Page 61 of Toni and Addie Go Viral

Addie

Addie blinked as the stage lights came on. Two security guards came in and lifted the sofa off her. Everything was blurry. Maybe whatever Philip spilled got in my eye? She was confused, but she knew something was wrong.

“We’ve got you,” one said. “Try not to move.”

Addie tried to move her arm to push herself upright, feeling embarrassed to be found under a piece of furniture—no matter how heavy it apparently was. “I’m in a puddle of someone’s spilled liquor. I’m going to get up.”

“Ma’am, there’s broken glass, and you’re bleeding from the…” He gestured at her shoulder where tiny brass tips were poking up from a hole in her blouse.

“Oh.” Addie turned her head and saw that there was a puddle of blood, pinkish as it mixed with the liquor puddling around her.

“The paramedics are almost here,” the other guard said. “Miss Gibson says we have to wait on them. Take pictures and then wait.”

“I can put a blanket over you,” a third guard, this one a woman, said as she approached. “Are you cold, Miss Stewart?”

“Addie. I’m Addie,” she said, staring at the woman with the blanket. Tears were streaking over her temples and into her hair, which was bloody and liquor-soaked. Tequila, from the smell of it. And the woman calling her “Miss Stewart” was not Toni.

She wasn’t sure how much later it was when Eric came in, accompanied by Marcela. The paramedics were there almost simultaneously.

“I think there are scissors in my arm,” Addie said. “Embroidery shears? I’m not sure what they are really. Sharp things. They’re definitely sharp. The points came all the way through me.”

“Well, that’s no good, is it?” said a woman in some sort of uniform.

“Cuz…” Eric was staring down at her. “Should I call my mother or yours? Fuck. I don’t know—”

“Let’s get her to the ER before we go asking her to make any decisions,” the uniformed woman said. “Do you know how long you were here?”

“He just got here,” Addie whispered loudly.

“Right you are.” The woman smiled. “What about you? When did this happen, Miss Stewart?”

“Today.” Addie glared at the scissors in her arm. “The scissors weren’t there before today.” She frowned. “I think I hit my head when the sofa fell on me.…”

The next thing she knew, they had moved her carefully onto a stretcher and were carrying her to the ambulance. Addie looked at Eric. “Can you call Toni? Tell her I’m fine?”

He took the phone she had been clutching. He frowned. “Sure, if that’s what you want.”

“It is. Tell her I’m sorry I messed up filming and—”

“Because you meant to be attacked?” Eric bit out. “No, I cannot tell anyone that. Was it that homophobe?”

“He was upset that he lost his job, and he blamed me and…” Addie’s words faded as they went down the steps. Even as careful as they were, they had jostled her slightly, and it hurt.

Because there are scissors in my arm.

“I have this, Ads.” Eric squeezed her hand. “You go to the hospital. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

Marcela gave her a smile and patted her wrist on the uninjured side gently. “Everything will be fine, Addie. Let’s get you patched up.”

The ride to the hospital and the exam were a blur. All Addie could say for sure was that she was in an operating room, and then she was breathing and counting backward.

When she opened her eyes again, she was in a recovery room with Eric at her bedside.

“Ads!” Eric jumped to his feet, brushed back her hair, and kissed her forehead. “I am going to quit my job and follow you everywhere. We should hire a bodyguard, too. I’m not great at violence.”

“Hush. I’m okay. Fill me in,” Addie managed to say the next time she opened her eyes. “Where’s my sweater?”

It was Toni’s sweater, the cardigan Addie had taken home when she left DC. Although it no longer smelled of Toni’s cologne, the worn-out sweater had been a security blanket of sorts. Addie slept with it beside her.

Eric draped it over her, and she pulled it up toward her face with her good arm. She closed her eyes for just a moment.

Her next clear memory was Eric saying, “You’ll be fine, Ads. Are you staying awake this time?”

“I think so…? Sorry to delay the trip,” she said. “You can go and—”

“As if.” Eric stared at her like she had suggested a heinous crime. “You’re stuck with me, at least until the professor arrives.”

“Toni? She’s not coming.” Addie scooted backward, wincing at the pain in her arm. “She doesn’t want to see me.”

Eric hurried to help Addie as she tried to prop herself upright to force herself to stay awake. “What do you need? Do you need a nurse? Or—”

“Answers.” Addie leveled a look at him. “Why do you think Toni’s coming? We ended things.”

Eric gave her a long appraising stare. “She’s flying out here. You said to call her. I did.”

Addie closed her eyes. “That doesn’t mean I want to see her.”

“Well, how was I to know that? You were in an ambulance, and before you left you said call, so I thought you two had made up. Again.” Eric let out a frustrated noise. “I cannot keep track of where you two are on the reject-her, love-her, run-away process. Don’t be angry with me because—”

“I’m not mad at you,” Addie said. “At least she doesn’t know which hospital or where I live—”

“Actually.” Eric looked sheepish. “You can’t blame me. You said to call her.”

Sighing, Addie looked at him. “I don’t blame you. Let’s get me released and…”

Eric held up both hands in a defensive gesture. “Ads. You hit your head, have bruised ribs from a sofa on you, and you had to have surgery for a tear from being stabbed. You’re here overnight.”

“Damn it.” Addie blinked away tears, and then a nurse—or maybe she was a doctor? Addie had no idea—came to check on her.

A short while later, someone else was wheeling her entire bed to her room. Eric stayed at her side. “I called Aunt Marlene. Gave her a modified version.”

Addie winced. “Are we being invaded?”

“Sorry, cuz.” Eric squeezed her hand. “I can tell her not to come until Friday. That’s the best I can do.”

With a sigh, Addie said, “Phone.” She took the phone, grateful it was hers so the numbers were preprogrammed, and jabbed her mother’s name. “Mom? Yes. Hi. I—”

“You could’ve died,” Addie’s mom wailed, dragging the word out in a cry.

Addie downplayed it. “It was a pair of scissors. Set accident. I’m—”

“I hope he lost his job. Eric said it was a man on the set,” her mom said. Then she started crying. “You’re my baby, and I know this is a nice job but… you need to move home. I talked to your father. He can move in with me, and you can have his half of the house.”

Eric gave her an empathetic look.

Addie’s dad obviously took the phone. “Temporarily, Addie. Temporarily.” He lowered his voice. “I love her too much to live with her long-term, even for you.”

Addie laughed, wincing with pain as she did. Her ribs were sore. She pointed at them and mouthed, “Broken?”

Eric shook his head and whispered loudly, “Bruised.”

“Bruce?” her mom asked, back in possession of her phone now. “Who’s Bruce?”

“I’m bruised, Mom. No Bruces here.” They’d reached her hospital room then, and Addie took it as the distraction it was. “I need to go now. I’m fine, though. You and Daddy can stay—”

“We’ll be there tomorrow night. Eric will give up his room for the night. It’s all settled, and then once you can travel, we’ll get you moved back here to the Bay Area.”

“I’m not moving,” Addie insisted.

“We’ll talk tomorrow,” her father yelled.

“We love you, Addie.” Her mom sniffled again. “We’ll be there, and we’ll discuss it.”

When she disconnected, Addie looked at her cousin. “At least you’ll be able to have a drink when they’re here.”

“Well, you’ll be on pain meds,” Eric countered.

Addie laughed, hand coming to her sore ribs again. “You could still run away and see the rest of the family.”

He took her free hand and squeezed. “I’ll be staying here. I have to intimidate your ex when she shows up at the apartment, anyhow. She tricked me into giving her our address.”

“How?”

“Well, she sounded very nice and asked me.” Eric widened his eyes. “I was completely blindsided.”

“She has that effect on people.”

“Do you want to talk about it?” Eric asked gently.

Addie looked at her phone and quickly texted Toni: “I’m fine. You don’t need to come.”

“Ads?” Eric said, drawing her attention back to him.

She glanced away from her phone, which was not showing any replies so far, and told Eric, “I don’t want my heart to hurt more. I love her. She doesn’t want me to, but I do.”

“Then she’s a stupid person,” Eric insisted. “There are better women out there, Ads. And once you’re healed, we’ll find one of them for you.”

Addie blinked away tears. “I don’t want to see Toni.”

“Then you won’t. I’ll stop her,” he promised.

If the only way to get her to be by my side is to be injured, she isn’t worth it, Addie thought before she closed her eyes again.