her to take home. Make sure she takes these with a meal and a full glass of water.” She pulled out a paper that outlined how to care for my foot and how to gauge my pain and knowing when to call for help.
    By the time