Knocked Up(7)

“You’re cute,” Luke murmured and the girl blushed deeply.

“Can you stand up for me?” she asked.

Luke tried to shake his head, but it felt about as easy as moving a rock. Instead, he settled for simply saying “no” and then the world was nothing but blackness.





Chapter 3





Okay, okay, okay. I can do this. I can do this. I just have to...

Shit.

Her hands were shaking as she stared down at the prone figure in front of her. He should have stayed awake. That much she knew. Other than that, though? Her mind was a complete and total blank.

Sure, she was a nurse, but she was going to be a school nurse. Not some sort of pit stop EMT. Specifically because she didn’t need this kind of pressure, but here she was, under pressure. And no matter what her degree said, she so wasn't ready.

"Um..." she hummed, and then did the first thing she could think of.

She slapped him.

Yep, good move, Florence Nightingale.

She internally shook her head as Rex and Suzette moved in a little closer on either side of her, but she held out a hand for them to back off and the guy's eyes blinked open.

“Did you just slap me?” he asked softly.

“Yeah,” she said, wetting her lips and trying not to notice exactly how mouth-wateringly hot he was. This was not the time for drooling. This was the time for healing.

“I like your spunk, kid.” The guy gave her another goofy grin and, despite herself, she had to try not to smile back.

"Okay, um, you’ve just got to try and stay awake for me. I'm just going to, uh, feel around and you just let me know if anything hurts, okay?" She tripped over nearly every word, but when the guy tried to nod, she held up a hand.

"Don’t move your head. Just give me a thumbs up or a thumbs down, okay?"

His thumb wiggled from side to side, but Tawny figured that was good enough for her.

Slowly, she started at his calves and glided a light pressure along each of his bones, feeling for any fractures or tenderness. As far as she could see, there wasn't any bleeding, but she cursed herself all the same for not wearing gloves.

When she reached his knee, she moved to his shoulders, and breathed in deep when she felt the rock hard muscle underneath his scruffy white T-shirt.

She blinked, then looked up at his face while her hands continued to search for damage.

Boy, was he cute.

More than cute, actually. He had thick, long lashes that hid his dark eyes even when his lids weren't closed, and a matching mop of thick, black waves. He was tanned, too. Like he'd spent a lot of his days out in the sun, working hard on something or another.

Vaguely, she wondered what that might be, but then, catching herself, she moved back to the topic at hand.

This guy was her patient. It didn't do to start fantasizing just because he had some--okay, a lot--of muscles.

She pressed against his hip and he winced slightly, then said, "A little lower."

With a little gasp of surprise, she drew her hand back and glared at him, but he held up a wobbly hand.

"No, no, I'm sorry. I wasn't being fresh. Seriously, just letting you know that the pain is lower. The handlebar got me right in the groin, you know?"

"Oh, right. I, um, I should have..."

She didn't know what she should have done, but she was saved from making up an answer when a girl in the crowd shouted out, "Is he okay, or what?"

Tawny jerked her head up. "Yeah, he's fine. Maybe a mild concussion. Can you give us some space while I try to figure it out?”

She knew if she’d been the one that had gone ass over tea kettle, she’d want a little privacy to lick both her mental and physical wounds. Not only that, though, she did want to ask him a few more questions and didn’t need an audience watching her first in-the-wild medical exam.

Grumbling and mumbling, the crowd dispersed back to their regularly scheduled activities, leaving only Suzette, Rex, and Tawny circling the fallen racer.

"You sure he's alright?" Suzette asked. "Shouldn't we, I don't know, hold up some fingers for him to count or something?" She glanced from Tawny to Rex and back again.

"Trust me, he's looked worse than this." Rex shot him a wobbly grin. "He'll be just fine, won't you, bro?"

The guy gave another, more stable thumbs-up and Rex nodded.

"See, he's perfect. Now come on, Suzie-Q. I’ve got to go talk to that piece of shit, Eli, and you can watch my back to make sure I don’t kill him.” Rex motioned for Suzette to follow him but she hesitated.

"Tawny, you sure--?"

"I'm fine. Go on ahead. We'll only be a couple more minutes here."

Suzette shook her head, her ponytail swinging, then followed Rex, muttering something about not being fond of her new nickname.