Lany
My life was a fantasy.
No one knew that better
than me.
Unfortunately, it was
also fraught with danger.
Again, no one knew that
better than me.
I huffed as a paramedic
strapped me down to a gurney. I hated this part. Being restrained was not
something I handled well.
Unless Sal was the one
restraining me.
Salvador Delveccho, SWAT
team commander and Italian wet dream come to life. Even after eleven years and
six adopted children, I had never quite figured out how I ended up with him as
a husband. He could easily have anyone he wanted, with a line forming for
those who hoped they'd be noticed by the gorgeous man.
And yet, somehow, he
only had eyes for me.
I was one lucky
son-of-a-bitch.
"How's your head, Mr.
Delvecchio?"
I glanced at the
paramedic. He must be new. I'd certainly never seen him before. "A little
achy," I admitted. "It didn't bleed as much this time so I'm hoping I won't
need a lot of stitches."
The paramedic's eyebrows
rose. "You've been hurt like this before?"
I laughed because damn,
that was funny. "Once or twice."
"What happened?"
"Oh, I slipped in the
snow getting out of the car and hit the steps." Which was better than falling
down the stairs or tripping over a rug, both of which had happened more than
once.
"That's a pretty nasty
bruise on your cheek," the paramedic said. "Are you sure you hit the steps?"
"Oh, yeah." It wasn't
like that was something I'd forget.
"I see."
It was all I could do
not to roll my eyes. I could hear the censure in the paramedic's voice and
knew what he was thinking, but it was the farthest from truth as it could
possibly be. Sam would never lift a hand to me. He'd rather die himself than
hurt me or one of our kids.
Sadly, I'd run into
people like this paramedic before.
Sal called me a hot
mess, but basically, I was an accident prone klutz. It was as simple as that.
He wasn't hurting me. No one was hurting me. I was just a
little...coordination challenged.
My eyes snapped to the
paramedic when the ambulance started to move. "Where's Marcus?"
I didn't go anywhere
without Marcus.
Ever.
Marcus was very good at
his job, a former Marine, and all around good egg. The man had taken three
bullets for me and sustained numerous concussions, bruises, and headaches
trying to keep me safe. I'd say we paid him really well for his work
protecting me, but no one was that glutton for punishment.
"I'm sorry, who?"
"My bodyguard Marcus."
The paramedic's brow
furrowed. "I'm afraid I don't know who that is."
Crap!
Sal was going to have an
aneurism.
"Can I use your phone?"
The paramedic's eyebrows
lifted. "My phone?"
"Yes, I need to call my
husband."
"Why don't we wait until
you've seen the doctor?"
The paramedic smiled as
he patted my arm. It was one of those smiles that made me grit my teeth to
keep from yelling. The guy thought I was a sandwich short of a picnic and
needed to be protected for my own good because obviously, I couldn't.
Well, part of that was
true or I wouldn't have a bodyguard, but that didn't mean I was stupid. I was
actually quite intelligent. I just had issues walking into things, tripping
over them, and generally doing anything most people could do without hurting
themselves.
I wasn't even talking
about the kidnappings, assaults, people trying to kill me, cars I had crashed,
or times I'd had gotten into messes only our vast network of friends and
family had been able to rescue me from. I was talking about normal everyday
shit.
Yeah, I was a mess.
The thing was, though,
people on the outside of my little circle of friends and family didn't tend to
understand us...well, me. I suspected that this paramedic was one of those
people that didn't understand that these types of things happened to us all
the time.
We were kind of used to
them.
We pulled up in front of
the emergency room a few minutes later. I was lucky. We didn't live far from
the hospital. I often wondered if Sal and Vinnie had planned it that way when
we traded our two bedroom penthouse of his fifteen acre estate.
The gurney I was on was
pulled out of the ambulance and I wheeled into the emergency room. I waved my
hand when I saw the security guard. "Hey, Dana."
The security guard
snorted as he shook his head. "What did you do this time, Lany?"
I pointed up toward my
head since I couldn't lift my arm. I was still retrained. "Slipped in the snow
and hit my head on the steps. Is Skip on duty?"
Dr. Skip Jones had been
taking care of my medical needs for years. He knew about every one of my
accidents. All of the team members on Sal's SWAT unit had Skip on speed dial.
Better yet, we had a fully equipped infirmary in our house.
We needed one.
I just wished I had been
allowed to stay there and use it instead of being driven off in an ambulance.
But, as Marcus reminded me, the infirmary was just a well decorated room if
the doctor wasn't there.
"No, but I can call him
for you."
"Thanks, Dana. Can you
call Sal, too? They wouldn't let Marcus come with me."
"He probably already
knows, Lany."
"Yeah, but someone needs
to call him just in case."
Dana chuckled. "Not a
problem, Lany. I'll give Sal a call right after I call Dr. Jones."
"Thanks, Dana." It paid
to know people at the hospital, especially since I tended to spend a lot of
time here.
I was wheeled into one
of the exam rooms. The restraints were removed and I was lifted up and moved
to the exam bed. I don't know why they didn't just let me do it myself. My
head was injured, not my legs.
As soon as I was settled
on the exam bed, I sat up and reached for the phone next to the bed. I quickly
dialed Sal before the paramedic or the nurse could stop me.
"I'm on my way, Lany.
How bad is it?"
"I slipped and hit my
head on the steps. My head is bleeding, but I don't think I'll need more than
a couple of stitches."
Sadly, I was kind of an
expert at this type of injury.
|