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Shoot. Me. Now.
26
LAURA
His job wasn’t supposedto be dangerous. He worked construction for God’s sake! He put up walls and painted and shit. That was not dangerous. And now I had to worry about him every time he went out because apparently, his coworker shot him with a nail gun!
I was fuming, pacing the waiting room as I waited for him to be released. I couldn’t stay in there with him any longer, thinking about how I might have lost him. And the worst part was that his friend, this IRIS guy, didn’t even seem to care that he had shot his own friend with a nail gun! Wasn’t that something you’d at least feel sorry about?
I ignored the looks of the other people around me. They were all staring at me like I was crazy. Every one of them was from the construction company, which I found slightly odd. They all came for a guy who got shot in the leg with a nail gun? Seriously, that was loyalty on their part. Even Juliette and Anna showed up, trying to make me feel better. Instead, I wanted to yell at them for not clueing me as to how dangerous it could really be. I mean, they’d hinted at it, but at the time, I hadn’t believed them. Who would?
“You have to relax,” Rae said, walking over to me, holding out a cup of coffee for me. “It’s Dash. He’s going to be fine.”
I snatched the cup from her, downing it in one horrible gulp. It was by far the worst coffee of my life. “How do you know that?”
“Because as much as I don’t believe Dash is better than me, he can still hold his own.”
I narrowed my eyes at the woman. “You’re Rae, right? From outside my house after the tornado.”
“That would be me,” she sent me a cocky smirk. “Did he tell you about our rivalry?”
“No, but Juliette did. Or Anna. I’m not sure at this point.”
“Well, in case it comes up, just remember that I will always beat him.”
I tossed the cup in the garbage, angry that her stupid competition was all she could think about. “Seriously? He’s laying in a hospital bed, and you’re more concerned with whether or not I know who will win the stupid competition?”
“Whoa,” she held up her hand. “There’s no wondering. It’s clearly me.”
I tossed up my hands and walked away. This was all too much for me. Thankfully, Dash was wheeled out minutes later and I rushed over to him, wrapping my arms around his neck. Involuntary tears streamed down my face. I didn’t understand why they were flowing, but holding him made me feel a little better.
“Hey, it was just a small wound. It’s okay.”
“A small wound?” I jerked back, staring at him in horror. “You were shot!”
“With a nail gun,” he pointed out. “And I’ll be fine in no time. It doesn’t even hurt.”
“Yeah, it doesn’t even hurt,” IRIS grinned, poking him a little too close to the wound.
I slapped his hand away, pissed that his friend would treat him like this. “You know, everyone says you guys are so close. Apparently, there’s some bond among construction workers, which I really don’t understand, but none of you are actually concerned about your friend! He could have died!”
I stared at all of them one by one, boring holes into each of their pea-sized brains. But there was one that cracked. Rae—she justcouldn’t hold back. And the minute she started laughing, they were all acting like someone told a joke. Having had enough, I grabbed the handles of Dash’s wheelchair and pushed him to the exit. Dash held up his middle finger, which only elicited more laughter out of them.
“Seriously, I don’t know why you’re friends with any of them.”
“You gotta relax a little. They’re just teasing.”
“They’re assholes. You could have died.”
“Highly unlikely. I’m hard to kill.”
I stopped pushing him and walked around to face him. “Oh, and you’ve tested this?”
His face blanched and he instantly shook his head. “Of course not. I was just…lightening the mood.”
“Do it a different way. I don’t need to think about you almost dying again.”
“Sure, sure,” he nodded. He glanced around the entrance. “Did you have a vehicle or were you going to wheel me home?”