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that didn't have the split lip. Quickly getting out of my seat,
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I jogged around the front of the car, got Ryder out, and
locked up.
"You don't have to carry me," he snickered as I
headed towards the emergency room.
"Maybe I like having you in my arms."
"Really?" he asked incredulously.
"Really," I answered, smiling down at him. "It feels
right to have you this close to me."
"I think so too," he replied as he laid his head on my
shoulder. The sliding doors slid open as we walked over the
threshold and I went straight over to the registration desk.
"Can I help you?" The nurse asked without looking
up.
"Yeah, my friend's been hurt," I said.
"Name?"
"Can we do this after someone sees him? He's
bleeding pretty badly," I replied getting her to look up. She
gasped as she took in Ryder's appearance, holding my shirt
to his face. I'm sure it wasn't every day a shirtless guy
carried an injured man into the emergency room.
"Yes, follow me," she said as she stood and walked
around towards us. The nurse led us in back, behind a
curtain, to a hospital bed. "I'll send the doctor right over
and bring some forms back to you."
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"Thank you," I replied, giving her my most winning
smile. Placing Ryder gently on the bed I pulled up one of
the chairs next to him and sat down.
"I haven't been to a hospital since I was a kid," he
said as he looked around. "God knows I've needed to after
some of the beatings I've gotten."
"What did you do?" I asked. What I really wanted
to ask about, now things had calmed down, was the hit of
meth Ryder took that morning.
"I went to the free clinic," he replied, shrugging his
shoulders. The nurse came back and handed me a clipboard
with forms on it. Instead of talking about the issues really at
hand we both passed the time with a question and answer
session. I did all the writing for Ryder since he wasn't
really in a position to do it for himself.
When we were done I went to find the nurse and
gave her the forms. She thanked me and I went back to
Ryder's bed where I pulled back the curtain and realized I
was interrupting the doctor. "Oh, sorry doc. I just went to
give in his paperwork."
"That's fine, I just need you to step outside while
I'm doing the exam," the doctor replied looking me over.
"No, Spencer can stay," Ryder said looking over the
doc's shoulder.
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"It's okay, Ryder, he doesn't want me here so he can
question you and find out if I did this to you." I answered,
knowing that was the goal of kicking me out.
"What?" Ryder asked his eyes wide, before turning
back to the doctor, "Spencer didn't do this. I called him and
he came and got me out of there. Why would he bring me
in here if he was the one who did it?"
"When it comes to domestic violence it's normally
the spouse or partner who brings the injured person in," the
doctor said, looking at Ryder.
"We're not partners," Ryder replied blushing. "Not
that I wouldn't want to be with Spencer, it's just& well, I
mean& we're not there."
I saw how uncomfortable Ryder was and decided to
talk to doctor on my own. "Doc, can I have a word with
you over here?"
"Sure," he answered, raising an eyebrow. "I'll be
right back, Ryder."
Ryder simply nodded as the doctor followed me
outside the curtained area. We walked about ten feet or so
away before I turned back to the doctor. "I know I'm the
one you think did this, but I didn't. And the reason Ryder's
getting all flustered is that he doesn't want you telling the
police who did it."
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"And you're going to?" The doctor asked, crossing
his arms over his chest and not looking like he believed me
one bit.
"I'll tell you the god's honest truth if you promise
not to involve the police," I answered. Before he could
protest I held up a hand, "I know you have to if you're
worried about Ryder's safety and I assure you, after I've
explained you'll understand."
"Fine," the doctor grumbled, "but I reserve the right
not to believe you."
"Fair enough," I replied as I ran my fingers through
my hair. "I saw Ryder limping across the street yesterday
and thought he was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen. I
pulled over and before I could call out to him, he came over
to my car and asked if I wanted to party."
"He's a hooker?" The doctor asked in surprise.
"Yes, his pimp is who did this to him," I answered,
nodding. "I'm not proud that I picked up a hooker, but I saw
something special in Ryder. I offered to pay him for the
night. On the way to my house he explained to me that his
parents kicked him out when he was sixteen for being gay.
Ryder caught a ride to New York with a friend where he
met his pimp and started working the streets. Even worse,
his pimp was giving him meth without telling him what it
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was."
"I'd like to say that isn't common, but it is," the doc
said running his hands over his face. "Okay, so what
happened today?"
"Last night I offered Ryder a place to stay, a chance
to get cleaned up and get off the streets," I explained.
"Needless to say he's a little leery of trusting anyone after
what he's been through. He said he needed some time to
think. I gave him my cell phone and told him to call my
home when he decided, or if he needed anything. He called
me this morning and said his pimp hit him for not taking
any money from me."
"So you went and got him?"
"Yeah, and paid off the pimp to forget he ever saw
or knew Ryder," I answered, looking the doctor right in the
eye so he knew I was telling the truth. "He was hiding in
the bathroom waiting for me. We packed up his stuff and
got him the hell out of there. I didn't notice the wound on
his leg until we were leaving."
"That would be a stab wound from a switch blade,"
the doctor explained. "He's actually lucky with where it is.
A little more to the left and it would have severed his
femoral artery and caused him to bleed out."
"He kind of left that detail out when he called me,
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otherwise I would have called the police myself. Ryder told
me the pimp punched him, nothing about being stabbed. I
told him to call the police, but he was scared because there
were drugs in the apartment and he didn't want to get
arrested for being a prostitute."
"Okay, so that explains today, but what next?"
"After you fix him up, I'm going to take him back to
my house and take care of him," I answered shrugging. "He
won't be going back to that place, ever. Ryder's agreed to
get clean but I have to admit I don't know the first thing
about getting someone off meth."
"If you're really committed to helping him, I can
guide you through it," the doctor said, eyeing me over.
"Why are you willing to help him?"
"Because I can," I answered honestly. "He's a good
man who got dealt a bad hand. We all need help in life and
no one's been there to help him. I just want to give him a
chance, get him on his feet. He couldn't get a real job when
his family threw him out because he didn't have a license or
birth certificate, no ID at all."
"Okay, I won't call the police," the doctor said after [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]