“Jesus,” Anthony muttered and pushed his way through the crowd. When he got to Drake, he scratched his head. “A mugging? Where did this happen?”
“Right in front of the bar. I’m sorry, Anthony.”
“Don’t be sorry. Just be well.” Anthony turned toward Nick and asked, “Can I help?”
“Sure. The two of us can carry him across our arms and he can lie flatter. I don’t want those ribs to puncture a lung.”
Bliss tossed her hands in the air. “Am I the only one who thinks taking him to a hospital might be a good idea?”
Several of the guys who were crowded around glanced at each other. Finally Drake spoke up. “I’m not going to a hospital. If you don’t want me on your couch, I totally understand. I’ll find somewhere else.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. I’m fine with your coming upstairs. I just think you should see a doctor so you don’t heal wrong.”
“He’ll heal fine,” Nick said. “I used to be a cop. Saw injuries like this all the time.”
Bliss was outnumbered. “Okay. If you all think he’ll be all right without medical attention, take him upstairs. But put him in my bedroom, and I’ll sleep on the couch.”
“Thanks, Bliss, but I think the sofa will be better for me. Your bed is kind of soft.”
Sadie smirked and waggled her eyebrows at Bliss. Oh, terrific. Now everyone knows he’s been in my bed, even though we never got to the good part.
Nick and Anthony grasped hands beneath Drake’s back and thighs, forming a makeshift stretcher, and lifted him carefully. Bliss hurried to the door and held it open for them as they passed through it. Then she fumbled with the lock on her outside door until she managed to get the key to turn. Damn sticky lock.
She held the door open, and the trio slowly made their way up the narrow stairway to the landing in front of her apartment.
Bliss could tell Drake was in pain by his occasional wince, but he didn’t moan or cry out, even when jostled. She felt bad for him but still wondered what had happened outside. Did she have a right to ask?
Hell, she was a Hall-Snark card designer. She could find a creative way to put anything unpleasant into words. So far she hadn’t done nearly enough to resurrect her portfolio. She’d been waitressing every night for four nights in a row and sleeping late each day. But tomorrow was her scheduled day off. Perhaps she could get some work done as soon as Drake was feeling better. Right now he seemed to need her attention more than her cards did.
Anthony set Drake on the lounge part of the sectional sofa and straightened to his full height. “Stay with him, Bliss. If it gets busy, I’ll have Angie and Wendy close early.”
Bliss was grateful for an early night and doubted Anthony would dock her pay, but she could have used the tips. She figured he wouldn’t have felt right letting his friend lie injured and alone in another person’s apartment without someone who lived there present.
“I’ll look after him,” she said.
Nick and Anthony nodded to her, said good-bye to Drake, and left. When it was just the two of them, Drake reached out to her.
“Bliss, I want to explain…”
“You don’t have to.” She was about to walk away when he caught her arm and flinched. He sucked in air through his teeth, and she realized the effort must have caused him more pain.
“I want to. I need to. Please sit with me for a minute.”
What harm could it do? Besides finding out the guy I like is a two-timing heartbreaker, that is.
She sat down on the sectional next to him and waited for him to speak.
“Before I found you again, I had tried everything I could think of. I called a bunch of greeting card companies in alphabetical order asking for Bliss, and I got hung up on, a lot.”
She couldn’t help chuckling.
He smiled and seemed encouraged. “I had no way of finding you. Because of the suspension, I was home going stir-crazy. Meeting you drove home what I’d been missing—a relationship—so I tried looking into those dating sites on the Internet. But then I got your card. It gave me hope that I might find you again, and I forgot about the dating site. Then a few days ago when I went to close my account, I discovered I had an answering email.”
Bliss shrugged. “I get it. We didn’t have an exclusive relationship. I mean, if I had known you were trying to meet anyone else, I’d have held back a little more. Just out of curiosity, how far into the alphabet did you get?”
“I got through the A’s, and was just about to start the B’s—”
“That’s it? You gave up at the A’s?”
“My phone died. I made a mistake. I wasn’t trying to meet anyone else. I was about to delete my account but then got sidetracked because duty called. By the time I got back from the run, I’d forgotten. When I went back to it, I saw her email. I shouldn’t have even read her response, but I did and we seemed to have a lot in common. I felt I had an obligation to check it out.”
Bliss raised her eyebrows. “You had a lot in common with that… that…”
“I know. She wasn’t at all what I expected, but I shouldn’t have even been curious. I really like you, Bliss. I hope I haven’t messed things up with you completely.”
She smirked. “You mean you’d rather be with me than Betty Bruiser? Then why didn’t you call and break it off with her?”
He sighed. “I should have. I just put it off, knowing it was going to be unpleasant. I feel like a coward. A foolish, undeserving coward.”
She couldn’t let his self-loathing over one simple mistake continue, despite the temptation to get some payback. “I wouldn’t say a guy who runs into burning buildings is a coward.”
He sighed. “I know we didn’t talk about exclusivity, but if you can forgive me, I’ll swear to it now. I promise I’ll be true blue, if you can find it in your heart to give me another chance, and I sincerely hope you can.”
Bliss didn’t want to give in too easily. Sure he was gorgeous and seemed like a great guy other than this “one mistake,” as he called it. And having a committed relationship would be nice, but could she believe him? Did he really just forget to delete his profile? What was that little ditty she’d heard once? Cops beat, firefighters cheat? The fact that there was a little rhyme like that gave her pause.
She rose. “I need to think about it.”
“I understand,” he said softly.
Bliss strolled to the kitchen and put some water in the teakettle. For a split second she thought about her mother and how much she wanted Bliss to find a man, get married, have kids. Then she remembered that Drake, in the heat of the moment, had said he couldn’t get her pregnant. Stop it, Bliss. You’re not living your mother’s life. Decide what you want and go for it.
As much as she hated to admit it, she wanted Drake… at least the Drake she’d thought she was getting to know. Was he really being honest with her? He hardly seemed the type to avoid confrontation. Could he be covering up a relationship he had going simultaneously while romancing her? Argh. It’s all too confusing.
Angie would be coming upstairs soon. Bliss wished she and Drake could have it all sorted out by the time her roommate got home, but life was rarely that neat. She still didn’t know Angie all that well and wondered what she’d think of Bliss and Drake just picking up where they’d left off after… Knock it off, Bliss. You’re doing it again! Stop caring what others think.