I chuckled to hide my discomfort at her statement. How rude to say something like that at a party. I decided to ignore it and held out my hand. “Hi, I’m Terri Mitchell.”
“So, how long do you imagine you can hold on to him?” she asked tauntingly. She smiled but it was plastic and never reached her icy eyes.
“I’m sorry. I don’t know what you mean.”
“Oh come on. You look like an intelligent girl. You know he’s a player. He’ll tag you along for a while and then dump you like he did all the others. It’s his way you know.”
“Actually I don’t know that and quite frankly I don’t think what we do is any of your business. Now if you’ll excuse me.” I went to move past her but she grabbed my arm and clamped down on it...hard.
“Listen to me, if you know what’s good for you. He’s gonna use you like the rest.”
I jerked my arm out of her grasp. I had one thing going for me and that was my upper body strength.
“Don’t you ever lay a hand on me again. And let’s get one thing straight. I don’t listen to gossip. So why don’t you get lost?”
I turned and sailed into the bathroom, making sure the door was locked behind me. Then the shaking started. I felt like a damn paint can in the shaker at Lowe’s. My hands were vibrating faster than JJ. What the hell was going on here? Were people out to get me or something? Was there a sign on my back I wasn’t aware of? Crap!
I took care of business and marched back into the party to find Justin. One look and he knew there was something wrong.
“What is it Terri?”
“I just had a run in with some crazy chick that tried to tell me you were going to use me then dump me.”
“Damn it! Crazy Destiny.”
“What?”
“She’s this batshit crazy nurse at work that’s been harassing me.”
“Well, make that two of us.”
Justin was furious. His mouth had turned into a thin hard line and his eyes looked like a stormy sea.
“Hey, I don’t want her to know she’s ruined our night.”
He looked at me and said, “You’re absolutely right.” He laced his fingers with mine and pulled me back toward the party. Moments later we heard Jackson’s voice over a microphone, announcing that they were going to begin the sponsoring of the children. Justin smiled at me and we headed into the other room.
There were about fifty needy children and Justin agreed to sponsor ten of them. There were six boys and four girls. He leaned over to me and said, “You’re going to help me with the girls. I have no idea where to go on that.”
“Oh, I think you’d do just fine, but I’d love to help.” He kissed my cheek and smiled back at me. We walked over to the table to pick up the information we would need on the kids and for Justin to sign everything. I was holding a glass of red wine when I was suddenly jolted from behind. My glass flew up in the air and the contents spilled down the front of my dress. Since I wasn’t expecting the blow, my leg gave way at about the same time, and I felt myself collapsing toward the floor. My arms tried to grab something to stop my fall, but Justin was too far out of my reach. To make matters worse, if that was even possible, I was wearing heels so my ankle ended up twisting too. I must have yelled because Justin spun and the look of alarm on his face made me aware that I was going to crash and burn...and not in a good way.
When the floor smacked me on the cheek, the only thing I could think of was the pain in my bad leg. I screamed and he was there, on the floor, his face next to mine.
“Don’t move Terri. I know you want to but don’t, okay?”
I nodded as I sucked air in through my clenched teeth. Then I heard Jackson’s and Robert’s voices. They were discussing what to do.
“Terri, we need to have your leg X-rayed. I doubt anything happened, but I won’t be happy until I see it. Robert and Jackson agree. We’re calling an ambulance.”
“My ankle hurts Justin.”
“Okay honey. I think you twisted it. I’m not worried about it like I am your leg. I just want to make sure. Robert is going to drive to the hospital and I’ll ride in the ambulance with you. I don’t want your leg moved until we know we’re in the clear. Okay?”
I think I nodded. He held my hand and ran his fingers across my cheek.
EMS arrived shortly afterward and I was really scared for them to lift me onto that bed.
“Justin, I’m afraid.”
“Don’t be. I’m right here honey. Every step of the way.”
They put an immobilizer on my leg and got me on the gurney. It wasn’t so bad. My ankle was hurting worse than my leg now. We were on the way to the hospital and I told as much to Justin.