Primal Threat - Earl Emerson [18]
“I guess. But you’re making it sound as if I’m responsible somehow. I’m not.” She was right. He’d lashed out at her and he didn’t know why, not exactly. Zak did not reply; being fair-minded on this topic wasn’t something he was capable of. “Okay. I’d like to ask another question. Do you mind?”
“Go ahead.”
“Are you going to get sarcastic when you answer?”
“Sarcasm is part of my basic nature, but I’ll fight it.” He grinned, unable to believe he’d gotten so antagonistic with someone he was drawn to as much as Nadine. It struck him that his belligerence may have been prompted by just that: how much he liked her.
“What would have happened to this woman if you guys hadn’t shown up?”
“She would have gotten worse. Maybe had a stroke. Maybe died.”
“Excuse my ignorance here—and I don’t want you to get mad at me again—but I thought there were programs for people like her.”
“There are. Us. We’re the program. The fire department. We send her to the public hospital. They treat her, give her a supply of drugs, she goes home, uses them up, and the cycle starts over. She works part time for a bank and doesn’t have insurance.”
“My father says nobody dies in this country because they don’t have money.”
“I hate to be the one to tell you this, but your father’s full of shit.” Nadine and her family were oozing money, and it galled him in the same way it always galled him when anybody with money showed up. Everyone had at least one peccadillo. Money was his.
She regarded him for a few moments, seemed to make some sort of decision, and then changed the topic. “I was really scared in that wreck.”
“It’s a scary thing, getting trapped like that. Every time you get in a car afterward, it goes through your mind.”
“That’s exactly what happens. But you were great. I don’t mind telling you, it was the worst thing that ever happened to me. I haven’t told that to anybody else. I mean, when my grandfather died it was awful, but this was so sudden. I really thought I was going to pass away. And then you came and you were right there with me. I mean, you were right there, whispering in my ear. It made me feel…just made me feel like it was going to be all right.”
“I’m glad everything turned out okay. You’re a nice girl. Bad things shouldn’t happen to you.”
“They shouldn’t happen to anyone.”
He regretted his harsh words. He fancied the way her long brown hair flowed when she moved her head, and he fancied the way she looked at him brazenly now that they were alone, even though upstairs she’d seemed about the shiest human he’d ever met. He even fancied the way she’d faced up to his insane verbal onslaught about money. He liked the strength in her arms and shoulders when she scooted around on her crutches. He wondered if her life was as simple as he thought: playing tennis, going to school, pleasing Daddy.
“What’s that on your arm?” she asked, pointing to a scab that wrapped around either side of his elbow and ran under his shirt-sleeve.
“We were mountain biking in a local park, and I took a couple of spills.”
“It looks terrible.”
“You should have seen it before.”
“Let me see.”
“It’s too ugly.”
“No, I want to look at it.” When he pulled his sleeve up, she stepped close and examined the wounds with interest. “Where else were you injured?”
“My hip. All down one side of my knee. That was the worst.”
“Can I see?”
He leaned over and pulled one pant leg up carefully, exposing the thick scabbing above his knee while she stared like a kid in a spook house. “You in premed, or something?” he said.
“Social work. What are these here?”
“Old scars. I got this one at a criterium in Port Townsend a couple of years ago. These others are mostly from mountain bike crashes. This is where I got torn up by blackberry vines last summer.”
“And you have one on your hip, too?”
“Yeah, but I’m not going to drop my trousers,” Zak said, at the same time that the door to the court opened.
“You’re not going to drop your trousers?” Lieutenant Muldaur repeated.
“We were just talking,” Nadine said, embarrassed.
“We’ve been looking all over for you. Your