Page 14 of Bend

The roar of the crowd grew, everyone surging forward as the lights came up all at once and beamed down on Evan and Les as Les strummed a few notes. He’d barely gotten through saying, “Hello, New Orleans” before the barricades toppled over and people rushed forward, leaving security fighting a sea of arms and elbows.

I stepped out from behind the equipment and searched the pit for Eli, my heart racing, but all I could make out were dim shapes in a frenzy of motion.

A sharp whistle pierced the air, and I caught sight of Evan leaning into the mic as he did it again. Somehow it worked. The crowd quieted, the air stilled.

“We’re glad to see you, too,” Les jumped in on the tail end of Evan’s whistle. “But wow, y’all are close and we don’t want anyone getting hurt, so could everyone stop right where you are and take a look around? Make sure your neighbor’s still standing, all right? And if they aren’t, help them up.” He glanced at Evan, some silent conversation taking place in the look, then continued. “I’ll tell you what. Tonight, we’ll let y’all in the pit, but I need you to help me get our film crew out first, because I’m pretty sure some of them are under you right now.”

Les turned back, searching for me and the other stagehands, I was sure, but I was already on my way to the edge of the stage, walking it until I spied Derrick first and leaned down to take his arm to haul him up. I caught a glimpse of a couple of other security members helping people up. Behind me, Evan spoke into the mic again. “I’m told they’re gonna shut us down if we can’t tame it back, so I need y’all to promise you’ll stay put where you are. Can you promise that?”

More noise from the crowd that I barely heard because by then, I’d spotted Eli taking someone’s hand and being yanked to his feet. He wobbled as he stood and caught my eye. The watery smile and guilty shrug he sent my way made the knot in my chest loosen in relief. I dropped down into the pit and fought my way toward him. “All right?” I asked as I reached him.

“I’m good.” He gave me a shaky nod, then tried for a more convincing smile. “Still got my camera.” He lifted his hand to show me and kinda teetered into me. I caught him under his arm. Sure enough, the camera was still there. There was a tiny scrape on his cheek, but as I looked him over in the tight confines, he seemed okay, aside from the noodle legs.

“Can you walk?”

“Ummm. I’m a little dizzy.” He made a face at the same time I pushed back against some of the bodies crowding me to get a better look at him.

“Jesus fucking Christ,” I swore and pushed blindly at the people around me as I hauled Eli over my shoulder and carried him to the stage. The bones where his calf met his ankle clearly weren’t in the spot they were supposed to be, and his foot turned out at a grotesque angle that I forced myself to quit looking at as I carried him. Eli didn’t protest, just fisted the back of my shirt and held on as we went. His skin was hot and damp in my hands, and I could feel the thunder of his heart against my back. Once at the edge of the stage, a couple of stagehands pulled him up around my shouts of “careful!”; then I pushed his camera up there and got hauled up myself.

“My crew?” Eli asked, a layer of sweat on his face. He looked down at his ankle and paled.

I gave a questioning glance to the stagehands as I crouched down next to him, one of whom nodded, then spoke. “All accounted for. Two out on the sides; the ones who were in the pit are backstage.”

“Stop looking at it,” I told Eli as he glanced at his ankle again and swallowed hard. “Let’s get you out of here.”

“I need to talk to Derrick first. This is the whole fucking pinnacle of the doc.”

“Fuck the doc,” I growled, and picked him up again to carry him backstage where one of the roadies said an ambulance would meet us. But once we’d gotten him loaded onto the stretcher, I loped off and found Derrick, and we caught up to Eli as the medic team carried him out.

I hung back while they conversed, then hopped in the ambulance once they’d loaded Eli in.

“The hell you doing?” he asked, peering at me wide-eyed while the paramedic gently began prodding him, looking for less obvious injuries, I guess.

I blinked. “I’m not sending you to a hospital to get your ankle set alone.”

He chuckled, then winced as the paramedic touched his ankle lightly. “Big teddy bear. Told you.”

“Yeah, yeah, nothing but stuffing and smiles. Jared’s got it covered. And I told you to be fucking careful.” I tried to gentle my tone, but it still came out gruff.

“So sorry, I’d psychically predicted a sea of rabid fans would overtake me, but I thought it’d be so much fun to try to surf them that I just ignored you.” He stuck his tongue out at me.

My bedside manner was for shit. In situations like this, I tended to block out the emotion and run on a task list of what needed to happen next, but as the ambulance pulled onto the street and I settled back on the bench, I found myself reaching for Eli, smoothing my hand over his sweaty forehead and almost shaking with the relief that it hadn’t been worse than a fucked-up ankle. Though that was bad enough, considering his line of work.

Eli wrapped his fingers around my wrist, stilling me as his eyes searched my face with concern. “I’m okay. Okay?”

I let out a breath and nodded. “Yeah. I’m about to rub a dent into your forehead, huh?”

“Maybe just a little one.” He brought my hand down to his lips, turned it over to kiss my knuckles, then settled it on his chest.

* * *

I woke with a jolt from one of those stupid dreams where you’re falling. I’d been drifting in and out of it in one of the loungers in Eli’s tiny room, which wasn’t that much bigger than what we’d had on the train. They’d decided to knock him out and take him into surgery for his ankle, and he was still sleeping but began to stir as I shifted around trying to transfer the numbness in my ass from one cheek to the other.

“God,” he groaned.

“Nope, just your average redneck knight.” I straightened in my seat, arching my back against the stiffness that had settled in. His groan turned into a drowsy laugh as I slid to the edge of the seat. “You okay? I can get you some water, and the nurse said you could have some more pain meds when you woke up if you want them.”

“M’good. Still feel really out of it. Mars was the god of war, you know. And also a guardian of crops.” Eli’s words ran together in a syrupy jumble as he lolled his head in my direction and gave me a loopy smile. “No more pain meds, please.” His smile evaporated and he shook his head, scrubbing his hands up and down his face a few times. “Fuck, I hate hospitals.”