Page 12 of One Kind Soul

“How are you both not crushed?” The woman blinked rapidly.

The word crushed made Christian’s vision swim again. Until Nicole grabbed his hand and he focused on her face. Everything snapped back into place and the nausea passed.

Sirens grew in volume then an ambulance arrived. Firefighters and police officers cleared the area of onlookers while two EMTs approached.

“Check him first,” Nicole said immediately. “His leg is bleeding. There’s glass in there.”

“Her head is bleeding. Head wounds can be more serious,” Christian said.

“How about if we divide and conquer?” A female EMT nudged Nicole so she’d turn around. “Let me take a look.”

Christian was vaguely aware of the male EMT cutting into his jeans and rolling up the denim to have a look at his leg.

“That your truck?” the EMT asked him, no doubt to take his mind off the injury.

“It was.” Christian could barely rest his gaze upon his beloved pickup still on its side. “I don’t usually park it that way.”

The EMT barked out a laugh. “Didn’t injure your sense of humor.”

“No. That’s invincible.”

Christian had to look away when the EMT inspected the glass protruding from his calf. He stupidly wanted Nicole standing near him again. She had a knack for not letting him pass out.

“Okay. That shard needs to be removed,” the EMT kneeling by him said. “Then you’ll need stitches. You’ll be fine.” The guy gestured to the truck. “Which is amazing considering the scene here.”

“Just lucky, I guess.” Christian looked over to Nicole and the other EMT, hoping Nicole was okay. Her delicate fingers should never be marred by blood.

A flash made him jolt in his chair.

“Get out of here.” The EMT stood and ushered away a guy with a camera around his neck.

“But that guy’s like a hero!” Camera Guy shouted.

Christian didn’t feel like a hero. He felt like a guy with a piece of glass staked in his leg. He felt like a guy coming down from a serious adrenaline rush.

He felt like a guy who had cheated death today.

What he couldn’t figure out was why the hell that van was driving like it was. These city streets didn’t have space for vehicles to move at the speed that van was traveling. It had been reckless, completely out of control.

And why had it picked his truck to hit? This was a busy street with tons of cars parked along the curbs on both sides. Only his truck was nearly belly up though.

Wrong place, wrong time.

Or maybe he’d been exactly where he was supposed to be. Otherwise he wouldn’t have been able to keep Nicole from still being in his truck during impact.

That notion caused a shiver to ripple through him. He scanned the area where several firefighters were conversing with police officers about the best way to get his truck back on all four wheels so it could be towed somewhere. He didn’t see Nicole though and that made him turn his head rapidly, searching for her.

“Probably by the ambulance,” the EMT with him said.

“What?”

“Your chick. My partner probably took her over to the ambulance to tend to her.”

My chick? He’d just met Nicole today, but he didn’t feel an instinctual need to object to the misconception that he and Nicole were . . . together. What he felt instead was this need to have her close by.

His gaze roamed to the ambulance and Nicole was over there with the other EMT. The two of them appeared to be only talking and Christian hoped that meant Nicole’s head was all right. He hated to think Nicole had received even a slight scratch.

“So we’ll take you to the hospital,” the EMT said.