“You can stay? All night.”
“I guess I can.”
“That’s terrific. Because I didn’t get nearly enough of you.”
Chapter 6
Oliver, Heath and Juliet drove into the collective parking lot at the same time. They met in front of Oliver’s practice.
“This is a pain in the ass,” Heath said.
“Stop complaining.” Oliver was cranky. “Did you leave a woman in bed, like I did?”
“You did?”
“You did?”
Oliver laughed out loud. “Yep.”
He unlocked his outside door and took a couple of steps inside. And fell to the floor hard. His forehead cracked on the wooden surface. Heath leapt to the side and said to Juliet, “I keep a bag in my office.” He tossed her his keys. “Go get it.”
“Is—is he—”
His hand on Oliver’s neck, he said, “He’s out cold, but breathing steadily.”
Heath forced his doctor side to surface. He felt Oliver’s neck and shoulders, which seemed fine, but he waited until Juliet got back to do more examination. “He’s bleeding so get out the thick gauze pads for me.”
When he had them in his hands, he gently turned Oliver’s head to the side. Blood flowed out with its coppery scent and Heath clapped the gauze over his forehead. He looked up at Juliet. “Head wounds bleed easily. He’ll be okay.”
“You don’t know that.”
Oliver stirred.
“We’ll find out right now.”
“Ahhhhh.”
Heath gentled his voice. “You tripped over a barbell in front of the door and smacked your head. Try to stay still.”
Oliver settled, but his breathing escalated. Heath continued to hold the gauze to his head, replacing it when needed, until the bleeding stopped.
“Can I sit up?”
“When I get you set up.”
First Heath moved the upholstered chair behind him. Both he and Juliet grasped him under his arms and helped him to sit back.
“Fuck, this hurts.”
Heath inspected the wound. “It’s not too deep. I’ve got to put antiseptic on it and it’ll hurt like a bitch. Then we can take you to the hospital to get it stitched and get you a CT.”
“No hospital. Can’t you stitch it up here?”
“I guess I could.” He rummaged in his bag. “I have some lidocaine to numb it.”
Juliet sighed. “For what it’s worth, I think you should go to the hospital.”
“No. I’m not going.”