Page 26 of Love From the Ashes
“Damn, cousin. She’s hot. Well, ladies, it looks like I get you both to myself tonight for a nice little threesome. I’ll give a special prize to whoever gets me off first.”
“You’re a damn pig,” Reid said, his eyes narrowing as he scowled at Geoff. His cousin seemed increasingly brazen and disgusting every time he saw him. Reid cursed his promise to his aunt, wondering if he should kick Geoff out of his life altogether and break it. Either that, or he’d do Geoff some severe damage one of these days.
“Hey, don’t take it out on me because you’ve forgotten how to get your rocks off. Why don’t you pull your lady off the dance floor and play with her in a corner? What’s her specialty, anyway? Sucking or fucking?”
“You’re a goddamn ass.” Reid clenched his fist and swiveled toward Geoff, stopping himself before he took a swing. Fighting to restrain himself, he turned back to the dance floor in time to see the guy in the red shirt grab Sofie from behind, his hands all over her as she fought to get out of his grasp. “Shit!” Reid bolted toward Sofie, his rage unleashed. No one touched her like that.
Reid could see the terror on Sofie’s face as he scrambled through the crowd to get to her, Della and Adam rushing in from another direction. Reid’s heart was pounding, his fists tightly clenched as the man continued to touch Sofie. He had almost reached her when Sofie swung her arm backward, nailing the man in the groin. He dropped to his knees, and Sofie ran like a wild animal from the dance floor.
“I’ll get her,” Reid yelled, rushing past Della and Adam.
Sofie was fast as she dashed down the stairs and out the front door, her feet barely touching the ground. Panic gripped him as the fear of losing sight of her grew. Then Sofie stumbled. Reid held his breath as he watched her try to stay upright, suddenly crashing onto her side and hitting her head on the concrete. Reid sprinted toward her, fearing the worst as she lay facedown on the sidewalk.
Reid knelt next to her, his breath coming in fear-laden pants. He needed to move her but didn’t want to cause more damage than the fall had already done. Carefully touching her, he rolled her onto her side. “Sofie? Can you hear me?”
Sofie flipped onto her back and bolted upright. “Don’t touch me,” she cried, her hands and arms beating Reid wildly.
“Sofie, stop. It’s me. It’s Reid.” He tried to grab her flailing arms, realizing the fall had momentarily stunned her, his touch now spurring her to react. She was fighting to defend herself, unaware it was him.
“Leave me alone,” she yelled, still fighting to get out of Reid’s grasp.
“Sofie, it’s Reid. Stop fighting. I’m not going to hurt you.” He grabbed her arms, hoping to calm her down.
Sofie stopped fighting, appearing to realize it was him. She threw herself into his arms, looking relieved.
Reid looked down at her as he held her. He brushed her hair from her face. “Where are you hurt?”
“I don’t know.”
Reid pulled back slightly and peered at her. He could see well enough from a nearby streetlight to tell she had a cut near her hairline and a trail of blood dripped from it. “I saw you stumble and fall. It looked like you landed on your side and then hit your head. There’s blood coming from a cut on your forehead. You need to get checked out in case the cut is serious, and you might have a concussion. I’ll take you to the hospital.”
“I don’t want to go to the hospital. Please take me home. I’ll be fine.” Sofie adamantly shook her head.
“You hit your head pretty hard. You need to get checked out. If you don’t let me take you to an emergency room, you’ll have to go to my house so I can call my doctor and have him do a video chat to check you out. It’s one or the other. I’m not going to let you go home.”
“Your house. No hospital, please.”
“All right. Let me call Lawrence to pick us up.” He took his cell phone from his pants pocket and dialed Lawrence.
“Hello?”
“I need you to pick me up where you dropped me off, and I need you to come right now.”
“I’m on my way, sir.”
“Thanks.” Reid hung up and stashed his phone back in his pocket. He looked down at Sofie, tenderly brushing another loose strand of hair from her face. “Can you stand up?”
“I’m not sure.”
“Let’s try.” Reid stood and carefully pulled her to her feet. “Can you tell if you’re hurt anywhere else?”
“My left hip felt a little tender when I stood right now, and my forearm burns a little. I might have some road rash from hitting the ground.” Sofie held up her left forearm, the underside pointing toward Reid.
“That’s a yes. You must have slid on it.”
Lawrence pulled up to the curb and dashed from the car. “What happened?”
“She fell. You’ll need to take us home so I can call my doctor.”