Scared Yet? Read Free

‘You okay?’
    No, she wasn’t. Something deep inside her was shaking, as though her vital organs were still quaking in fright, andtears kept welling and spilling over her lashes. ‘I want to get out of here.’
    He looked over at the officers, called, ‘ETA on the truck?’ After a muffled reply, he leaned back in. ‘The ambulance will be here any second.’
    â€˜I don’t want to go to the hospital. I’ll just go home.’
    Daniel paid no attention. The ambulance was already on the exit ramp and he left her to meet it, waiting as an officer stepped down then pointing to Liv before indicating with his own face and hand.
    He clearly knew his way around police and medical help. What was the name of his business? She couldn’t remember, was just grateful he’d worked late tonight, even more grateful he was happy to manage proceedings. It gave her a chance to pull herself together. She guessed she’d need to seem better than she felt if she was going to avoid the hospital.
    The ambulance officer checked her eyes, felt her scalp and caused excruciating pain when she examined Liv’s injured finger.
    â€˜I’m not going to the hospital,’ Liv told her.
    â€˜You’ve got a possible concussion and you need X-rays on your hand.’
    Liv pushed herself to her feet. ‘No, look, I’m fine.’ Actually, she wasn’t too good. A whoosh of heat rushed to her face and she grabbed for the car door to steady herself.
    The ambulance officer placed a hand under her elbow. ‘Listen, Livia. I’m going to stow my gear in the truck and while I’m doing it, I want you to think seriously about going to the hospital.’
    The young cop walked around the car, picking up her belongings, putting them in a large, white garbage bag. Over by the ramp, a small group of people had gathered. Someone with a briefcase, a couple of slouching teenagers, a thickset man. Liv took deep breaths as Daniel made his way back to her.
    â€˜So what’s the problem?’
    â€˜No problem. I just want to go home.’
    He nodded like she was floating an idea. ‘You were out cold when I found you. You should let a doctor look at you.’
    Liv could see the swelling on her cheek in her peripheral vision now. He was right, she should see a doctor. It was the hospital that was the problem. She lifted her chin, looked him in the eye.
    He ignored the stoicism. ‘Someone hurt you tonight, Livia. Don’t let them do more damage by not getting your injuries seen to. You need to hang tough a while longer. Can you do that?’
    He sounded like her father. That was enough to change her mind. ‘Yes.’
    â€˜Good answer. Can you walk?’
    He hovered nearby as she made her way on wobbly legs to the ambulance. Her head felt as though it might fall off if she moved too fast but she climbed in on her own, passed Daniel’s dark suit jacket out to him. He swapped it for his business card. She had nowhere to put it so she just held onto it with her good hand.
    *
    Liv was lucky, apparently. It was a quiet Monday night in Emergency and only a twenty-minute wait for a doctor.
    She sat in a corridor, a blanket covering her torn clothes, flanked on either side by patients not sick or injured enough to be rushed straight in. The woman next to her held a pale, sleeping toddler in her arms. A man opposite had a bloody T-shirt pressed to his head. A clock on the wall above him said it was eight-fifty. Maybe it was too late to be working back. Maybe she’d get in and out before anyone noticed her name and made a phone call. She was doing okay.
    You’ve been assaulted , Liv.
    A doctor who looked young enough to partner the police kid at the school formal sent her for X-rays, which confirmed what Liv had already guessed: just bruising to the left side of her face, no concussion and a classic boxer’s injury to her right hand – a fracture in